That would have been an acceptable strategy, so as not to enter *in* the consolidation and then be triggered with a stop-loss above when the breakout didn’t go as expected.

I would suggest treating consolidation patterns (triangles) just as that – just like a rectangle where we know a break will occur, but we don’t know which direction.

I would suggest a bracket order, such as a buy stop (long) about $84.05 or so and then a sell-short stop at $83.85 or so, both depending on your risk tolerance. Automatically, once one order is triggered, the other would become the stop-loss. I find that playing ‘neutral’ bracket strategies works better because it helps eliminate bias and allows price to ‘pull you’ into a trade.

From an ‘at the moment’ or ‘real time’ perspective, I try not to predict the outcome of a price consolidation or triangle as we had around 3:00. Truth be told I was bearish and expected a downside resolution thanks to the prevailing trend for the day and twice-tested resistance from the 50 period EMA. I play triangle breaks, not inside triangles, so that kept me out of a losing trade.

Price breaking upwards out of the triangle, breaking the 50 EMA, then doing so on high (relative) volume on a new momentum high were all the clues we needed to shift the odds to the bulls (for higher prices likely yet to come). It turned out to be EW 3, though it’s quite difficult to anticipate that at the time. Waves 4 and 5 are often more clear and offer better trading opportunities (in my opinion).

I still think the best trade of the day came at EW 4 (at 3:30pm) when price confirmed a new uptrend, the moving averages ‘crossed bullishly,’ and price retraced to test the solid (confluence) support. It allowed for a tight stop parameter if price continued lower, but allowed you to play for a target larger than your stop, or exit on close (for day traders). Ultimately, it was the Fifth Wave or also the completion of a mini-bull flag into the close.

Thank you for reading for so long! I’d love to have you comment more – I’m thoroughly impressed by your work as well. You put great detail and information into your posts that are most helpful.

I would be honored if you used/linked to any work. I will do the same with you from time to time as well.

I took last week off of trading and was happy I did. Today was a good time – for me at least – to jump back in with small positions to get back in the game. Strangely, there were great opportunities in today’s market – I expected more ‘flatness’ but am anticipating a breakout move soon.

Don’t worry – eventually the market action will pick back up and fun (volatile) times will return to us soon.

BTW, do you mind if from time to time I reference part your post (with full links abd credentials of course)?