Recapping past zones (21 Feb 2025)
A follow-up to our weekly zone alerts
GM everyone, TGIF.
And to the hundreds of new subscribers who joined us this past week—welcome to Trading Places!
We already know who to thank for that…
Today we give you the latest installment of Zone Update—a series where we revisit some of the alerts we’ve previously made, and analyze how these stocks reacted around their respective zones.
While we wait for some of our more recent setups to play out, we’re going to rewind a little further and look at zones from December and January. LFG.
Apologies in advance for the eyesore that is the primitive chart from version 0.0001 of the Trading Places platform. You’re gonna see a few of them today.
In case you’re new here, each week we highlight stocks nearing or entering Hot Zones, i.e. key levels on the charts with great risk-reward setups. Stay tuned and subscribe to get these alerts before anyone else!
Check out this week’s hot zones:
Resmed Inc (RMD)
Healthcare • Medical Instruments & Supplies • USA • NYSE
Zone alert: December 22, 2024
For the OGs out there, you might remember this alert from our second (!) newsletter.
The Fed’s Hawk-ening had just hit, and plenty of stocks were still picking themselves up from the rekt-age. Somewhere in that rubble, our zone scanner found RMD.
It was then hovering around the edges of its January 2022 zone, looking ready to move back up.
Well, after giving the zone a few scares—Note the faux breakdowns just days after our alert—RMD actually managed pull off the recovery (at least temporarily).
It climbed to a fresh high of $263 on January 30—which is, incidentally, also the very top of its March 2022 zone. Exiting here would have locked in a gain of 10.8%.
Johnson & Johnson (JNJ)
Healthcare • Drug Manufacturers - General • USA • NYSE
Zone alert: January 1, 2025
JNJ was our very first bonus zone alert of 2025. (We usually drop these on 𝕏 or our Substack Chat, so join us there if you haven’t already!)
When our zone scanner spotted JNJ, the stock has been consolidating for weeks within its October 2017 zone.
We noted that if the zone didn’t hold, the one below (June 2017) could offer a solid bounce—making JNJ one to watch this year.
It did exactly that.
After lightly grazing the very tip of its June 2017 zone, the stock rebounded and has not looked back since. It’s currently up 13.4% since the dip.
JNJ’s reaction to its zone was so beautiful, it was allegedly put on auction—where a crypto billionaire bought it for $6.2 million.
Exelixis Inc. (EXEL)
Healthcare • Biotechnology • USA • NASD
Zone alert: January 28, 2024
This EXEL play was among the safest setups we’ve ever alerted.
At the time our scanner found it, it was sitting in a support zone that has only experienced one penetration in its lifetime.
It also had a solid upside (up to 14%), and a pretty clear stop (about 3% down), making for a near 5:1 R/R ratio.
Like we said… very safe.
Since the alert, EXEL has gone up by about 7.2%, and could still be well on its way to the November 2024 zone.
Even this week, our zone algorithm has spotted three additional opportunities with compelling risk-reward potential.
To get these delivered straight to your inbox weekly, subscribe to our newsletter. A new zone alert is dropping this Tuesday!
But wait… who are you people and what am I doing here?”
Welcome to Trading Places.
We’re just a bunch of market nerds, quants, and posers who’ve spent years deciphering price action, identifying high-probability setups, and questioning our life choices every time a chart pattern didn’t play out as planned.
After years of refining our approach, we built a quantitative system that cuts through the BS. Our algorithm highlights key market Zones—areas on the chart where real money moves, not just speculative noise.
Think of it as an edge—scanning stocks, currencies, and crypto in real-time to pinpoint where your attention is required.
Every week, we share these insights with you. No fluff, no hype—just actionable setups backed by real market dynamics.
WTF are Zones, anyway?
Zones are key price levels where the market has reacted strongly in the past—such as sharp reversals or sudden swings.
They’re areas where actual supply and demand met in the past, and likely will meet again.
“Why are these significant?”
Well, it all comes down to three key principles. We like to call them The Principles of:
When I Dip, You Dip, We Dip (aka psychology)
Traders are aware that others are watching these levels (zones) too. With everybody paying attention, this creates a self-fulfilling prophecy where everybody acts in anticipation of everybody else’s actions.
Markets Gonna Market ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ (aka technical factors)
If the first price rejection at the top of a zone was violent, it’s likely that buyers who entered at that level are now holding losses.
But with each retest, the rejection weakens, as there are fewer buyers remaining underwater. This weakens that resistance (or support for all you short-sellers), and could eventually lead to a break through.
Killer Whales (aka institutional plays)
Big players need liquidity in order to place massive orders without moving the market against themselves. So they wait for these zones, knowing a lot of us small fry (retail traders) will come to play.
This allows them to buy low or sell high without causing a lot of waves.
Remember: Zones are NOT guarantees but rather regions of increased probability for market moves. So always, ALWAYS use proper risk management.
Trading Places: Launch coming soon!
Stop obsessively refreshing your charts like it’s your ex’s Instagram.
By combining historical patterns with real-time market data, Trading Places identifies zones and assigns probabilities to each one—helping traders spot potential plays with higher chances of success.
It automates all of the curation, chart-plotting, and alerting for you, so you can actually have a life (or at least pretend to)!
Stay tuned!
Disclaimer: This isn't financial advice. This shouldn’t be news to you.