PowerShares QQQ : Nasdaq 100 (QQQQ)

Company

QQQQ 1-year chart
QQQQ 1-year chart

"PowerShares QQQ™ seeks to replicate the NASDAQ-100 Index®, which includes 100 of the largest, most innovative non-financial companies that trade on the NASDAQ Stock Market®. Formerly known as the NASDAQ-100 Index Tracking Stock® or QQQ, PowerShares QQQ™ gained its popularity through investment professionals, private investors and more recently, financial advisors." (company website)

QQQQ 6-month chart
QQQQ 6-month chart

Buy

5 January 2009. With a solid gain on the first trading day of the year, the markets seem in a bullish mood — at least for a couple of days. I regret that I sold QQQQ at the end of 2008, so I decided to buy in again this morning to ride the wave for a couple of days.

  • Percentage price oscillator (PPO) — diverging again above the signal line
  • Volume — light volumes over the holiday period, but heavy again now

Based on technical analysis, MarketEdge calls QQQQ a "neutral" with "strongly improving conditions."

Sell

gain Bottom line
1%

10 February 2009. While it seems fairly clear from the 1-year chart that QQQQ has bottomed out, each share is pricey enough to make me reluctant to assume the risk of riding it back down to the average. Thus, I bailed out this morning, even though the chart looks quite strong. A small profit in hand is better than the possibility of a larger profit later on.