The CSGP (Costar Group) short trade has been stopped out today, exceeding the previously suggested stop of 153.85 shortly after the open following an earnings induced gap. As mentioned recently, each trader must decided whether on not to hold or close a position before they report their quarterly earning results. A link to the Briefing.com Earnings Calendar is available under the Tools of the Trade area on the right side of the home page.

Gaps are unavoidable events with any type of trading other than day trading (where all positions are closed out by the end of each day).  Sometimes they go they way of your trade, sometimes against you.  My preference on any gap that goes against a short position is to wait until the order imbalances at the open moderate and then place a stop just above the peak high in the stock.  Sometimes the stock will power higher after the initial thrust, taking out your stop, but very often the opening gap proves to be an over-reaction with the stock moving lower afterwards.  Essentially a trader has two choices when caught on the wrong side of a gap:  1) Immediately close the position, thereby guaranteeing a loss or large give-back of any imbedded gains or 2) Set a stop above the initial reaction high, which will result in either a slightly larger loss (or give-back) or the gap is faded and the trade continues to play out, allowing for a better exit price and in some cases, the original profit target to be hit.

In the case of CSGP, the stock gapped to open at 148.08, below the suggested stop of 153.85, but quickly moved higher, exceeding the stop within the first minute of trading. The opening order imbalances continued to push the stock sharply higher for the first 20 minutes of trading until peaking at 165.83 before falling back nearly 9 points. Therefore, a trader that did not have a standing GTC stop-loss order that was taken out around 153.85 today & still happens to be short this one might consider a stop just above this morning’s peak reaction high of 165.83. However, as the 153.85 level was taken out shortly after the open, CSGP will now be moved from the Active Trades category to the Completed Trades category as a stopped out trade.