Results of Friday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Shorting 4192.50 stopped out. Buying the breakout worked for 20 points at the close. 

Today’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points (consider wider stops and less size in fast moving markets): 

Buy 4210.00 stop 4204.50. Short 4271.75 stop 4277.50. 

The World Sentiment Index: (+100/-100) drops from +42 to +21 in a world of mixed sentiment and low volatility. 

Catalysts: Home Price Index @ 9:00. Consumer Confidence @ 10:00. Debt Ceiling progress. Tech rally continues. 

Quick Tip: Equity Curves

Are you plotting your strategy’s equity curve? If not, get started. It’s a modest amount of record keeping, and it will give you confidence and warn you to drawdowns and restarts. 

It’s important that the equity curve represents all trades your strategy teed up, not just the ones you took. Knowing the difference between your results (behavior) and what you should have done is critical to improving your results. 

Our team trades the S&P futures ...

Results of Wednesday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Buying 4118.25 offered a 16.50-point runner. 

Today’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points (consider wider stops and less size in fast moving markets): 

Buy 4096.75 stop 4092.00. Short 4192.25 stop 4196.50. 

The World Sentiment Index: (+100/-100) jumps from -86 to -21 in a world of mixed sentiment and waning volatility. 

Catalysts: GDP & Jobless Claims @ 8:30. Pending Home Sales @ 10:00. Risk on for Tech 

Quick Tip: Fast Moves

Everyone loves a fast move in your chosen direction. Study enough price charts and you’ll see a recurring pattern: fast move up, base, fast move down. It happens in reverse as well. 

So, after enjoying the quick gain and determining your exit, start planning for the reversal. Sometimes the base is non-existent, like the pivot candle on the chart above. Other times it’s a trading range. Mark up your chart with the expected move to remind yourself. 

You’ll be surprised how often you get to enjoy another fas...

Results of Tuesday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Buying 4182.00 stopped out. 

Today’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points (consider wider stops and less size in fast moving markets): 

Buy 4118.25 stop 4115.25. Short 4192.25 stop 4196.50. 

The World Sentiment Index: (+100/-100) drops from -50 to -86 with all major world markets very Bearish. Contrarian Alert: Historically, price closed higher from the open 57% of the time.

Catalysts: Yellen speaks @ 10:05. Crude Oil Inventories @ 10:30. FOMC Meeting Minutes @ 14:00. Debt ceiling talks stall. Risk off worldwide. 

Quick Tip: Short Targets

The world is bearish today due to the impasse on debt ceiling talks. You’ll probably be leaning to the short side today. 

Successful traders look for asymmetrical trades. These are trades where the risk is small compared to the potential gains. 

One application for asymmetry is frequently overlooked. Trade direction. Evidence shows that prices tend to fall faster than they rise. Why is this? Fea...

Results of Monday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Neither trade suggestion triggered and remain on the chart. 

Today’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points (consider wider stops and less size in fast moving markets): 

Buy 4182.00 stop 4178.75. Short 4229.75 stop 4233.50. 

The World Sentiment Index: (+100/-100) PLUMMETS from +14 to -50 with most major world markets Bearish. 

Catalysts: Fed-speak @ 9:00. PMI Flash @ 9:45. New Home Sales @ 10:00. No deal from the White House but both agreed that a default is not going to happen. 

Quick Tip: Be proactive, not reactive.

With 40+ million copies sold and a release date in 1989 you’re likely to have read Stephen Covey’s “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People.” If not, do it now. It is excellent and timeless advice. 

Habit #1 says be proactive, not reactive. With so many different styles of trading, you know there are strategies that you can “set and forget,” and strategies that require real-time scrutiny. Proactive vs. Reactive. 

Our t...

Results of Friday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Neither trade suggestion triggered. 

Today’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points (consider wider stops and less size in fast moving markets): 

Buy 4182.00 stop 4178.75. Short 4229.75 stop 4233.50. 

The World Sentiment Index: (+100/-100) remains at +14 with Asia Bullish and the west modestly Bearish.

Catalysts: Nothing on the economic calendar. Updates on the debt ceiling negotiations can come at any time and cause high volatility. Stay focused. 

Quick Tip: Leading Indicator

Everyone wants to find the best “Leading Indicator.” One that alerts you before price action changes. While nothing works all the time in this business there are methods to gain an edge.

If you’re a swing or position trader of stocks or options, I’ve found hard evidence that there is a Leading Indicator that has a significant edge. I’ll be demonstrating the technique on Thursday and invite you to attend. 

Click  to reserve your seat for Thursday 1PM ET or here...

