Recently, we bought Bio-Reference Labs ($BRLI) as a stock swing trade in The Wagner Daily ETF and stock newsletter. The trade followed-through as anticipated, enabling us to lock in a solid 11% gain on a 6-day holding period. Following is an educational, technical recap of the original trade setup and subsequent price action.
BRLI broke out to new all-time highs on its weekly chart this past summer (2012). On the chart below, the horizontal dotted red line marks the prior all-time high. Notice how the consolidation over the next several weeks (the yellow rectangle) held above that $26.00 support level (which was prior resistance). We also liked to see the price action holding above the 10-week moving average, which is equivalent to holding above the 50-day moving average on the daily chart. Finally, the dry up in volume during the last few weeks of the consolidation was positive as well. On the long side, we never swing trade in stocks that are trading more than a few percent below intermediate-term support of their 50-day MAs (it is our line in the sand for buy setups):
Because of the bullish consolidation on the weekly chart above, BRLI was placed on our internal watchlist around September 17. Once a stock or ETF makes it to this watchlist, we patiently wait for a low risk buy point to emerge, at which point we list it on our “official” watchlist in our trading newsletter. The setup prior to our actual buy entry is detailed on the shorter-term daily chart below:
We were finally rewarded for our patience when BRLI broke through the top of its tight trading range on September 27, thereby triggering our buy stop for trade entry:
As you can see on the final chart below, BRLI smoothly followed through to the upside immediately after our buy entry, backed by a strong accumulation day on October 3. On October 4, we sold BRLI when it hits its price target and while it was up nearly 3% on the day. This allowed us to lock in an 11% gain on a six-day hold. The goal of our swing trading system (in a strong market) is to identify low risk entry points in stocks that have explosive potential. These stocks can run 10% to 20% higher over a 1 to 3 week period:
