Good technical signals and a possible breakout for APPLE INC.

Our stock screener has spotted APPLE INC (NASDAQ:AAPL) as a possible breakout candidate. A technical breakout setup pattern occurs when the stock is consolidating after a nice uptrend. Whether the actual breakout occurs remains to be seen of course, but it may be interesting to keep an eye on NASDAQ:AAPL.

Technical Analysis Observations

ChartMill assigns a proprietary Technical Rating to each stock. The score is computed daily by evaluating various technical indicators and properties. The score ranges from 0 to 10.

Taking everything into account, AAPL scores 8 out of 10 in our technical rating. This is due to a decent performance in both the short and medium term time frames. Compared to the overall market, AAPL is only an average performer.

• The long and short term trends are both positive. This is looking good!
• AAPL is part of the Technology Hardware, Storage & Peripherals industry. There are 35 other stocks in this industry. AAPL outperforms 80% of them.
• AAPL is currently trading near its 52 week high, which is a good sign. The S&P500 Index is trading in the upper part of its 52 week range, but not near new highs, so AAPL is leading the market.
• In the last month AAPL has a been trading in the 164.31 - 176.39 range, which is quite wide. It is currently trading in the middle of this range where prices have been consolidating recently, this may present a good entry opportunity, but some resistance may be present above.
• Looking at the yearly performance, AAPL did better than 91% of all other stocks. However, this overall good ranking is mostly due to the recent strong move.

How do we evaluate the setup for NASDAQ:AAPL?

Besides the Technical Rating, ChartMill also assign a Setup Rating to every stock. This setup score also ranges from 0 to 10 and determines to which extend the stock is consolidating. This is achieved by evaluating multiple short term technical indicators. NASDAQ:AAPL currently has a 8 as setup rating:

AAPL has an excellent technical rating and also presents a decent setup pattern. We see reduced volatility while prices have been consolidating in the most recent period. A pullback is taking place, which may present a nice opportunity for an entry. There is a support zone below the current price at 171.83, a Stop Loss order could be placed below this zone. Very recently a Pocket Pivot signal was observed. This is another positive sign.

How to trade NASDAQ:AAPL?

A breakout could materialize when the stock breaks out to new highs above the current consolidation zone. One could wait for this to happen and buy when this happens. A stop loss could be placed below the consolidation zone.

Of course, there are many ways to trade or not trade NASDAQ:AAPL and this article should in no way be interpreted as trading advice. The article is purely based on an automated technical analysis and just points out the technical observations. Always make your own analysis and trade at your own responsibility.

More breakout setups can be found in our Breakout analyzer.