Today’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: This strategy remains on hold but is improving.

The World Index: (+100/-100) jumps from +29 to +64 with all major world markets solidly Bullish. 

Catalysts: PCE Price Index @ 8:30. Chicago PMI @ 9:45. UofM Revised Consumer Sentiment @ 10:00. 

Welcome back to Poker Week! If you haven’t read the last four blog posts now is a great time to do so. All week we’re exploring poker lessons that are also invaluable for traders. Enjoy!

Lesson #5: Maximizing Wins

In poker, as in trading, one universally agreed upon tenet is “minimize your losses and maximize your gains.” But what is the proper way to achieve that outcome?

Imagine you’re playing poker, and you get a powerful hand. Your reaction should be to raise the bet. Novice players make the mistake of slow betting the hand instead of raising. They want to keep players in the hand to maximize the pot and their...

Today’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: This strategy remains on hold but is improving.

The World Index: (+100/-100) jumps from -7 to +29 with most major world markets mildly Bullish. 

Catalysts: GDP, Jobless Claims, Trade Balance @ 8:30. Pending Home Sales @ 10:00. Fed’s Bostic @15:30. 

Welcome back to Poker Week! If you didn’t read the last three blog posts now is a great time to do so. All week we’re exploring poker lessons that are also invaluable for traders. Enjoy!

Lesson #3: Three “Ps”

If you played poker once a month and your opponents played every day, who is more likely to win? The same applies to golf, tennis, chess, and trading. 

While we don’t have a single opponent in trading we do have someone on the other side of our trade betting we’re wrong. Might they be a better trader? 

Practice, practice, practice. The key to excelling at anything you do is repetition....

Today’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: This strategy remains on hold but is improving. 

The World Index: (+100/-100) eases from +14 to -7 with Asia Bearish and Europe mildly Bullish. 

Catalysts: Crude Oil Inventories @ 10:30. Waiting on NVDA earnings after the close. 

Welcome back to Poker Week! If you didn’t read the last two blog posts now is a great time to do so. All week we’re exploring poker lessons that are also invaluable for traders. Enjoy!

Lesson #3: Think Long Term

Long term thinking doesn’t mean you should have a trade plan that only takes long term trades. It means the results in the short term are not relevant. What is relevant is your overall success. 

This is a tough pill to swallow for the short term trader. Some have daily or weekly income goals. They’re thinking short term. But how do they handle a few losing days or weeks in a row? 

A great analogy comes from poker champion...

Today’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: This strategy remains on hold but is improving.

The World Index: (+100/-100) eases from +21 to +14 with sentiment mixed and volatility lower. 

Catalysts: S&P Home Price Index @ 9:00. Consumer Confidence & Richmond MFG Index @ 10:00. 

Welcome back to Poker Week! If you didn’t read yesterday’s blog now is a great time to do so. All week we’re exploring poker lessons that are also invaluable to traders. Enjoy!

Lesson #2 Big Wins Vanish

Trading results, just like poker results, cycle between winning streaks, losing streaks, and flat periods where wins and loses cancel each other out. Let’s focus on winning streaks today. 

Whether it’s one monster winning trade or a series of winning trades, you’ll likely start to feel invincible. It will last for a period in which you won’t even think about the losing streaks or flat periods when it took all the...

Today’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: This strategy remains on hold but is improving during the Globex session, not the day session. 

The World Index: (+100/-100) eases from +36 to +21 with sentiment mixed. 

Catalysts: Durable Goods orders @ 8:30.  Dallas Fed MFG Index @ 10:30. 

Welcome to Poker Week! 

There are plenty of similarities between trading and poker. For example, both require tremendous discipline and superb risk management. 

One excellent book every trader should read is Zen and the Art of Poker by Larry Phillips. This week’s blog is dedicated to 5 key lessons from the book. Enjoy!

Lesson #1: Fold More Often

The first thing you’ll learn to become a winning poker player is this: Fold more often. Wait for the best cards. Be patient. 

Doesn’t sound too exciting, does it? In fact, most gamblers would run for the door looking for action elsewhere. 

