Tesla stock is at records, but charts warn of danger zone

Tesla has sped to records.

Shares have rocketed nearly 60% higher in the past three months, notching a new high on Wednesday for the first time since September 2017.

This level is tricky terrain for Tesla and could foreshadow a major decline ahead, says Matt Maley, chief market strategist at Miller Tabak.

“It’s getting at a level where things get very dicey if you want to be chasing it up here,” Maley said on CNBC’s “Trading Nation” on Tuesday. “It’s bumping up against its all-time highs just above $380. This is a level it’s tested four other times in the last couple of years, and each time it’s been followed by a severe decline.”

When Tesla last bumped up against this level a year ago, shares began to spiral before bottoming out in June. That marked a 53% decline.

“It’s going to have a tough time breaking out here, and especially as we move into the new year and get past this bullish Santa Claus season. It’s going to be a tough one to really rally much further,” said Maley.

Boris Schlossberg, managing director of FX strategy at BK Asset Management, said during the same segment that this polarizing stock trades on two narratives: “It’s either basically a scam that’s going to fall under its own financial obligations or it’s the Amazon of transportation.”

“But I think when you step back, basically, the bottom line is Tesla right now continues to dominate the EV space,”  Schlossberg said.

Temperamental trading on Tesla is likely to continue, he adds, so he prefers a different method of exposure to the stock.

“If it goes through $400, you could have a vertical move and all the shorts are going to get killed. If you want to play the stock, I would just simply play it through options. Even though they’re probably very expensive because of volatility, it’s worth it, because when this thing moves either up or down … it corrects, or if it busts through I think the move is going to be monumental,” said Schlossberg.

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