The trading day after Thanksgiving has been known to present a few high-flying stocks in the past, and this post-holiday session was no exception. PNTR - Pointer Telocation Ltd. took top honors, moving from a low of $9 to as high as $25 before it’s retreat. I missed the first pullback, and was not too excited about getting involved with the stock after that. I hope someone held the stock from the $6 range a few days later.

There are a few stocks under the radar that have been quite active the past few weeks. ANDS - Anadys Pharmaceuticals Inc., ATEA - Astea International Inc., and BNSO - Bonso Electronics International Inc., have all increased in volume and price. I’m more likely to watch these for short selling patterns than the long side.

The RYL and XHB trades were stopped on Friday with gains. The homebuilders gapped higher Wednesday, but breached my trailing stops on Friday . The 200-day moving averages directly above still look in play though.

Gold stocks have moved back up to an area of resistance, with the XAU.X bouncing off it’s 50-day moving average five trading sessions ago. That’s been a tough sector for me to trade lately.

With momentum traders still in charge of the bull, it’s still a stock pickers market.

I’m in light day trading mode. I’m really waiting for those trading patterns to play out fully. With the market playing a game of Russian roulette on each break higher, I’m content staying patient with the trades. I’m still in the RYL and XHB long trade. The stop-loss moves to .20 below the daily low for each stock. The OIH is staying close to it’s 20 day moving average after the fall last week. I exited that trade the same day. As for today, the morning list of gapping stocks included KNOT - The Knot, Inc. This stock looked interesting so was put on my stock picks to watch.

After a quick pop higher in KNOT - The Knot, Inc., it drifted lower slowly. As I watch both the 5, and 15-minute candlestick charts, I chose the 15-minute chart for entry. The 5-minute chart was too choppy. Recognizing the BL2 trading pattern, the trade was taken over the higher high of the 7th bar. That bar was .04 wide. Here’s where you make the choice of reward vs. risk. You can use the bottom of that 7th candlestick as a stop. You could also use the prior bar’s low. Since the low for the day is so close though, it would be most practical using the low of 24.80 as a stop. R = .20, depending on the fill. It makes me happy when the stock pattern works right away. That’s the case here.

Half the shares are sold as the stock moves past 3R. At this point, I let the rest of the shares play out the rest of the day with a stop at break even.