I don't chase stocks, I analyze them
When overnight futures and the overall market are weak, some of these low flow stocks can still spike violently on news, hype, or algorithms chasing momentum. But if you can recognize when these moves are Becoming exhausted and detect the tops, your odds can improve significantly because many of these stocks eventually drop just as hard as they spike. A lot of traders begin taking profits, momentum starts fading, and if there are no truly outstanding fundamentals or game changing catalysts behind the move, the stock often struggles to hold those elevated prices. That's why I spend so much time studying price action, Volume, resistance levels, and crowd philosophy. The goal isn't to catch every penny of the move. It's to recognize when probability starts shifting and simply take a piece of the move.
BLZE It was probably my most interesting little scalp this morning. You had to know exactly how to catch it because it wasn't an easy stock to trade. It was a long, then a short, then another long, then another short and that's exactly how I played. My read on this one was almost perfect. The stock kept changing character throughout the session, and you had to be willing to adapt instead of marrying one opinion. Then there was ICCM. To me, the news simply didn't hold up. I shorted it in the $8 range and covered around $6.50 on the flush. BYAH was another short setup, and QUSY was also a short play. Finally, there was HSCS, which offered both long and short opportunities, but I recognize fairly quickly that it wasn't really an A-plus setup in either direction. Sometimes the real skill isn't Finding trades, it's recognizing the difference between an A-plus setup and everything else and be willing to pass when the probabilities aren't there.
This is also where philosophy comes into trading. What is the crowd thinking? Our people buying because the company is great, or are they buying because they're afraid of missing out? Our algorithms chasing headlines, or is the real catalyst behind the move? Most beginners get in too late, After the move has already happened. Professional traders are constantly trying to answer these questions by looking at level 2, news, SEC filings, volume, EMA lines, and countless other factors. You have to look at everything at once and make a probability-based decision. Trading isn't just buying and selling here it's analyzing human behavior, understanding crowd psychology, and knowing when the odds have shifted in your favor.
At the end of the day, I'm only trying to take a piece of the pie, and not the whole pie. I'd rather take many small, high probability pieces over and over again because, in the long run, a collection of small pieces eventually becomes the whole pie. The market doesn't care about your opinions. It only rewards preparation, patience, and the ability to adapt when conditions change. That's why I don't chase stocks- I analyze, and I spend my time trying to read the crowd.