The SwingHarbor Method
Price action. Defined risk. R:R before everything.
A short, opinionated playbook for swing-trading the daily timeframe. Everything the scanner ranks, every AI thesis written, and every entry / stop / target the deep-dive returns is downstream of these six principles.
Six principles
PRINCIPLE 01
Price action over indicators
Charts tell the story; indicators only confirm it. The scanner reads structure first (higher highs / higher lows, the 8-EMA momentum tell, VWAP behavior on volume) and treats RSI and friends as a tiebreaker, not a trigger.
PRINCIPLE 02
Buy the dip at support, don't chase the breakout
Breakouts are emotionally easy and statistically expensive. Pullbacks to a confirmed support level give you a defined risk and a 3:1 R:R baseline — which is the only way a 40% win-rate strategy stays profitable.
PRINCIPLE 03
Risk 1% per trade, never 'a feeling'
Position size is computed: account × 1% ÷ (entry − stop). No averaging down, no widening the stop, no 'just one more share'. The /analyze deep-dive returns entry, stop and target with this math baked in.
PRINCIPLE 04
Demand 2:1 — prefer 3:1
If the reward isn't worth at least 2× the risk, the setup is rejected before you fall in love with it. The scanner flags this on every card and the /analyze response refuses to recommend below 2:1.
PRINCIPLE 05
Multi-timeframe alignment
A daily setup only ranks well if the weekly trend agrees. Higher-highs / higher-lows on the weekly above the 20 EMA. The 'Weekly' indicator badge on every scanner card is exactly this check.
PRINCIPLE 06
Event-driven swings on the daily
We swing-trade on the daily timeframe with a few-day to a few-week hold. Earnings, sector rotation, and macro events are the catalysts; the 200-SMA filters out broken charts, the 8-EMA confirms momentum.
What we exclude
The scanner's exclusion list is as important as its detection list. Some setups are easy to rank but impossible to size — and trades you can't size are trades you can't survive. We pass on:
- True penny stocks (sub-$1, OTC, pink sheets)
- Ultra-low-float names held overnight (gap risk)
- Symbols with no identifiable catalyst
- Anything we can't risk-size cleanly with a stop
The trade ladder
Every recommended trade — whether surfaced by the scanner or returned by the AI deep-dive — walks down this ladder. If any rung breaks, the trade is rejected, not modified.
| Setup | Pullback to a defined support, after a clean trend. |
| Trigger | Reclaim of a level with volume confirmation. |
| Stop | Just below the swing low or a fixed ATR multiple. |
| Target | Prior pivot or measured move; minimum 2× the risk. |
| Exit | Trailing stop after a partial scale-out at first target. |
How the app applies the method
From the page you're reading to the chart on your screen.
On the scanner
The 4 indicator pills on every card map directly to the principles — Trend (above 200-SMA), Weekly (multi-timeframe alignment), Volume (rvol vs the 20-day average), To Support (the distance in ATR). A red pill means the principle is failing; green means it's met.
On the chart
Click any setup to open the detail view: the top support and top resistance are dashed horizontal lines, the 20- and 50-period moving averages are overlaid, and the volume histogram is colored to match the candle direction.
In the AI deep-dive
/analyze returns an entry zone, a stop, a target, and the resulting R:R. If R:R is below 2:1 the recommendation flips to "wait" — the model is not allowed to talk you into a bad trade just because the chart looks pretty.
In your account
Recent activity shows every credit you've spent on /analyze, by symbol, with the AI model that handled it — so you can see, in plain terms, what you're paying for.
The SwingHarbor Method is presented as educational material. It is not a guarantee of profit, not a substitute for your own due diligence, and not personalized advice. Trade your own plan.