[isatrader]

Ideally, what id like to do in my roth & 401, is go w/ sector mutual funds and etf's much more then indiv stocks b/c of less risk. furthermore, they seem to more broadly capture the early movers and the slower movers w/in a sector as a basket, yet can perform very well. its why your sector table above the 150 avg appeals to me. Charting wise, for the sector, wouldnt etf's work better then mutual funds sense you get volumes with them?....

I've never traded mutual funds, so can't share any experience there I'm afraid. But having volume always helps.

also can you define to me, what you mean by a stage 2a breakout vs stage 2 breakout?....

Stage 2A is the very first breakout from a Stage 1 base. Whereas a Stage 2 continuation breakout, can be from any of the more minor base that form when a stock is already in Stage 2.

regarding lagging sectors, like utilities and energy, are there some time cases that even though they are lagging they can still be very explosive profitable stage 2 moves. I get it w/ utilities, by nature, even at their best, they just dont move that explosively. However, couldnt a case be made for energy along these lines: its been in a very long bottoming stage 1 base. weistein talks about how long term bottoms, esp head/shoulder bottoms, can end up being very powerful breakout moves. Also energy has gotten taken out artifically moreso by covid slowdown, yet projecting forward into fall, can move forward strongly riding the all hands who have been quaratined coming back to the econ.?

All the sectors usually move into Stage 2 eventually in a bull market. They just come out at different times. So there will likely be a period down the line when the energy stocks start to have explosive moves into Stage 2 on volume. But when they do they will start showing up in the daily scans that I run for the watchlist. But at the moment, the only area of the energy sector making the watchlist has been solar stocks and a few outliers.

Try not to let what you think should be happening cloud what you see in the charts. If the stocks in those sectors setup from proper basing patterns, with volatility contraction and then start breaking out on heavy volume, with outperforming relative strength versus the S&P 500 and no near term resistance. Then you'll know it's time to start testing the waters.

Thanks for the twitter headsup. Im now finding good stuff there too. I have a ques re your % of stocks above 150 MA table: is the nyse & nasdaq sectors literally looking at every stock within that particular exchange? .... & do you ever see a sector stay in the 80% range much more longer then normal before pullbacks?.... finally, do you also ever include small caps vs large caps as sectors w/in your 150 MA table?

I use the stockcharts 11 major sectors in the custom scanner but exclude anything anything under 50M market cap. Just to filter out the micro cap stocks from it. So covers around 4000+ stocks

Yes, sectors can stay in the upper or lower extremes zones for long periods.

No, is just a straight comparison of all stocks

when you screen stocks on stockcharts, wh/ screen variable items do you put in place that work best to abide by weistein's methods?... secondly, am I correct to deduce from what you are saying, that the stocks on your watchlist had all the correct parameters of what weistein looks for and have either already made their stage 2 breakthru move? Do you also include in that watchlist, ones that are well set up to break into stage 2 and on the cusp, but just havent moved yet?  if they are months away from a buy point, is this b/c they already broke up into stage 2 and are too extended, or is it b/c they have all the other characteristics but are just not technically close enough chart wise to a breakout?

The watchlist is made up of around 6 different scans, that I merge together and then and manually cull down visually.

Scans are just the starting point. You have to learn to see the characteristics that we are looking for in the method, as well as other methods too. And also how to spot developing patterns before those characteristics have fully developed. As with breakout trading you need to spot the stock before the breakout in order to get in at the methods ideal entry points. But if you do spot a stock after the breakout has happened, and it has the A+ characteristics of a leading stock. Then you shouldn't chase, as you missed it. But it will give multiple opportunities on future pullbacks and bases to get in to it if it a leading stock, as they don't just explode and collapse, unless you are trading penny stocks Real leaders, stair step their way to new highs, form a new base, and breakout again to new highs, and repeat. So, if you missed a good one, and it's still early in Stage 2. i.e. before follow on base 1 or 2. Then it should go on your watchlist, so that you are ready for the next entry point, which might be a few months away still.

when you say laggards, do you mean stocks w/in sectors that are doing well, or do you mean lagging sectors themselves?.... is the tougher envir that you point to b/c of the uncertainity and questions due to covid, a vaccine & how long or severe shutdowns will be? or it b/c of election and fear of what a biden winning may do policy wise to the econ.? or does it simply mean, that there a conflicting technical signals in the charts themselves?

I meant stock laggards that have underperformed the market since the March low.

The tougher environment is because we are months out of the market low now, and a lot of leading stocks are starting to pullback and form new bases, and individual stocks pullback 2 to 3x what the market does normally. So, a lot of people get shaken out of positions as breakouts haven't been working as well as they were a few months back when the Nasdaq was surging.

Finally, ignore the news, turn off cnbc / bloomberg especially. As they won't help you. Follow price & volume. As if any of what mentioned above is an issue for the market, then the price action will soon tell you.