Results of Friday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Shorting 4821.50 delivered 14.00 points to the buy level at 4807.50, which didn’t fare as well only offering a 4.25-point bounce. 

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

Buy 4807.50 stop 4802.25. Short 4821.50 stop 4827.25 if price closes below and retraces to fill. 

The World Index: (+100/-100) plummets from +21 to -58 with the major world markets Bearish on increasing volatility.   

Catalysts: PMI Final @ 9:45. 

Quick Tip: Expectations and Reality

People are impressionable. Sometimes that can be a problem. We can have great expectations that don’t match up with reality. A perfectly fine trading result can seem like a failure after experiencing a big win. 

Here’s an example. Let’s say the first time you traded the levels shared in this blog your first trade was a 40-point winner. Clearly you’d be ecstatic. What would your expectations be for future trade suggestio...

Results of Thursday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: No trades triggered. 

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

Buy 4807.50 stop 4802.25. Short 4821.50 stop 4827.25 if price closes below and retraces to fill. 

The World Index: (+100/-100) rises from zero to +21 in a mildly Bullish world with low volatility. 

Catalysts: Chicago PMI @ 9:45. 

Quick Tip: Optimism & Pessimism. 

Can they co-exist? Should they? Yes, but on different levels. 

Starting the New Year, it’s common to set goals. You want to be optimistic about your trading, career, family, and the state of the world itself. It would be wasteful and unnatural to be pessimistic. 

Those positive goals you set are in your “big picture.” Where you want to be a little pessimistic is in the details. 

How are you going to achieve your goals? You want to imagine the roadblocks and challenges that will inevitably arrive on your path to success. Once you see what thos...

Results of Wednesday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: No trades triggered. 

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

Buy 4807.50 stop 4802.25. Short 4803.00 stop 4802.25 if price closes below and retraces to fill. 

The World Index: (+100/-100) plummets from +57 to zero with China/HK very Bullish and the west mildly Bearish. 

Catalysts: Jobless Claims @ 8:30. Pending Home Sales @ 10:00. Crude Oil Inventories @ 11:00. 

Quick Tip: Your Equity Curve 

If you’re a regular reader you know that one of the most important components of your trade plan is the documentation and review process. 

Every day you’re logging trades results, whether you took the trade or not. You’re scanning your thought journal for confirmation that you’re improving your discipline and holding emotions in check. 

The year is almost over. Now it’s time to review your entire trade plan noting any changes you need to make for a more successful 2024. 

A...

Results of Wednesday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: : Buying 4798.00 stopped out. 

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

Buy 4704.00 stop 4699.25. Short 4822.25 stop 4826.50 

The World Index: (+100/-100) drops from +7 to -14 with the major markets mixed. S&P futures Bullish.

Catalysts: GDP, Jobless Claims, and Philly Fed MFG Index @ 8:30. 

Quick Tip: Never Stop…

…learning! 

If the market is a mirror that reflects your character flaws, then trading is the journey of self-improvement.

You’ve no doubt read books, enrolled in courses, hired a mentor, listened to podcasts, read blogs, and watched countless videos on HOW to trade the markets. You’ve educated yourself with all the information you needed to complete a personalized trade plan. 

Is it working for you? Are your trading results right on target? 

If not, consider this quote, author unknown, “Successful trading is 10% analysis, 90% psychology, and 100% dis...

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

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

Buy 4798.00 stop 4794.50. No shorts suggested. 

The World Index: (+100/-100) drops from +29 to +7 with the major markets mixed. 

Catalysts: Consumer Confidence & Existing Home Sales @ 10:00. Crude Oil Inventories @ 10:30. Fed’s Goolsbee @ 12:00. 

Quick Tip: Trade Plan Updates

In your trade plan you’ve established a set of rules that when followed, show a positive outcome (if not, get it done). 

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, observe, document, and mine the data for new rules to improve. This means your trade plan is a living document. It sho...

Results of Monday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: : Shorting 4800.50 caught the high of the session and ran for 8.50 points to the close. If you were swing trading it’s still open ranging below the level. 

