Akamai Technologies, Inc (Nasdaq: AKAM) Trade on Monday

I’ve been waiting for Akamai Technologies, Inc (Nasdaq: AKAM) to break 42 for a long time. After this morning, I was pretty sure I’d be waiting at least another day. But, as luck would have it, the markets completely turned around by 11AM or so, and I had my chance.

However, while the setup was great, this one really stretched my criteria for entry. There was no good, tight stop available, since the stock broke from the 41.85 area, rather than just under 42. The most reasonable stop I could see was like 60 cents from my 42.14 entry. Way too wide for my risk:reward tastes… it wasn’t a foregone conclusion that it would run past 43 by the end of the day. Not in my mind, anyway.

So, I nearly passed, but decided I could at least get in and out quick with some profit. Here were my three reasons why:

• I knew a lot of traders must also be watching this obvious 42 level, since the stock’s been trying to break it for weeks. So, there was bound to be a mass of excited buying for a bit.
• The markets, for whatever reason, had turned extremely positive right about at my entry time. I saw the NYSE TICK hit 2500 several times, without the usual resultant selling.
• BIG relative volume on the break of 42.

(although I admit part of it was that I had waited too long on this stock to not put some kind of play on… I’m only human.) So, I picked the somewhat arbitrary 41.99 stop, and planned to essentially ride the initial wave of enthusiasm. That’s exactly what I did… in and out in 75 seconds for 1.6 R of profit. Had I stayed in, I would have made a lot more money, but that wasn’t the kind of trade I felt comfortable making.

Here’s the chart (click to enlarge):

I did plan to get back in on a pullback that would have provided a low-risk entry, but I didn’t really see one that thrilled me before it got too late in the day to consider it.

A Case of the Mondays
Oh, well. It was a profitable Monday (100% win rate, too), so I can’t complain. A prototype StockTickr report, not yet public, tells me my expectency by day of week. It confirms what I pretty much knew… I suck on most Mondays! It’s my lowest expectancy weekday, historically. If I were to guess why, I’d say it has to do with remaining hangups I have about wanting to be profitable each week. I don’t want to start the week in the red, and the extra pressure hurts my decision-making, maybe? Or, maybe, I am just out-of-synch with the markets after the weekend break? Regardless, it’s interesting information.

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