Nearly three-quarters of the way through Q4 earnings season, two things stand out: stocks that have reported earnings misses have been less severely punished than in the past and an increasing number of companies are having their earnings estimates for the coming year revised higher.
Strazza and I did The Flow show earlier this week in which one trade that stood out and caught my interest was a juicy short squeeze candidate.
Checking back on it today, the stock still maintains a short position greater than 20%. That means more than one-fifth of all shares outstanding are held by people with a short position. And if this stock starts busting higher, the only way traders holding a short position can end the pain is to buy the stock.
This can potentially fuel a rapid rise in share prices (see: Gamestop $GME circa early 2020).
I'm certainly not calling for a repeat of past meme stocks short squeezes here, but in this case, we've got a stock that's chart is in the middle of completing a beautiful base and short holders are no doubt keeping their fingers near the trigger to exit this position quickly if we see some follow thru to the upside.
I thought it was odd bonds didn't react to last week's rate hike. Regardless, the lack of volatility represents a positive development for risk assets, especially stocks.
I’ve been enjoying a (new to me) book recently. Today, I came across this passage that stopped me in my tracks:
Trading is a journey, not a destination. So you’re a trader. Now what? Trading is a constant process of intellectual and emotional growth, and people who trade for twenty years are still learning what to do and who to be when they finally hang it up.