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

Buy 4769.00 stop 4765.25. Short 4783.50 stop 4787.25 if price drops below and retraces back. 

The World Index: (+100/-100) reverses from -21 back to +29 in the major markets mixed. 

Catalysts: Building Permits & Housing Starts @ 8:30. Fed’s Barkin @ 9:30, Bostic @ 12:30. 

Quick Tip: Trade Less 

Doctors heal. Lawyers argue. Artists create. In those and other professions if you’re not doing something you’re not productive.  

The same doesn’t apply to Traders, however. You don’t have to trade all the time to be a productive, successful Trader. You don’t have to trade every setup, or day, or week. In fact, trade selection or filtering is important and necessary. 

Trading succe...

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

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

Buy 4769.00 stop 4765.25. Short 4800.50 stop 4805.50 (Buy the breakout if this short fails). 

The World Index: (+100/-100) reverses from +29 to -21 with most major world markets mildly Bearish. S&P futures are not. 

Catalysts: NAHB Housing Market Index @ 10:00. 

Quick Tip: Consistency

Here’s an important quote from Dr. Brett Steenbarger, author of many books on trader psychology and an accomplished S&P futures day trader:

“You are most likely to become consistent IN your trading if you are consistent in working ON your trading.” 

How? Preparation and review. Sports teams do this. Prepare for the opponent, play the game, watch the video reviews. 

Are you preparing enough for your trading session? Are you assessing current market conditions and adjusting your expectations to what is probable? 

Ste...

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

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

Buy 4704.00 stop 4699.25. Short 4800.50 stop 4805.50 (aggressive traders only, shorts are riskier today. We have no remaining volume levels above this). 

The World Index: (+100/-100) eases from +43 to +29 with most major world markets mildly Bullish.

Catalysts: Empire State MFG Index @ 8:30. Industrial Production @ 9:15. Flash MFG & Services PMI @ 9:45. 

Quick Tip: One Question Quiz

Think for a moment before you answer this question. Do you find it harder to take a loss or a profit? 

The answer says a lot about your trade plan, style, trading psychology, and what you need to work on. 

If your answer was a loss, then your risk management plan needs help. You might be trading the wrong strategy, possibly one with more losers than winners or large losers. 

If your answer was a profit, then your r...

Results of Wednesday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: : Shorting 4777.00 filled in the Globex session last night running for 9+ points and still open but looking weak. 

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

Buy 4704.00 stop 4699.25. Short 4800.50 stop 4805.50

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

Catalysts: Retail Sales, Import Prices & Jobless Claims @ 8:30. Interest rate cuts coming, risk on, Dow hits record high, others to follow. 

Quick Tip: Asymmetry

Interest rate cuts are now firmly on the horizon after yesterday’s FOMC press conference. We will see new all-time highs in all the stock market indexes. 

What does that mean for short selling? 

Historically, prices move up and down in impulses and corrections. There will be short selling opportunities. But with the bigger picture trend clearly up, those corrections will last for shorter periods of time. 

Gen...

Results of Tuesday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: : Heartbreaker! Our buy at 4662.00 missed filling by ONE TICK, made the bottom of the session, and soared 36 points to the close! Reframe your thinking. You missed the trade but your strategy worked just fine. 

Today’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points (all trades are filtered out during FOMC release today): 

Buy 4662.00 stop 4658.25. Short 4777.00 stop 4781.75.

The World Index: (+100/-100) dips from +29 to +7 in a world of mixed sentiment and low volatility. 

Catalysts: PPI @ 8:30. Crude Oil Inventories @ 10:30. FOMC @ 14:00 and Press Conference @ 14:30 (most important). 

Quick Tip: Late to the Party

You probably get a stream of emails every day about trading. I sure do. 

I saw one yesterday that was touting buying Arbor Realty Trust (ABR) at $14.65 to lock in a 11.5% dividend yield. 

ABR was our InsidersEdge pick of the day on November 2nd at $12.79. Buying at that price not only earned you a 10% capital gain so far but brou...