Results of Tuesday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Neither trade triggered. The levels stay on the chart. 

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

Buy 4926.00 stop 4920.75. Short 4987.00 stop 4992.75.  

The World Index: (+100/-100) eases from +19 to -13 with most major world markets modestly Bearish. 

Catalysts: Trade Balance @ 8:30. Crude Oil Inventories @ 10:30. Fed-speak @ 11:00, 12:30, and 14:00. 10-year Bond Auction @ 13:01. 

Quick Tip: Watch Bonds

Of all the economic information traders watch for directional clues the bond auctions are the rising stars. Bloomberg reported Citigroup findings that the S&P 500 index has moved 1% in either direction on auction days recently. 

How can you use this data? 

Consider adjusting your entry and exit rules. Expecting a big move and seeing it manifest allows you to...

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 4885.00 stop 4881.50. Short 4882.25 stop 4885.75 if price falls below and retraces back. 

The World Index: (+100/-100) soars from +7 to +50 with most major world markets bullish on rising volatility. 

Catalysts: MFG & Services PMI Flash @ 9:45. Crude Oil Inventories @ 10:30. Earnings surprises (ASML kills it). China commits to stimulus. 

Quick Tip: Overbought?

Price soars way higher, it’s overbought. Price plunges way lower, it’s oversold. There are many indicators and chart patterns for verifying these conditions. 

The rub is these conditions can and do persist. Exiting too soon isn’t all that bad. All you did was make a little less profit. Entering the reversal too soon is trouble. 

The...

Results of Tuesday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Shorting 4799.25 stopped out. Buying the breakout failed as well. 

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

Buy 4739.00 stop 4733.25. Short 4830.50 stop 4835.75.

The World Index: (+100/-100) remains at -7 with most major world markets quiet.

Catalysts: Crude Oil Inventories @ 10:30. 10-year bond auction @ 13:01. Fed’s Williams @ 15:15. 

Quick Tip: The Levels of Demand

All markets are influenced by the forces of supply and demand. More demand than supply will push a stock price higher. 

But is all demand equal? 

The least influential source of demand is the investing public. Their trade size and knowledge of the future performance of the company are minimal. 

The next tier of influence is the institutions. Their trade size and knowledge of the future performance of...

Results of Thursday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Shorting 4581.00 stopped out. 

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

Buy 4572.50 stop 4569.00. Short 4628.50 stop 4632.75.

The World Index: (+100/-100) gains from -50 to +7 in a world of mixed sentiment and low volatility. 

Catalysts: Employment Report @ 8:30. UofM Preliminary Consumer Sentiment & Inflation Expectations. 

Quick Tip: Insider Buying Works

Your trading toolbox probably includes tools for the analysis of technical, fundamental, and sentiment data. All good. 

Significant research by Wall Street and academia has proven that Insider buying is predictive of positive future stock price performance. Of course, WHEN that abnormal positive move happens varies widely and understanding that is key to successfully using Insider buying data. 

If you’re...

Results of Friday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Shorting 4598.50 was only good for a 6-point scalp but the general area held as the high including through the weekend. 

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

Buy 4557.50 stop 4551.75. Short 4628.50 stop 4632.75. 

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

Catalysts: Factory Orders @ 10:00. 

Quick Tip: Get Fearful

We all trade to win and make a profit. The ups and downs happen along the way. The time to get laser-focused is when you’re feeling like you don’t need to. 

The recent rally in the S&P has us closing in on all-time highs. Our team’s swing trading portfolio using Insiders Buys and Unusual Options Activity (long only trades) soared last week. It’s natural when everything...

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 4521.00 stop 4517.00. Short 4598.50 stop 4604.25. 

The World Index: (+100/-100) rises from -29 to -14 with Asia Bearish and the west Bullish. 

Catalysts: GDP @ 8:30. Crude Oil Inventories @ 10:30. Beige Book @ 14:00. 

Quick Tip: UOA

Unusual Options Activity (UOA) is a great leading indicator of price. There are different ways to interpret exactly what qualifies an option to be “unusual” and how to utilize them in your trade selection. 

The foundation is an extreme volume spike relative to small open interest (existing contracts not yet closed out). 

Technical analysts generally agree that volume leads price, so this basis makes sense. If a stock is trading at $30 and massive volume occurs today in the $40...

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 4551.00 stop 4546.25. Short 4598.50 stop 4604.25. 

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

Catalysts: New Home Sales @ 10:00. 

Quick Tip: Lead or Lag?

The never-ending challenge in trading is forecasting future price direction using lagging information from technical indicators. Better than nothing but not good enough!

Significant research has proven that there are two superb Leading Indicators of stock price. Insider buying and Unusual Options Activity. 

Combining the two is the perfect addition to your stock/options trading plan. Learn how in this free training session. Click here. 

No disappointments!

...

Results of Monday’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 4547.50 stop 4543.25. Short 4598.50 stop 4604.25. 

The World Index: (+100/-100) drops from +7 to -29 with the major world markets flat or modestly Bearish on low volatility. 

Catalysts: Existing Home Sales @ 10:00. FOMC Meeting Minutes @ 14:00. NVDA earnings after the close. 

Quick Tip: Be Different

“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…” Earl Nightingale

This advice 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...

Results of Friday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Buying 4517.00 caught the bottom of the day and offered 17.50 maximum before closing the session +11.00 points.

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

Buy 4521.00 stop 4517.00. Short 4598.50 stop 4604.25. 

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

Catalysts: Nothing important on the economic calendar. 

Quick Tip: Insider Buying? 

Back on May 3rd of this year I blogged about how effective using Insider Buying is for future stock performance. On that day there was widespread Insider buying in the banking industry during the plunge from a few bank failures. 

Here’s how those trades worked out: 

TCBI +38% before settling +17% now.

LKFN +18% now. 

ZION +62% before...

Results of Tuesday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: In a relatively narrow, choppy session, 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 4336.25 stop 4332.50. Short 4433.25 stop 4436.75. 

The World Index: (+100/-100) jumps from -57 to -14 in a world of mixed sentiment and low volatility. 

Catalysts: Fed Speakers @ 9:15 (Powell), 13:40, and 14:00. 10-year Bond Auction @ 13:01. 

Quick Tip: Hot Lists

Stock traders and investors have a challenge that futures and Forex traders don’t have. How to winnow down your trading candidates from around 9500 stocks. 

There are some common filters that are easy to implement like price and volume. Picking stocks that are between $10 and $50 reduces the selection to 4500. Add in average volume over 1 million daily and you’re down to 710. 

You can...