Results of Thursday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Shorting 4206.50 stopped out immediately. Same result as yesterday though. Make sure you take the breakout after the failed reversal. This one ran 14 points. 

Today’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points (consider wider stops and less size in fast moving markets): 

Buy 4182.00 stop 4178.75. Short 4271.75 stop 4277.50.  

The World Sentiment Index: (+100/-100) slumps from +50 to +14 with Asia struggling and the west modestly Bullish, Germany’s DAX near a record. 

Catalysts: Nothing on the economic calendar. Fed-speak @ 8:45 & 9:00. Powell speaks @ 11:00.

Quick Tip: Hindsight

Have you ever looked at your trade result and thought to yourself “If had a bigger stop it would have been a winner” or “If I don’t use a stop I’ll see more winners because this market just swings up and down.” 

What you’re experiencing is hindsight bias. It is your tendency to look back at an unpredictable event and think it was easily predictable. It is also ...

Results of Tuesday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Choppy narrow price “in-action”, nothing triggered.  

Today’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points (consider wider stops and less size in fast moving markets): 

Buy 4118.25 stop 4115.25. Short 4154.50 stop 4157.75. 

The World Sentiment Index: (+100/-100) dips from +14 to -7 in a world of mixed sentiment and low volatility. 

Catalysts: Housing Starts @ 8:30. Crude Oil Inventories @ 10:30. Debt ceiling updates. 

Quick Tip: Slow Days

Yesterday was slow. So slow that even a multi-strategy approach like ours found it tough to get an entry. 

You’d expect credit spreads on the SPXW would be ideal candidates for the expected range-bound day. Rules of entry vary but for us we never triggered the Bear Call side of the Condor. 

Just keep in mind that you don’t have to trade. You’d like to, but you’re better off waiting for the right setup and market conditions. Let the good entries come to you. Don’t force your trading. 

You can still be p...

Results of Monday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Neither level triggered and remain on the chart. 

Today’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points (consider wider stops and less size in fast moving markets): 

Buy 4118.25 stop 4115.25. Short 4186.75 stop 4190.50. 

The World Sentiment Index: (+100/-100) PLUMMETS from +64 to +14 in a world of mixed sentiment and low volatility. 

Catalysts: Retail Sales @ 8:30. Industrial Production @ 9:15.  Business Inventories & Housing Market Index @ 10:00. Scattered Fed-Speak. Debt ceiling updates. 

Quick Tip: Disagree?

In Stephen Covey’s bestseller, “The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People”, the 6th habit is Synergize. The concept of synergy is real and born in nature. You’ll need to read the chapter (the whole book would be better) to get all the details and proof. Just assume it’s true for now. 

Think about this: If everyone you talked to agreed with you about the subject at hand, would there ever be any improvement to the subject (process, strat...

Results of Frday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Neither level triggered. 

Today’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points (consider wider stops and less size in fast moving markets): 

Buy 4118.25 stop 4115.25. Short 4186.75 stop 4190.50. 

The World Sentiment Index: (+100/-100) SOARS from +14 to +64 with all major world markets Bullish.

Catalysts: Empire State MFG Index & Goolsbee on CNBC @ 8:30. Kashkari @ 9:15. 

Quick Tip: Anticipation

Plenty of time in trading is spent waiting. Waiting for a setup, waiting for an economic release, waiting for a profit target. Lots of waiting. 

Here’s how to make this “downtime” productive: Get proactive. Get in the habit of asking “What if…?” questions. Answer them. In doing so you’ll be making decisions in advance and be able to act on the spot. No wondering, guessing, procrastinating or flat-out missing the trade. You’ve committed with foresight. 

Here's a simple example using our intraday trend strategy (the current #1 performer over the past ...

Results of Thursday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Neither level triggered and remain on the chart. 

Today’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points (consider wider stops and less size in fast moving markets): 

Buy 4096.75 stop 4092.00. Short 4186.75 stop 4190.50. 

The World Sentiment Index: (+100/-100) jumps from -14 to +14 in a world of mixed sentiment and low volatility. 

Catalysts: Import Prices @ 8:30. UM Consumer Sentiment @ 10:00. 

Quick Tip: Adjusting

The levels offered here have not been even close to filling the past few days. The daily S&P range has been tightening. Other than Wednesday's CPI action, price has barely moved. 

Time to adjust. While yesterday’s levels remain on the chart, here’s a trade that will more likely trigger: Buy 4145.50 if price drops from above, short 4139.25 if price retraces up from below. Use 5.75-point stops.

Why this level? It’s the highest volume price level from yesterday. Call it fair value. Plenty of buyers and sellers agreed that the pri...