Market Report: Three Bullish Triggers on ICE

You’ve probably heard me say this before, but one of the most powerful stocks out there is Intercontinental Exchange (ICE - NYSE).

As a quick refresher, Intercontinental Exchange owns and operates an Internet-based global electronic marketplace for trading in futures - including commodities like crude oil, natural gas, sugar, cotton, coffee, cocoa, and orange juice.

Already this week, a series of critical events have occurred that could lead to aggressive upside movements for the Internet-based electronic futures trading firm. If you want to participate in the profits, then here’s the scoop:

Upside Trigger #1: First off, ICE was officially added to the S&P 500 index after the close of trading on Tuesday. This means that any fund indexed to the S&P 500 must now establish a position in ICE – offering current shareholders a very strong and established base of stockholders for the foreseeable future.

Upside Trigger #2: Secondly, ICE has just broken strongly above its 50-day moving average (chart noted below) which signals a possible return to its July highs of $170.00.

Upside Trigger #3: And finally, Borse Dubai’s recent 19.9% stake in the NASDAQ Stock Market (NDAQ - Nasdaq) could lead to further Middle Eastern exchange investments, especially in high profit-margin derivative exchanges like ICE. As one of the top publicly traded exchanges, I personally feel that ICE is currently romancing some very wealthy foreign investment dollars. Any forthcoming buys (or even minority stakes) could really offer a boost to ICE share values.

With all three bullish triggers occurring at once, I think it’s a very good idea to have some sort of upside exposure in this stock. To me, that means owning out-of-the-money ICE calls into October, November, or December. That could also mean buying shares of ICE outright as well. Either way, if the upside momentum continues, we could have a truly explosive winner on our hands, and I hope that you are along for the ride.

So you can consider today’s “Trading Tactic” a more speculative (or aggressive) trade. But, if you’re willing to play a big mover like this, then I would consider owning some sort of upside exposure to InterContinental Exchange (ICE - NYSE) at current levels.

Bryan