Thursday, May 29, we had two Stocks to Watch and three Around the Horn subscription trades on our radar. Of these two were profitable, one was a small loss and two were scratch trades.

Alpha Natural Resources Inc (ANR) was a Sinker short for Thursday’s Around the Horn subscription trade list. ANR opened and traded down before pulling back off of the Central Pivot to challenge yesterday’s high and qualifying our trade. There were two early entries, both of which went to the profit target. A third opportunity also existed, though we don’t count these in the results, any subscription trade, once exhausted after two entries, can be treated as an intraday set-up and traded accordingly.

Alpha Natural Resources Inc (ANR), 5-Minute Chart


Sonoco Products Co (SON) was a Fastball long for Thursday’s Around the Horn subscription trade list. SON triggered our entry just after the open, but languished all day between the entry and stop loss levels. Exit was end of day for a small loss.

Sonoco Products Co (SON), 5-Minute Chart


FMC Corp (FMC) was a Fastball long for Thursday’s Stocks to Watch trade list. As all Stocks to Watch are by nature discretionary trades, I usually wait to find a stop level before entering. An entry off the open would most likely have resulted in a scratch. But a better entry opportunity presented itself mid-morning when FMC found a support level and broke out from that level. This provided both a stop level and jumping-in point. Exit was on any breakdown from any new highs, or with wider stops, toward end of day on the breakdown from new intraday highs back toward the pivot.

FMC Corp (FMC), 5-Minute Chart


Extra Innings and Opportunities for Friday, May 30, 2008:

Alpha Natural Resources Inc (ANR), 30-Minute Chart


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Julie Peterson-Manz is cofounder of TraderInsight.com. Email her at julie@traderinsight.