Apple could soon surpass a major milestone, according to TradingAnalysis.com founder Todd Gordon.
Looking at a chart of the tech giant, Gordon points out what he describes as a “very strong” uptrend going back to the summer of 2016. Drawing a parallel channel line leads the technician to conclude that Apple could rally to meet the top line or the parallel channel, which sits at around $200.
That’s a nearly 14 percent rise from current levels and would put the company market cap north of $1 trillion.
“At that point, technically speaking, we would be considered overbought. But for now, we can use that for the upside target [through the end of the year],” he said Thursday on CNBC’s “Trading Nation.”
What’s more, Gordon pointed out that on a day where the broad markets posted their worst sessions in two weeks, Apple emerged relatively unscathed.
“Apple’s showing some pretty good relative strength in this pretty good pocket of volatility we’re seeing here,” he said.
Given his bullish stance on Apple, Gordon wants to buy the December monthly 180-strike call and sell the December 185-strike call for about $1.23, or $123 per options spread. This means that if Apple were to rally and close above $185 on Dec. 15, then Gordon could make a maximum profit of $377 on his trade.
But if Apple were to close below $180, then Gordon could lose the $123 he paid to make the trade. So that he doesn’t lose the entire premium paid, Gordon establishes a point for him to stop out of the trade.
“Let’s go ahead and stop out of the trade at around 61 cents or around 62 cents of premium remaining to contain the risk on Apple,” he said.
Shares of Apple closed down slightly at $175.88 on Thursday. Apple is up 52 percent year to date.
