My Swing Trading Breakout Strategy (Built for a Full-Time Job)
- FinancialWisdom
- 1 day ago
- 6 min read
This video breaks down my end-of-week swing trading breakout strategy, developed from over 30 years in the stock market.
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Video Transcript Below:
What if I told you that you can be a successful swing trader by spending only a couple of hours every Sunday morning? You never have to watch the markets during work hours and never stress about day trading, using the exact system I'm about to share with you.
This swing trading strategy has delivered in excess of 25% annual returns, on average, for more than a decade. That means your equity can compound quickly. And here's the best part—it's especially beneficial for people with busy lives who can't babysit the markets all day.
I'm going to show you the system, including the scanner that does 90% of the work for you, the exact entry and exit rules, and why this approach is perfect when you're building wealth on the side. For those familiar with my approach already it can serve as a refresher.
Here's what most people get wrong regarding trading, especially those holding a day job: they try to day trade during lunch breaks or check positions every few hours. That's a recipe for disaster, not only for your equity but for your employment too.
Here you'll discover why weekly charts are your secret weapon, how my custom scanner eliminates hours of chart analysis, the exact breakout criteria that filter winning trades, and the simple exit strategy that locks in profits while you're focused on your day job.
But first, let me address the elephant in the room...
Why is this approach perfect for people with a day job?
When you're working full-time, you face three major challenges that destroy most trading accounts:
Challenge number one: No time to monitor markets. You're in meetings, dealing with deadlines, and the last thing you need is your phone buzzing with trade alerts every five minutes.
Challenge number two: Information overload. After a long day at work, the last thing you want is to analyze hundreds of charts looking for setups.
Challenge number three: Emotional decision-making. When you're tired and stressed from work, you make impulsive trading decisions that kill your account.
My approach solves all three problems with one simple shift: we use weekly charts instead of daily or hourly charts.
Here's why this changes everything: Weekly charts are more aligned with stock fundamentals than lower timeframes, but still responsive enough to capture technical moves. Think of it this way—daily charts show you the noise, weekly charts show you the music.
Through weekly charts, we capture the meat of long-term moves, occasionally riding multi-baggers in the process. And here's the best part—you only need to check your positions once a week, typically on Sunday mornings with your coffee.
But there's one more element that makes this system truly hands-off...
The bespoke scanner does all the heavy lifting.
Several of our community members tell me the game-changer isn't just the strategy—it’s having a process that does the scanning for us.
Many traders spend hours every weekend scrolling through charts, looking for setups. That's exactly what I used to do until we created a bespoke scanner that eliminated this time-consuming process.
This scanner is programmed to spot setups automatically, eliminating the need to visually sift through hundreds of charts. It covers major markets including the UK, US, Germany, India, Australia, and Canada. But here's what makes it special—it doesn't just find stocks, it ranks them.
The scanner reduces my scanning time from a full weekend to a little over an hour. Let me show you exactly how it works:
First, we filter for consolidation patterns. I use a tight consolidation range with a minimum of six weekly candles. This means the stock has been moving sideways, building energy for the next big move.
Second, we look for breakouts. The system filters stocks that have broken out and closed above the consolidation box in the current week. No guesswork—the computer does the math.
Third, breakout size matters. Breakout size is the distance between the open and close of the breakout candle. I'm generally looking for a minimum 5% breakout size in the breakout week, though I set the filter to 2% to catch worthy stocks that meet all other criteria.
Fourth, market cap filtering. I prefer stocks with at least $500 million market cap to avoid liquidity issues and high trading costs.
The scanner scores every stock on three dimensions: Technical, quality and momentum ratings, this ensures we catch quality stocks showing momentum whilst offering low risk entry through its consolidation structure. In essence we are creating a low risk high reward proposition.
When you click on any stock, you get the weekly chart with a complete scoring summary. No more guessing—the system tells you exactly why this stock made the list.
The scanner finds the opportunities, but you still need to make the final decision.
Once the scanner presents your filtered list, there are three final checks before you pull the trigger:
Visual chart interpretation: We want lateral consolidations, not volatile, deep pullbacks. As you practice this, spotting clean consolidations becomes second nature.
Fundamental health check: We're generally looking for growing revenue, increasing net income, manageable debt, healthy cash flow, and growing book value. Not perfect numbers — just positive trends. Since the scanner filters out most of the junk stocks, we filter through what’s left, looking for the very best opportunities.
Risk assessment: The scanner calculates our stop-loss distance. We prefer sub-10% risk, but we can accept higher risk if all other aspects stack up.
For those new to position sizing, lets assume you take a position from the scanner offering a 10% stop loss and you have a $10,000 account size. We also assume that you are willing to risk 10% of your account size on any one position, therefore, your position size would be $1000.
The 10% stop loss is against the $1000 position size, meaning your actual risk is $100.
Essentially you are controlling a $1000 position with $100 of risk.
Entry is simple: Create a buy order a decimal above the prior week close, we want to see at least some positive move from the prior close.
Stop-loss: Use the scanner's calculation or set it in the lower portion of consolidation, some choose to use the low of the breakout candle.
Here’s where many traders struggle—knowing when to exit profitable trades. I have looked at many solutions over the years and found this approach to be the sweet spot on weekly charts.
The exit strategy uses MACD crossovers. When the blue MACD line closes below the red signal line, I mark that week's low. If the stock crosses below that low, I exit. No emotions, no second-guessing—just follow the system.
In theory everything can run on autopilot. Set your stops, monitor each weekend, and let the system work while you focus on other aspects of your life.
If you’d like to learn more about the scanner, our community, or simply want my E-book with this process, check the links in the description below.
By joining the group, you’ll gain access to a supportive trading community, where you can ask questions, share ideas, and grow faster. You’ll also get full access to all my past and future trades, along with detailed explanations behind every move I make.
Each week, I send out a market newsletter that breaks down the current trading environment and offers actionable insights based on micro trends. And of course, you’ll receive a comprehensive PDF that explains every aspect of this strategy in detail.
Stock trading can absolutely be your passport to financial independence—if you approach it the right way. The problem is, most new traders get lured into day trading or forex, thinking it’s a shortcut to wealth. What they end up with is stress, burnout, and losses. Worse, they give up before they ever discover the power of structured, sustainable approaches—like swing trading.
Will you make a fortune overnight? No. But if you follow a tested, rule-based system, stay disciplined and avoid common pitfalls, like overleveraging, you’ll be well on your way to outperforming the market.
And once you develop an edge and build a track record of steady profitability, you can start scaling up your returns. That’s when the path to full-time trading can become a reality
For those interested in using my breakout method and bespoke scanner, why not join us: https://www.financialwisdomtv.com/service
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