How to Identify Professional Traders’ Footprints as an Earnings Strategy - Candlestick Patterns Explained by TechniTrader®

They Start Trading While Dark Pool Quiet Accumulation Continues

During Earnings Season, most Retail Traders and Technical Traders are often frustrated because they do not have training on Earnings Strategies that work for their Trading Style. They hear about a stock or a great report and discover that the stock gapped up hugely before they even heard about it. Another example is that they try to enter the stock with an overnight order only to discover that they have been caught up in a huge gap up followed by a run down due to Professional Trader profit taking.

See the candlestick chart example below.

There is a better way. If you know what to look for, many times Earnings Runs have Professional Traders’ footprints in the chart before the huge High Frequency Trader (HFT) gap or run up. High Frequency Traders front-run retail orders, as the Order Protection Rule requires that brokers post their customer orders. This rule was intended to protect the Retail Traders from their brokers taking advantage of their orders with wider spreads.

However, it has added the additional risk of HFT predatory systems discovering clusters of orders from Retail Traders who use Social Media Tweets and Twits to choose stocks. They also will use a “most popular stocks list” from charting software companies and brokerage firms. Both of these methods of choosing stocks add additional risk to the trade. When there are sufficient numbers of Cluster Orders from Retail Traders, High Frequency Traders automatically trigger, gapping or running the stock up within the first minute of the day.

LEARN MORE at TechniTrader.Courses

Trade Wisely,

Martha Stokes CMT

TechniTrader technical analysis using a StockCharts chart, courtesy of StockCharts.com

Chartered Market Technician
Instructor & Developer of TechniTrader Stock & Option Courses