Citigroup Fails Again At Major Resistance Level

Joel Elconin is the co-host of Benzinga's #PreMarket Prep, a daily trading idea radio show.

Citigroup Inc C shares were trading lower by $0.30 at $53.26 in Friday's session. A Keefe, Bruyette & Woods upgrade from Market Perform Outperform with a $61.00 price target buoyed the issue early in the session.

However, its rally off the open was short-lived as it found resistance in a very familiar area at the $54.00 level. On Tuesday, its intraday rally ended at $54.00; on Wednesday at $53.86; and it peaked at $54.04 in Friday's session.

There are two potential reasons for the failed breakout:

1. Weakness in the broad market may be weighing on the issue.
2. Once the institutional sell orders at $54.00 were absorbed by traders (when there was no immediate follow-through), they were forced to liquidate their losing positions quickly.

So far, it has found intraday support at $52.96 and rebounded into the lower $53.00 handle.