MO Watch

Tobacco company Altria Group Inc. (MO) moved to bull phase on Person's Proprietary Signal but has not yet met my requirements for entry.

	trend	sto	sto zone	pps	psar	macd	macd trend	ma20	ma200
MO $24.25

On Oct. 4 I wrote: "The price has bounced twice off of the 20-day moving average. And even in the near term, the price has yet to set a lower low. The uptrend remains in force."

My requirement for entry was a braek above the trading range of the last few trading days, meaning a higher high. MO fell short by 8¢, but it managed a reasonable 1.5 intraday rise, and the volume was nearly three times that recorded on Tuesday.

On the Persons chart, MO has moved to the upper weekly pivot, suggesting a possible pause or pullback from this point. That "rule", however, has a record of less than 100% accuracy (although greater than zero).

Person's Table

	pps	pps open	upper pivot	lower pivot
MO $24.25		$24.00 oct5	$24.23 -0.1%	$23.50 -3.1%

The all-time high of $24.49 was set in January 2008. The most recent swing high, four trading days ago, is only 10¢ below that mark.

Reversal Levels

• $24.49, +1.0% (all-time high)
• $24.39, +0.6% (swing high)
• $ <== You are here.
• $23.80, -1.9% (20-day moving average)
• $22.26, -8.2% (swing low)
• $21.13, -12.9% (200-day moving average

The more aggressive trader will jump in at this point; the more cautious will wait for a breakout above the previous high of $24.39. The most cautious will want to see a breakout of the all-time high of $24.49 before entry. Earnings will be released Oct. 20 before the open.

Disclaimer

Tim Bovee, Private Trader tracks the trades of a private trader for his own accounts. Nothing in this blog constitutes a recommendation to buy or sell stocks, options or any other financial instrument. The only purpose of this blog is to provide education and entertainment. No trader is ever 100 percent successful in his or her trades. Trading in the stock and option markets is risky and uncertain. Each trader must make trading decision decisions for his or her own account, and take responsibility for the consequences.

Abbreviations:

• pps - Person's Proprietary Signal.
• psar - Parabolic Stop and Reverse
• ma20 - 20-day moving average
• ma200 - 200-day moving average
• macd - Moving Average Convergence-Divergence
• sto - Fast Stochastic

About the glance: The colors indicate the state of each signal.

• trend: Determined by the 5-day moving average, green for up, red for down, yellow for sideways.
• sto: green for bull, red for bear.
• sto zone: green for overbought (80+), red for oversold (20-), yellow for neutral zone
• psar, pps, macd: green for bull mode, red for bear.
• macd trend: green for rising, yellow for sideways, red for falling.
neutral.
• ma20, ma200: green for above the average by more than 1%, red for below the average by more than 1%, yellow for within 1% either side of the average.