BALTIMORE (Stockpickr) -- Cha-ching! European Central Bank boss Mario Draghi announced this morning that the ECB would kickstart a $2.3 trillion asset purchase program, buying up 60 billion euros worth of securities until September 2016. Must Read: Warren Buffett's Top 10 Dividend Stocks That translates into a nearly $70 billion monthly layout for the Eurozone. And believe it or not, that should pan out to be a very good thing for stock investors. Stimulus has a pretty reliable effect on equity markets. We've got about six years of data that shows dumping money into the system through QE helps drive stock prices higher. That's part of why global markets rallied yesterday when the latest round of stimulus reports came out. It's important to note that the ECB isn't acting in a vacuum here; with inflation plummeting, the Fed and other central banks are figuring out their next moves. At the same time, some of the biggest stocks on Wall Street are starting to look ready for a breakout higher this month. Today, we're going to take a closer technical look at how to grab gains in five huge stocks. First, a little on the technical toolbox we're using here. Technicals are a study of the market itself. Since the market is ultimately the only mechanism that determines a stock's price, technical analysis is a valuable tool even in the roughest of trading conditions. Technical charts are used every day by proprietary trading floors, Wall Street's biggest financial firms, and individual investors to get an edge on the market. And research shows that skilled technical traders can bank gains as much as 90% of the time. Every week, I take an in-depth look at big names that are telling important technical stories. Here's this week's look at five big stocks to trade this week. Must Read: 10 Stocks George Soros Is Buying Berkshire Hathaway Up first is holding company Berkshire Hathaway . Berkshire has had a stellar run over the past year. Since last January, shares of Warren Buffett's $365 billion conglomerate have rallied 28%, leaving the rest of the S&P 500 in its dust. But don't worry if you've missed the move. Berkshire looks ready to kick off another leg higher in the near-term. Here's how to trade it. Berkshire Hathaway is currently forming an ascending triangle setup, a bullish price pattern that's formed by a horizontal resistance level above shares at $152.50 and uptrending support to the downside. Basically, as Berkshire bounces between those two technically significant price levels, it's been getting squeezed closer to a breakout above our $152.50 price ceiling. When that happens, we've got a buy signal. Relative strength is the side-indicator that adds confidence to the Berkshire trade. This stock's relative strength line has been making higher lows since this summer, an indication that Berkshire Hathaway is outperforming the rest of the market in good times and bad ones. As long as that new relative strength uptrend remains intact, shares of this big stock should keep outperforming. Must Read: 10 Stocks Carl Icahn Loves Cisco Cisco's business might not have much in common with Berkshire Hathaway's, but its chart sure does. Just like Berkshire, this $143 billion IT supplier is forming a textbook ascending triangle pattern. The buy signal comes on a breakout above Cisco's $28.50 resistance level. Why all of that significance at that $28.50 level? It all comes down to buyers and sellers. Price patterns like the ascending triangle are a good quick way to identify what's going on in the price action, but they're not the actual reason a stock is tradable. Instead, the "why" comes down to basic supply and demand for Cisco's stock. The $28.50 resistance level is a price where there has been an excess of supply of shares; in other words, it's a spot where sellers have previously been more eager to step in and take gains than buyers have been to buy. That's what makes a breakout above $28.50 so significant -- the move means that buyers are finally strong enough to absorb all of the excess supply above that price level. It's all about being reactionary here. Wait for the breakout, then buy. Must Read: 11 Stocks Warren Buffett Loves Comcast The good news is that you don't need to be an expert technical analyst to figure out what's going on in shares of cable and media giant Comcast . For the last few months, Comcast has been a "buy the dips stock," and this week, as shares dip for the fifth time, it makes sense to be a buyer again. Since October, Comcast has been bouncing its way higher in a well-defined uptrending channel. The uptrend in CMCSA is defined by a pair of parallel trend lines that define the high-probability range for shares to stay within. In other words, every test of trend line support since the second half of October has been a low-risk, high-reward opportunity to be a buyer. The next bounce off of support is our next big buy signal in Comcast. Waiting to buy off a support bounce makes sense for two big reasons: It’s the spot where shares have the furthest to move up before they hit resistance, and it’s the spot where the risk is the least (because shares have the least room to move lower before you know you’re wrong). Remember, all trend lines do eventually break, but by actually waiting for the bounce to happen first, you're ensuring Comcast can actually still catch a bid along that line before you put your money on shares. Must Read: Warren Buffett's Top 10 Dividend Stocks Walgreens Boots Alliance Walgreens Boots Alliance is another stock that's been in rally mode since October. Between the beginning of October and today, WBA (and its predecessor stock) has rallied more than 31%. But something changed just a few weeks ago. This stock has been churning sideways ever since the calendar flipped to January. Believe it or not, that's not a bad thing. In fact, that sideways grind in WBA is exactly what's making this stock tradable here. WBA is forming a rectangle pattern, a price setup that's formed by a pair of horizontal resistance and support levels that basically "box in" shares between $74 and $78. Rectangles are "if/then patterns." Put a different way, if WBA breaks out through resistance at $78, then traders have a buy signal. Otherwise, if the stock violates support at $74, then the high-probability trade is a sell. Because WBA's price action leading up to the rectangle was bullish, there's a higher likelihood for an upside breakout through $78. When that happens, this stock's minimum upside target ratchets up to $82. When it happens, I'd suggest putting a protective stop on the other side of the channel at $74. If that price level gets violated, you don't want to own WBA anymore. Must Read: 5 Stocks Warren Buffett Is Selling Sanofi Big pharma firm Sanofi has been a notable laggard in the health care sector. While the rest of the sector has been one of the best places to park your portfolio in the last six months, Sanofi has actually shed about 10% of its market value. But long-suffering shareholders could be in store for a reprieve in January. That's because Sanofi just broke out of a falling wedge pattern, a bullish reversal setup that's formed by a pair of converging trend lines. Don't let this pattern's appearance fool you – even though it looks bearish, it’s actually a bullish setup. The converging trend lines on Sanofi's chart are the indication that buying pressure is building even as shares post lower highs and lows. Now the breakout above the top of the wedge is the buy signal in SNY. Momentum, measured by 14-day RSI at the top of the chart, adds some extra confirmation to the move: our momentum gauge has been in an uptrend since October, even while Sanofi's share price was still falling within the wedge. That's a bullish divergence that indicated that buyers were gaining control of SNY behind the scenes. If you decide to be a buyer here, I'd recommend parking a protective stop on the other side of $45. -- Written by Jonas Elmerraji in Baltimore. Must Read: 10 Stocks Billionaire John Paulson Loves Follow Stockpickr on Twitter and become a fan on Facebook.
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