Interactive Investor

Have Barclays shares hit glass ceiling?

20th December 2017 09:25

Alistair Strang from Trends and Targets

Barclays Bank (LSE:BARC)

A day spent, applying nail varnish, tends explain the ridiculous sums people spend in "Nail Bars". It all started when a favourite keyboard began needing healthy thumps to make the space bar work, along with someone noticing only the 'F' & 'Q' keys were actually visible.

A constant beef with Microsoft's flagship keyboard, the grandly named 'Office Sculpt', has been the unpleasant detail of keys wearing away.

Numerous replacement stickers also wear out fast and being one of the lucky people who don't need look at a keyboard, it's not actually a major problem.

Until, that is, the mistake is made of looking down while typing as this is the point where the brain instantly forgets everything.

When the replacement keyboard set arrived, the suggestion was made that clear Nail Varnish be applied to each key. It made a lot of sense, an argument quickly demolished by the utter boredom involved delicately painting each key, then gently blowing to speed up the drying process.

Thankfully, a day where we'd intended examine Barclays share price ensured ample time given, while retraining as a "Nail Bar painter!" To describe the session as boring risks considerable understatement. A trading range of 0.9p for a 2 quid share verged on silly.

There was a reason we were stalking Barclays.

The share recently managed to close above 199.378p, the downtrend since February 2007. Generally, when a share breaks above a long term trend, we anticipate a degree of flamboyant behaviour.

In the case of Barclays, we'd hope it would step into Christmas with a surge toward the 219p level. The implication, should 219p be bettered, is of a sleigh ride upward to a jolly 245p in the future.

However, it's proving as boring as a fairytale in New York. And now, running out of annoying festive clichés, what we do expect with a share which refuses to go up?

Normally they become range bound, trapped for a while until a material change in circumstance provokes some proper movement. In the case of Barclays, the visuals suggest any rise is liable to stumble around the 210p mark, the level of the prior high before the trend break.

This, invariably, brings the threat of a glass ceiling forming along with a share price bonking around between the pink line at 182 currently and the invisible rooftop. We'd be justified in concern should the price ever now find an excuse to close a session below 182p as this would tend promise an attempt at the long term red uptrend, currently 134p.

For Barclays, like our nail varnish day, it appears patience will probably be required.

 

Alistair Strang has led high-profile and "top secret" software projects since the late 1970s and won the original John Logie Baird Award for inventors and innovators. After the financial crash, he wanted to know "how it worked" with a view to mimicking existing trading formulas and predicting what was coming next. His results speak for themselves as he continually refines the methodology.

Alistair Strang is a freelance contributor and not a direct employee of Interactive Investor. All correspondence is with Alistair Strang, who for these purposes is deemed a third-party supplier. Buying, selling and investing in shares is not without risk. Market and company movement will affect your performance and you may get back less than you invest. Neither Alistair Strang, Shareprice, or Interactive Investor will be responsible for any losses that may be incurred as a result of following a trading idea. 

This article is for information and discussion purposes only and does not form a recommendation to invest or otherwise. The value of an investment may fall. The investments referred to in this article may not be suitable for all investors, and if in doubt, an investor should seek advice from a qualified investment adviser.