FSI International (FSII)

Company. FSI international produces "advanced wafer cleaning equipment and technology." (company website)

Buy. FSII was supposed to be a good idea. The stock had crossed the $5 threshhold decisively on heavy volume. It then came back down and then had another big up-day all on heavy volume. The Chaikin oscillator was very high and rising. The ADX line was rising.

What I failed to notice was that the candlestick for that day was forming a "hanging man" — FSII opened up a bit, flirted with low prices during the session, and then finished a bit lower than where it opened. Also, the +DI line was actually falling, indicating decreasing buying pressure.

To make bad matters worse, FSII got caught up in the general downdraft at the end of September. I was looking at a loss.

Sell. FSII has risen in price over the past two weeks. Unhappily yesterday was a big down-day (the candlestick formed a "dark cloud cover"), and FSII continued to fall again today at a time when the rest of the market was positively ebullient.

Since the strength of the trend had largely evaporated (the ADX line languishes below the 20 threshhold), I decided to take the opportunity to break even and prune my portfolio.