I was sitting on our trading desk looking at SPY this Friday. I felt a very strange sense of déjà vu that it was 1998, the year I was relative strength trading semi-conductor stocks, and MSFT, INTL, DELL. This was before the Internet Boom but when these sectors were red hot. At 3PM we would add to our strongest-acting stocks and wait for institutional buying to mark them higher, and lighten up at the close. I will call this the 3pm Bull Basket trading strategy. And you have to have this as a part of your PlayBook in a super strong market (like this one?).
The market was near its intraday and longer-term highs. The intraday pullbacks had been light. We were clearly in an uptrend since after the Bernanke-Speak. Wouldn’t big buyers have to come in to chase performance? I quietly mumbled to myself I should just buy everything acting well, go snack on a Cliff Bar and ice tea, see how Jeter’s MRI came back, and come back at 4PM.
AMZN looked strong at 305.50. I should buy that and sell it at the close, my inner talk continued. 
TSLA (The Shorts Lose Always) was a chart I didn’t need to look at. TSLA is always strong. Let me add that to my 3PM Bull Basket.
AAPL? Nah. I have been convinced it will find the 390s again by the end of the month. I should pass on that one.
NFLX? Of course. I have to have some of that. That is like going to Wendy’s and not adding the Frosty. Who does that?
ALNY? Buy the 50 offer, Bella. Bella, just hit Shift + O and own some more of that big guy.
GOOG? Buy Bella buy.
SPY? Super-size that one, Bella.
When the market is super strong the 3PM Bull Basket is a trade strategy to consider. Please do not leave out the important key words here to your strategy: when the market is super strong. Find the stocks that are showing relative strength to the market and buy. Also, try not to talk too much to yourself.
You can be better tomorrow than you are today!
Mike Bellafiore
no relevant positions