Results of Monday’s Best S&P Turning Points: No trades triggered, both remain on the  chart. 

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

Buy 3956.75 stop 3951.75. Short 4073.50 stop 4076.75.

The World Sentiment Index: (+100/-100) remains at +29 in a world of mixed sentiment and lower volatility. 

Catalysts: International Trade @ 8:30. Home Price Index @ 9:00. Consumer Confidence & FOMC Report on SVB failure @ 10:00.  

Quick Tip: Stops

To survive and thrive in trading managing risk is critical. The basic component in your risk management plan is the stop loss (how much are you willing to lose on each trade). 

There are many types of stop loss methods including:

1. Dollar

2. Maximum Adverse Excursion 

3. Volatility

4. Moving Average

5. Time

6. Opposing signal 

7. Percent Retracement

Like your choice in style of trading, your stop loss method needs to resonate with your personality. You must trust, even like it. 

Given tha...

Results of Friday’s Best S&P Turning Points: Shorting 3974.50 only reversed for a 7.75-point move. 

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

Buy 3956.75 stop 3951.75. Short 4073.50 stop 4076.75.

The World Sentiment Index: (+100/-100) SOARS from -71 to +29 in a world of mixed sentiment. 

Catalysts: Nothing on the economic calendar. 

Quick Tip: Learn to Reframe

Friday’s short trade @ 3974.50 came within 1 point of filling and then ran for 30+ points. Instead of a third big winner in a row, you settled for the fill later which only offered 7+ points. Are you upset or critical? 

Having a positive attitude about your trading is important. Reframe the results of a missed trade like this one to the positive. 

Here’s how: Ask yourself, overall did the short level work out? Did the trade run plenty? Was it a great short entry? Yes, yes, yes. 

The fact that you missed the runner by a small margin doesn’t negate a well-planned trade. I...

Results of Wednesday’s Best S&P Turning Points: The FOMC volatility was under control earlier than usual allowing our short suggestion @ 4073.50 to fill (only one tick adverse move!), pick the top of the day, and run for 58.75 points to the suggested buy level @ 4014.75, which only worked for a 6.25-point bounce. 

Feel better about your big win by donating a slice to my preferred charity, the Alzheimer’s Association. Click here. 

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

Buy 3951.50 stop 3946.25. Short 4032.00 stop 4037.75. 

The World Sentiment Index: (+100/-100) drops from +50 to zero in a world of mixed sentiment. 

Catalysts: Jobless Claims @ 8:30. New Home Sales @ 10:00. 

Quick Tip: Market Speed

Yesterday’s action once the FOMC announced the rate hike became highly volatile, as usual. Any day trader would have been expecting a slow morning and a fast afternoon. 

A known catalyst makes it easy to manage your psychology and m...

Results of Tuesday’s Best S&P Turning Points: Neither volume level triggered.   

Today’s Best S&P Turning Points (trades are cancelled between 14:00 & 15:00 ET due to FOMC volatility): 

Buy 4014.75 stop 4009.25. Short 4073.50 stop 4077.50. 

The World Sentiment Index: (+100/-100) drops from +92 to +50 in a bullish world. 

Catalysts: Crude Oil Inventories @ 10:30. FOMC Announcement @ 14:00, press conference @ 14:30.  

Quick Tip: You’re Biased

No offense. There are so many cognitive biases that affect our trading results and everyone has some. Possibly the worst bias to have is called Personal Blind Spot.

It occurs when you fail to recognize your weaknesses and shortcomings, leading to suboptimal trading decisions and poor performance.

One of the primary ways to resolve this bias is through self-reflection and self-awareness. You must take the time to assess your strengths and weaknesses and be brutally honest about their limitations.

Easier said than done, so seek feedback from ...

Results of Monday’s Best S&P Turning Points: Buying 3895.25 missed filling by 2 points and was the low of the session. Shorting 3999.00 filled in the Globex last night and ran for 9.25 points.  

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

Buy 3951.50 stop 3946.25. Short 4073.50 stop 4077.50. 

The World Sentiment Index: (+100/-100) SOARS from -7 to +92 with all major world markets very bullish. Historically price closed higher 63% of the time. 

Catalysts: Existing Home Sales @ 10:00. Risk on mood. 

Quick Tip: The Live Trade Plan

In your trade plan you’ve established a set of rules that when followed, show a positive outcome. You have an edge. 

