Tesla's stock is getting closer to a key line in the sand (TSLSA)

Insider Markets

• Tesla shares fell nearly 4% on Thursday after the automaker announced a larger than expected loss in the first quarter.
• The stock holds nearly $ 250 per share, a price long considered a significant level of support.
• Watch Tesla's trade live.

Investors know very well how Tesla shares trade – extravagantly – knows that the title has been found in a technically precarious position on Thursday.

While the stock had fallen nearly 4% – to its lowest level in six months – as a result of disappointing financial results, stocks fell below the $ 250 level, widely considered by technical badysts as a support important for the last two years. Thursday afternoon, the title had traded between 248.41 and 258.47 dollars.

Matt Maley, equity strategist at Miller Tabak, is an observer who emphasized the importance of this particular level.

Read more: The Tesla stock is approaching a key price. Here is what the pros say.

"We are a little surprised that this does not hold any more attention today … because it is a well known support in the street," wrote Maley in a note addressed to customers Thursday morning.

He added that the shares should close below $ 250 per share, which has not been done since December 2016, to signal that the shares could fall considerably further here. The stock has rebounded several times over this level and the short sellers "have been burned several times in this title", but a lower close could indicate a further decline.

"It almost looks like a situation where people see him as the boy who cried wolf," Maley wrote. "So, nobody wants to say anything about the technical aspects of the stock … unless or until it finally falls below that level of key support in a convincing way."

He added: "In other words, perhaps Mr. Musk could pull a rabbit out of his hat again … but there is no question that the stock is sitting at a very important technical level. "

True, Wall Street still thinks that stocks are up. The average price target for Wall Street badysts, set at $ 296, per data compiled by Bloomberg, implies a 19% rebound from the session's low on Thursday.

Tesla was down 25% this year, including Thursday's decline.

Learn more about Markets Insider and Business Insider's Tesla coverage:

Tesla's lamentable results highlight the gap between hardened bulls and sleepy bears

Tesla just reported a catastrophic quarter with Model S and Model X sales plummeting

Elon Musk says Tesla will start offering its own insurance to customers next month