Today’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Nothing tradeable today.  

Monday’s results: This strategy is on hold... but is improving and likely out of the drawdown soon. 

The World Index: (+100/-100) plummets from +50 to -14 most of the world leaning Bearish on modest volatility.  

Catalysts: Fed’s Powell @ 9:30. JOLTS @ 10:00.  

Quick Tip: Need to Know

Curiosity leads to learning and discovery. We want to know the “what, why, how, when & where.” 

All good. Except in day trading. 

Any time you see the price plunge or skyrocket on high volume your first impulse is to find out why, what happened?

But does it matter? As a day trader your setup likely lasts less than an hour. Do you need to understand the reason if you’re only trading price action? Do you even have the time to find out? 

If you’re a day or short-term trader the better time to be curious is during your review process. You have the time to do proper research then. In fact, it’s essential to be very curious during revi...

Today’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Nothing tradeable today.  

Monday’s results: This strategy is on hold. 

The World Index: (+100/-100) drops from +21 to -14 in a world of mixed sentiment and rising volatility. 

Catalysts: Home Price Index @ 9:00. Consumer Confidence & Richmond MFG Index @ 10:00. Fed’s Cook @ 12:00 and Bowman @14:10.  

Quick Tip: Rotation

If you swing trade stocks and options you’re likely to have a portfolio of positions open. It’s easy to get mesmerized by the movers, like NVDA, and lose focus on a key and important consideration, diversification. 

All sectors of stocks don’t move in the same direction all the time. Looking at the heatmap of yesterday above (courtesy of Finviz.com) it’s interesting that while the S&P was down on the day, most of the sectors were up!

Since the S&P is a market cap weighted index, companies like NVDA, AAPL & MSFT have a larger impact. The rotation out of technology yesterday benefited others. If you had all your trades in t...

Today’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Nothing tradeable today.  

Thursday’s results: This strategy is on hold. 

The World Index: (+100/-100) plummets from +21 to -43 with mosrt major world markets Bearish on increasing volatility. 

Catalysts: Flash MFG & Services PMI @ 9:45. Existing Home Sales @ 10:00.

Quick Tip: Being Different

Here’s a great quote from Earl Nightingale: “If you set out to be successful at something and you don’t know how to do it, look around at what everybody else is doing, and don’t do that…”

This is especially true with trading. If everyone traded the same way there would be no counter parties. We need plenty of different styles and opposing viewpoints for the markets to exist. 

If you’re still struggling it’s a good idea to stop trading live money and start looking at alternative trading styles. Be open-minded. I’ve met too many traders over the past 24 years who are fixed on one way to trade because that’s what they started doing. 

Think of your prio...

Today’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Nothing tradeable today.  

Tuesday’s results: This strategy is on hold. 

The World Index: (+100/-100) eases from +36 to +21 with most major world markets mildly Bullish on low volatility. 

Catalysts: Jobless Claims, Building Permits/Housing Starts, Philly Fed MFG Index @ 8:30. Crude Oil Inventories @ 11:00. Fed’s Barkin @ 15:30. 

Quick Tip: Overbought is Tricky.

Price soars way up, it’s overbought. Price plunges way down, it’s oversold. There are many indicators and chart patterns for identifying these conditions. The rub is these conditions can persist. Exiting too soon isn’t all that bad. All you did was make a little less profit. Entering the reversal too soon is usually trouble. 

The S&P once again is at an all-time high. Interest rates are still high along with inflation. Geopolitical stress remains. Gravity will prevail one day. 

Short term traders love this price action. Jump on the trends, fade the ranges. Lots of opportunities. L...

Today’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Nothing tradeable today.  

Monday’s results: This strategy is on hold. 

The World Index: (+100/-100) rises from -7 to +36 with most major world markets mildly Bullish on low volatility. 

Catalysts: Retail Sales @ 8:30. Industrial Production @ 9:15. Business Inventories & Fed’s Barkin @ 10:00. Fed’s Collins @ 11:40, Logan & Kugler @ 13:00. 20-year Bond Auction @ 13:00. Fed’s Musalem @ 13:20, Goolsbee @ 14:00. 

Quick Tip: Time to Change?

All traders experience losing streaks and drawdowns in their trading account. Market conditions change. Some strategies stop working and others start working. It can appear cyclical.

Handling this is tricky. One voice in your head says, “stay the course, it’ll come back.” The other voice says, “dump this strategy and find one that is working.” 

But it doesn’t have to be a black or white decision. You can reduce your position size to the bare minimum or trade in simulation. Examining your equity curve for cl...

Today’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Nothing tradeable today.  

Friday’s results: This strategy is on hold. 

The World Index: (+100/-100) rises from -36 to -7 in a world of mixed sentiment and low volatility. 

Catalysts: G7 Meetings (all day). Empire State MFG Index @ 8:30. Fed’s Williams @ 12:00, Harker @ 13:00. 

Quick Tip: How Are You? 

We all have financial goals we’re working toward. The retirement “number” which eliminates our dependence on a shaky social security system. The short-term trading cash flow profits that pay for the fun stuff. 

When you progress toward these goals you’ll notice that it’s not a smooth path. You’ll have ups and downs. The downs are your signal to investigate why and find a potential solution. Failing to reach a goal is nothing more than a learning experience. 

In his fantastic book Atomic Habits, James Clear said “You do not rise to the level of your goals. You fall to the level of your systems.” 

See, in his book he teaches a systematic way...

Today’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Nothing tradeable today.  

Wednesday’s results: This strategy is on hold. 

The World Index: (+100/-100) plummets from +7 to -43 with most major world markets Bearish.  

Catalysts: PPI & Jobless Claims @ 8:30. Yellen & Fed’s Williams @ 12:00. 30-year Bond Auction @ 13:00. 

Quick Tip: Your Niche

Dr. Brett Steenbarger, in his book Enhancing Trader Performance (must read), writes about the importance of FIRST finding your niche in trading. 

Too many new traders spend their time and money trying to find a strategy or indicator that makes money. They think that’s all there is to trading successfully. 

The more important aspect is style. What style of trading resonates with you. There are so many different markets, timeframes, and styles of trading. If you could experiment with several different “niches” you’d be way better off than simply trading just like the guy in the YouTube video. 

For example, our trading room runs 5 different strategies...

Today’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Nothing tradeable today.  

Tuesday’s results: This strategy is on hold. 

The World Index: (+100/-100) jumps from -43 to +7 with sentiment mixed. 

Catalysts: CPI @ 8:30. Crude Oil Inventories @ 10:30. FOMC Announcement @ 14:00. FOMC Press Conference @ 14:30. 

Quick Tip: FOMC Moves

Everyone knows the pattern on FOMC day tends to be range-bound before the announcement and spiky afterward. This should help your trade selection and planning. 

In fact, if you have solid historical data on your strategy’s performance on FOMC day you might not trade at all. It’s always better to have some probabilities at hand. Keep accurate records whether you took the trades or not. 

The Federal Funds Rate announcement releases at 2PM ET. You might think the highest volatility is within the 30-minute interval afterward. Historically, it’s the next 30-minute interval, immediately after the Press Conference starts at 2:30PM ET.  

Direction and move for both inte...