Most trade plans start simple. When to enter and exit. Which asset to trade. Which tools to use. How much to risk. 

That’s a good start but the real meaty rules come from live trading experience. We can’t possibly consider all outcomes and influences in the beginning. We need to trade live,...

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

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

Buy 3895.25 stop 3890.50. Short 3999.00 stop 4004.75.

The World Sentiment Index: (+100/-100) dumps from +50 to-7 in a world of mixed sentiment.

Catalysts: Nothing on the economic calendar. Banking crisis widens. Waiting on FOMC Wednesday. 

Quick Tip: Hybrid Trading

There is no “one way” to trade successfully. There are countless strategies and methods that can be profitable. You need to find what resonates with your trading psychology, style, and risk tolerance. 

For example, consider two popular styles of trading: trend following and mean reversion. They both can be very profitable given the right rules and discipline to follow them. But the experience of trading each is quite different. 

Trend followers will typically have many small losing trades and fewer large winning trades. That’s the nature of tren...

Results of Thursday’s Best S&P Turning Points: Buying 3895.25 picked the bottom of the session and ran for 54.25 points to the suggested short @ 3949.50, which only offered an 8.25-point reversal. Feel better about the win by donating a slice to my preferred charity, the Alzheimer’s Association. Click here. 

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

Buy 3913.50 stop 3908.25. Short 4073.50 stop 4077.50.

The World Sentiment Index: (+100/-100) SOARS from -14 to +50 with all major world markets bullish while the S&P futures are lagging. Historically the market closed lower than the open 58% of the time. 

Catalysts: Industrial Production @ 9:15. Consumer Sentiment (including preliminary Inflation) @ 10:00. Co-opetition among big banks suggests the banking problem isn’t over. Fed chips in, too. 

Quick Tip: Getting Lucky 

Happy St. Patrick’s Day! The perfect time to discuss luck in trading. Does it exist? Of course. From a mathematics ...

Results of Wednesday’s Best S&P Turning Points: Neither suggested trade triggered. 

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

Buy 3895.25 stop 3890.50. Short 3949.50 stop 3954.75.

The World Sentiment Index: (+100/-100) drops from -43 to -14 in a world of mixed sentiment, Asia Bearish, western world modestly bullish. 

Catalysts: Jobless Claims, Philly Fed MFG Index, Housing Starts & Import Prices @ 8:30. 

Quick Tip: Try Waiting 

Successful trading skills are very different in many cases than how we’ve been conditioned to believe and behave. 

We all were taught winning and being right were good, losing and being wrong were bad. These concepts don’t apply to a probabilities game like trading. 

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

Jim Rogers quote: “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 ...

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

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

Buy 3833.00 stop 3827.75. Short 3999.00 stop 4004.75.

The World Sentiment Index: (+100/-100) drops from -29 to -43 with Asia neutral/positive and the western world very Bearish on high volatility. 

Catalysts: PPI, Retail Sales & Empire State MFG Index @ 8:30. Housing Market Index @ 10:00. Crude Oil Inventories @ 10:30. Risk off. 

Quick Tip: Winning Streaks

It seems like we spend plenty of time discussing how to handle losing streaks and drawdowns. What about winning streaks?

Our intraday trend strategy is up 118.75 S&P points in the past two days with 10 winners and 3 losers. If you traded the Globex last night you banked another 71 points on a single trade. 

Winning streaks can be a double-edged sword. On one hand, they can boost confidence and motivation, but on the other hand, t...

Results of Monday’s Best S&P Turning Points: Buying 3864.50 stopped out in the pre-market. 

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

Buy 3833.00 stop 3827.75. Short 3999.00 stop 4004.75.

The World Sentiment Index: (+100/-100) increases from -57 to -29 in a world of mixed sentiment. 

Catalysts: CPI @ 8:30. Eyes on financials. 

Quick Tip: A Different View

You’ve probably heard the phrase “trading is simple, it’s just not easy.” Indeed, trade plans can be simple to execute but because of our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors we make it hard to follow thus missing the result we want. 

Let’s say your “simple” trade rules were based on 1) Determine the big picture trend, 2) Sell rallies in a downtrend on a shorter time interval, 3) Buy dips in an uptrend on a shorter time interval. This is not only simple, but it makes sense. Price moves in waves of impulses and corrections within a trend. 

It turns out that your results can also m...