Weekly Trading Plan | May 3rd
Sharing my Homework. Free for Everyone This Week.
Jesse Livermore said it best: the big money is made in sitting.
I’ve been thinking about that a lot lately. We’re in a power trend. The Nasdaq is resilient, the Russell is showing real strength, and my portfolio is fully invested in what I believe are genuine market leaders. And yet, sitting here fully allocated, I still feel underinvested.
If you’ve ever felt that way, you’re not crazy. That feeling is FOMO wearing a rational disguise. The antidote isn’t more buying. I believe it is trusting the process.
Here’s where I stand. Fully invested. No margin yet. My goal isn’t to make all my money in one shot, it’s to ride out a longer-term cycle in the right names, build cushion, and let time work in my favor. Every add, every trim, every hold needs to be something I could defend in front of a jury of my trading peers. That’s the standard I hold myself to.
Let’s get into it!!!
The Market
The Nasdaq did what you’d expect after a big run - it went sideways. Kind of…
What you might not expect is that it also quietly drifted higher, posting higher lows the whole time. That’s not a market that wants to pull back. That’s a market looking for a reason to go up.
This is what a lockout rally feels like. Every pullback you’re waiting for just doesn’t come.
The index I’m watching most closely is the Russell 2000. I posted a video about this last week: the Russell is my traffic light for risk-on versus risk-off. When small caps are healthy, growth stocks have room to run. Last week we got a clean pullback to the 21-day moving average, followed by a strong reversal bar on Thursday, and a follow-through day right off the 10-day. That’s exactly the kind of action that makes me want to add exposure.
Key price to watch: The Russell’s 21-day moving average. As long as we’re above it, the environment stays risk-on.
For additional exposure when I want to get more aggressive, I’m adding to my Russell 2000 position via the index ETF. Until my individual leaders give me clean entry points, this is where I’ll be putting incremental capital to work.
The Positions
SanDisk (SNDK): My biggest position. After earnings, it opened down nearly 9% and then reversed to close up 8.25% into new highs. That’s not a stock that wants to go lower.
I started building this position in the 700s, around the follow-through day. That feels like a long time ago now. The stock is extended, and I don’t have a clean place to add here.
The price I’m watching: 1050. That’s the low of Friday’s earnings candle. I treat that as the new floor. An undercut of that level wouldn’t force me out, but a decisive close below the 50-day moving average would. We’re nowhere near that. This one gets space and patience.
Bloom Energy (BE): My second-largest position at roughly 20% of the portfolio. The story here is messy in the best possible way: sloppy base, then a gap, more sloppy action, then another gap, and now it’s starting to tighten. Three straight days of upside reversals heading into Friday. The kind of action that makes a bull flag.
The number I’m watching: 260. That’s the low of Thursday’s reversal candle. As long as BE holds above 260, I’m giving this room. A decisive break there and I’d consider trimming down to roughly 15%.
If I didn’t already own it, 290 is the episodic pivot entry - a clean break above that level on volume is an automatic add. I own it, so I’m watching and waiting for a consolidation to form.
Marvell (MRVL): Newer position. I bought it in stages - first a “psyche buy” just to get in, then added off the 10-day. The weekly chart is showing what looks like two tight weeks, and if it prints a third, that’s a genuinely constructive base forming at this level.
The range I’m watching: 150 to 170. A break above 170, especially on a gap, is an automatic add in my book. The 10-day is right there and the 21-day is catching up - when those converge, it gives me cleaner levels to work off.
My line in the sand: 146. That’s a lot of rope, but I believe this is a true market leader with institutional support, and I’d rather give it space than get shaken out of a name I’ve high conviction in.
Comfort Systems (FIX): This one doesn’t run like Marvell. It walks. Ever since it broke out of its base above 1500, it’s been a steady climber - respecting the 10-day the entire way up.
I added on Thursday after a good move off the 10-day, and the key candle I’m watching is that Thursday bar: low of 1749.13. I want this stock to respect that level.
A decisive break of the 10-day and I’d lighten up. A break of the 21-day and I’m mostly out. But I don’t expect either - the character of this stock has been consistent all the way up, and there’s no reason to expect it to change.
Google (GOOGL): Bought the earnings gap using a one-hour opening range breakout. It’s up a little, acting tight near new highs, and there’s not much volatility. That’s fine.
The level I’m watching: 365.82. That’s the low of the gap-up day. Google needs to respect that. If it does, I’m holding and letting the moving averages catch up. No clean add here yet.
XBI (IRA): Biotech ETF in my IRA. Not a core focus, but worth noting: it pulled back clean to the 50-day on lower volume. Constructive. No plans to sell, no plans to add - fully allocated in that account - but if you have dry powder, this is a sensible spot to consider.
NVDA (IRA): I’ve held NVDA for nearly two years. It was my top performer last year, and my average cost is very favorable. But I’ll be direct: the last two days have seen it underperform on a relative basis. Down 4% in a market that’s been resilient. The leaders of the last cycle aren’t always the leaders of the next.
I’m not selling based on my cost basis and position history, but I’m not initiating here either. My mental stop is the 200-day moving average. As long as it holds that, I hold. If it loses the 200-day, I reassess.
Closing Thoughts
This past week I got to spend time with Mike Webster - William O’Neil’s right-hand man for decades - and also talked markets with other traders. The thing that stuck with me: there’s a lot of aggressive buying out there right now. Even traders who are fully allocated feel like they’re missing something.
That feeling is normal. It’s also a signal.
When everyone is scrambling to get more exposure, the discipline isn’t in finding more names. It’s in protecting what you’ve already built. The money is in sitting. The conviction is in the work you did before you entered the trade, not the urgency you feel after it starts moving.
I’m focused on four or five names I know deeply and can manage closely. Once I start spreading across seven or eight, the attention thins out and the decision-making gets shaky. That’s a personal rule I don’t break.
The plan for now: hold the leaders, let the cushion build, and add exposure to the Russell index when the market gives me confirmation rather than FOMO.
Trade well this week.
Ghost Alpha publishes weekly trading plans and CAN SLIM analysis at ghostalphatrade.substack.com. Follow along on X at @GhostAlphaTrade.