In heavy after-hours trading last night, shares of Internet giant Google (GOOG) dropped sharply following it's dissapointing Q2 EPS. The stocked finished the after-hours session at $492 or roughly 7.5%. Revenue, excluding Traffic Acquisition Costs (TAC), was $3.9 bln, better than the Wall Street consensus of $3.87 bln. Earnings were $4.63 per share, below the Street view of $4.74 per share.

After-hours traders took advantage of the decline to go long after we issued an Earnings Notebook report showing that Google leans toward a narrowing pattern between the sessions in its long-term performance, typically cutting back its post-earnings evening share direction in next-day trade.

The best way to play this one in the pre-market and today's regular session is to buy near $470, the bottom end of last night's trading range  and take profits near the top end at $503.

In this market environment, short-term trading helps reduce market exposure and therefore risk.