The short version
Kristjan Kullamägi, known online as Qullamaggie, trades the strongest stocks in the US market. He finds the ones that have moved the most in the last one to six months, waits for them to pause in a tight range, and buys when they break out of it. When a stock gaps sharply higher on big news, he trades that too. He cuts losers the same day and sells winners in pieces as they run.
Who he is
Kullamägi is a Swedish swing trader who trades US stocks. He became widely known for his live streams and for his website, where he explained his setups, his scans and his trades in detail, including the losing ones.
His method has no secret indicator. It is a short list of rules applied with a lot of patience and very tight risk control.
Setup 1: the breakout
This is the setup most people mean when they talk about Qullamaggie.
- A big move first. The stock has already risen 30% to 100% or more over the past one to three months. Leaders are found by their strength, not by how cheap they look.
- Then a rest. For two weeks to two months it moves sideways or drifts lower in an orderly way: higher lows, a narrowing range, price riding the rising 10-day and 20-day moving averages.
- Then the breakout. He buys when price clears the top of that range, usually in the first minutes of the session, using the high of the opening range as his trigger.
His stop goes at the low of that day, and he wants it no wider than the stock's average daily range. If the trade works, he sells a third to half after three to five days and moves the stop on the rest to break-even.
Setup 2: the episodic pivot
An episodic pivot is a stock that gaps up 10% or more on news that changes the story, most often earnings, on very heavy volume. Kullamägi likes them best when the news is a big surprise, earnings and sales are growing fast, and the stock had not already run up in the months before. He buys the break of the opening range and puts his stop at the low of the day, as with a breakout.
The setup was named by Pradeep Bonde, who writes as Stockbee.
US stocks with an episodic pivot this month →
Setup 3: the parabolic short
The third setup runs the other way: a stock that has gone nearly straight up, 50% to 100% in a few days for a larger company and much more for a small one, often up three to five days in a row. When it starts to crack, he shorts it and covers as it falls back to its 10-day and 20-day averages. Shorting carries risks of its own, and it is the one setup of the three this site doesn't list.
The scan behind it all
Every setup starts from the same place: the 1 or 2% of stocks that are up the most over one month, three months and six months. Most of those charts are not ready to buy. The work is going through them every day and keeping the few that are resting in good order, so that the breakout, if it comes, can be bought with a tight stop.
How he thinks about risk
Kullamägi risks between a quarter of a percent and 1% of his account on each trade, rarely more, and his stop sits at the low of the day he buys. Many trades lose a little. A few win a great deal, and those few, held while they stay above the 10-day or 20-day average, carry the results.
Using his method here
- Qullamaggie breakout scan: the top-2% movers now pausing in a tightening range, tonight.
- Episodic pivots: 10% gaps on heavy volume that held, over the last month.
- Market timing: whether the market is trending well enough to trade breakouts at all.
Questions people ask
Who is Qullamaggie?
Kristjan Kullamägi, a Swedish swing trader who trades US stocks under the name Qullamaggie. He became widely followed for live streams and articles in which he walked through his trades and his scans.
What are Qullamaggie's three setups?
Breakouts from tight consolidations after a big move, episodic pivots (large gaps up on news and heavy volume), and parabolic shorts (shorting a stock after a straight-up run of several days). The first two are long trades; the third is a short.
How does Qullamaggie scan for stocks?
He starts from the 1 or 2% of stocks that have risen the most over one, three and six months, then looks through those charts for orderly pauses: higher lows, a tightening range and price riding the 10- and 20-day moving averages.
What is ADR in Qullamaggie's method?
Average daily range: the average of each day's high divided by its low over about 20 days, as a percentage. It tells him how far a stock normally moves in a day. He favours stocks that move a lot and keeps his stop no wider than the ADR.
When does Qullamaggie sell?
He sells a third to half of a position after three to five days of gains, moves the stop on the rest to his entry price, and trails the remainder with the 10-day or 20-day moving average, selling on a close below it.