XOM has formed a triangle inside its range or bullish rectangle over the last two months. This is some serious consolidation after a move upwards off the October lows. Both the Range or the Bullish rectangle and the triangle are consider bullish continuation patterns. That is that they are formed by consolidation of price after trending in an upwards direction. When the stock breaks these patterns it begins its upwards climb again.
Bullish Case: XOM has the honor of having two bullish continuation patterns making it a very tradable play. If XOM is going to continue its upwards movement it will need to get above 87.10 and 87.66. Which is a break of the triangle and the range. XOM measured move for the breakout would be around 3.59 which sends XOM to 91.25 or a 4.09% move.
Bearish Case: But these patterns can break down. Right now XOM is sitting on the bottom of it triangle and near the bottom of the range if these patterns would fail all XOM would have to do is break below 84.04. This would cause XOM to drop 3.59 points sending it to 80.50 or a 4.2% drop.
Either way placing your bets now is a crap shoot. It is better to wait for one of these levels to break before you enter a position on this stock.
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