Apple stock is higher on Thursday and could try to make a push to records before the end of the year.
Apple shares earlier this month were a market leader, but over the past few trading sessions, they've wobbled.
As the overall market continued to sway with volatility, Apple was a beacon of strength. We were lucky with Apple stock. In fact, incredibly lucky.
On Dec. 13 the Cupertino, Calif., tech giant was approaching a $3 trillion valuation. But I wrote about the potential sell-the-news bearish reversal that was in play. The stock then posted five daily losses in a six-session span.
Apple has now begun to find its footing.
It was recently reported that Apple was a massive buyer of its own stock last quarter — which is no surprise given its buyback commitment —as it led the S&P 500.
Now bulls are wondering if all that buying will eventually pay off. Let’s look at the charts.
Trading Apple Stock
This morning I had Apple on my radar. Why? It’s simple.
Look at the way shares of Apple closed lower on Friday and Monday, but both times rallied from the open. We know that by the look of the candle.
Rather than a filled-in, deep-red candle (like Thursday, Dec. 16), we have two hollow red candles. That shows us a higher close from the open, even though the stock ended lower on the day. In other words, bulls were buying the opening dips.
Further, Apple stock was holding the 21-day moving average.
With yesterday’s bounce, Apple not only rallied off the 21-day moving average, it closed above the 10-day moving average.
That had traders looking for a daily-up rotation over Tuesday’s high, at $173.20.
From here I want to see whether Apple stock can continue to push higher. It’s above all its major daily moving averages.
If it does continue higher, downtrend resistance and the $179.50 area are in play. Twice, Apple has failed on its push over $180. So if it does make a run higher, we want to be cognizant of this zone.
Above $180 opens the door to the all-time high, at $182.13. Above that and we can start talking about the $188 to $194 zone, where Apple finds a few upside extensions.