The market woke up on edge this morning.
Futures dropped sharply after headlines from the NATO summit reignited the Iran conflict, and oil jumped more than 5%. The Dow was pointing down over 500 points before the bell.
And it is not just today.
The QQQ, the fund that tracks the big Nasdaq names, has been sagging for weeks. It has slipped below its 50-day moving average and closed lower on most days lately.
So the tape looks tired. I get it.
However, a tired market is not the time to stop looking. It is when you get pickier.
When everything is strong, it all floats higher and setups are easy. When the market gets heavy, the stocks that keep trending are telling you something. Real buyers are behind them, the kind that do not care about the scary headline of the day.
That is why I am watching Best Buy.
I know how that sounds. Best Buy, the place you buy a TV, not the flashy name you expected on a watchlist.
Stick with me, because the chart is the whole story.
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Back on May 28, Best Buy reported earnings and crushed it. Sales grew, profit beat, and the stock jumped double digits in a single session.
That move never faded. The stock climbed from around 55 in late May up near 79 today, roughly a 25% run while much of the market chopped sideways. That tells you real money stepped in and stayed.
Now here is why it is on my watchlist today, not just in May. I look at three things on every chart, in order. Trend, pattern, squeeze.
Start with the trend. The moving averages are stacked in order, the fast 8-day on top near 77, the 21-day under it near 75, the 34-day below near 73, all rising with price above them. That is a healthy uptrend at a glance.
The pattern is that earnings move and everything after it. A giant volume day higher, then weeks of holding those gains instead of giving them back.
Strong stocks hold their gains. This one held.
Last is the squeeze. That is when a stock’s range pinches tighter and tighter, coiling like a spring. When it releases, it tends to move fast in the direction of the trend, and this trend is up.
And this spring is coiling near the highs, not down in the gutter after a beating, which is the most bullish place it can be. Best Buy is even green today while futures point lower.
This is a perfect example of a setup I like in a jittery market.
Your Action Plan
With volatility climbing again, we’re also going to see opportunities for fast plays. A chance to get in and out of things quickly.
That is the whole idea behind Fast Cash. I hunt for tight, defined moves and aim to be done fast, win or lose, without ever betting on a stock going down. Some of those moves have paid $10,000 in 6 minutes, $20,650 in 12 minutes, and $21,700 in 11 minutes.
In a market like this one, fast and defined beats slow and hopeful every time.