Charting  |  JAN 2011

Breakaway Gaps by Kenneth Gillilan

A gap up in a stock’s price is an exciting event. Usually, such moves will be covered by the financial media, creating hysteria and resulting in some people frantically buying the stock “before it’s too late.” Rarely do the pundits provide a reasoned and thorough explanation as to why the large jump in price will lead to any sort of substantial gains over the near future; they just report the awe-inspiring numbers without touching on their technical significance. Sometimes, armed with simply a headline, the uninformed will buy the stock and get lucky. Over the long term, however, this strategy is bound to fail, as a large gap up in price does not necessarily mean the stock will continue to rise. It is possible to trade these large price moves and jump on a profit-making trend, provided you learn to recognize the patterns that are more likely to succeed.

by Kenneth Gillilan