Successful trading,...

Today’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: This strategy remains on hold but is improving during the Globex session, not the day session. 

The World Index: (+100/-100) eases from +43 to +36 with a most major world markets mildly Bullish. 

Catalysts: Powell & New Home Sales @ 10:00. Fed’s Goolsbee @ 12:30, 13:45, 14:15. 

Quick Tip: Drop the Ego

One of the hardest transitions to make as a trader is the reframing of your belief about winning and losing. We were raised defining winning as good and losing as bad. Now we must change that belief.

Mark Douglas, author of two books on trading psychology said, “When you really believe that trading is simply a probability game, concepts like right or wrong or win or lose no longer have the same significance.” 

Curtis Faith, one of the original Turtle Traders and author of Way of the Turtle, summed it up succinctly: “Winning traders think in the present time and...

Today’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: This strategy remains on hold.

The World Index: (+100/-100) jumps from -50 to +43 with most of the world Bullish on falling volatility.  

Catalysts: Nothing on the economic calendar today. 

Quick Tip: Stay Open

If you’re always “right” then you’ll never be open minded enough to change for the better. Being flexible and open-minded to new ideas is a huge advantage in trading. 

I’m not saying you simply agree with every new idea you hear. I’m saying that when you’re presented with an intriguing idea (setup, rule, etc.) you owe it to yourself to investigate the value of it. And if you find improvement, then accept the change. 

I was told the great investor George Soros wrote in his book about a trade he took in the Japanese Yen. It ended up a monster winner. His first entry was short based on his analysis. It failed quickly so he doubled his size and went...

Today’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: This strategy remains on hold.

The World Index: (+100/-100) plummets from +79 to -50 with renewed selling and sticky volatility. 

Catalysts: Jobless Claims @ 8:30. 30-Year Bond Auction @ 13:00. Fed’s Barkin @ 15:00. 

Quick Tip: Try Waiting 

Successful trading skills are very different in many cases than how we’ve been conditioned to believe and behave. We were all taught to work hard and smart to control the outcome of our efforts. In trading we cannot control whether we win or lose but we can control how much we lose. 

Some market conditions are more difficult than others to even control the losses! What’s the solution? 

Here’s some advice from arguably one of the best traders in history, Jim Rogers. 

He said “I just wait until there is money lying in the corner, and all I must do is go over there and pick it up. I do nothing in the...

Today’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points:This strategy remains on hold.

The World Index: (+100/-100) soars from -7 to +79 with all thoughts of the correction vanishing. 

Catalysts: Crude Oil Inventories @ 10:30. Fed’s Collins @ 12:00. 10-Year Bond Auction @ 13:00. 

Quick Tip: Change It

Popular trader psychologist and author Brett Steenbarger said, “The greatest enemy of change is routine.” 

I had to stop and think about this. Over the years I’ve learned that routines are healthy. They are habits and assuming they’re good for you, they’re important to have. I started a morning routine, a pre-trading routine, a midday routine, and a nighttime routine. 

So now I’m being advised to change all that? 

Not at all. Steenbarger was referring to the time you spend between your routines, in particular while trading. The pre-trading routine is important. Keep it. 

But don’t go on...

Today’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: This strategy remains on hold.

The World Index: (+100/-100) soars from -100 to -7 with mixed world sentiment on stabler volatility. Tokyo +10%. 

Catalysts: Trade Balance @ 8:30. Dip buyers testing the water. 

Quick Tip: See the Big Picture

Traders can often get caught up in the day-to-day fluctuations of the market, much like people who live their lives without pausing to reflect. 

In Larry Wilson’s book, Play to Win: Choosing Growth Over Fear in Work and Life, he emphasizes the importance of stepping back and seeing the bigger picture to make better-informed decisions. 

For day traders, this means taking a break from the extreme volatility yesterday and understanding the cause(s). 

Wilson also teaches us about the two life orientations that you must choose between.

1. Play to win.

2. Playing not to lose. 

What’s the difference? 

People who have a ...