Tuesday’s Results: Neither suggested trade triggered. 

Quick Tip: The Calm Routine

Even if you don’t golf you’ve probably heard that it’s a mental game. Most athletics are. Trading is too. Dr. Richard Coop, author of the book “Mind Over Golf” advises players to have their own personal “pre-shot routine.” Let’s use his advice but change the details to improve our trading. 

1. If you’re approaching a trade entry with a negative feeling, pause and use some physical ritual to regain calm control and reset your concentration. The ritual may be standing up and stretching or closing your eyes and counting backward from 10 to 1. It can be whatever you want. 

2. To avoid the negative feelings going forward, develop your own pre-trade routine. This keeps stray thoughts that can be detrimental from entering your mind while trading. 

3. The trick is to develop this pre-trade routine...

Monday’s Results: Neither suggested trade triggered in another range-bound day. 

Quick Tip: THIS is Freedom!

It’s popular today to know your “Why” to achieve your goals. The idea is the more passionate about your goal you are the better you’ll persevere through the setbacks and challenges that inevitably occur. 

When asked what my “Why” is for trading and teaching I respond with one word: Freedoms. Plural. Freedom of time, location, and money concerns. 

Yesterday I saw a tweet from my friend and colleague Jeff Manson. He is also a trader and teacher. The header read “Good Morning FROM Viet Nam!”, a play on words from the movie. He is in Saigon, one stop on his travelling the world while trading and teaching online “tour.” Now THAT is Freedom! Thank you, Jeff, for pointing me to my next goal!

How about you? Think big. Set the goal. Make your “Why” a...

Friday’s Results: Neither suggested trade triggered in a range-bound day. 

Quick Tip: Abundance

The more trade setups you have available the choosier you can be in taking trades. Abundance is good. The opposite is true. Too few setups can find you taking trades that are not ideal. 

Given that markets are changing character from trend to range and volatile to quiet, the ideal solution for abundance is to have multiple strategies that are tuned for those varying conditions. 

In yesterdays’ Optimizing Multi-Strat Trading mini class we showed how to gain this edge. Watch the recording here (time sensitive discount offers expiring at midnight tonight!). 

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

Sell 3943.00 stop 3947.25 (same as Friday).

Buy 3834.50 stop 3829.75 (same as Friday). 

Trade Fearlessly,

Mike Siewruk

Thursday’s Results: The short @ 3900.75 stopped out. The breakout long was only good for 8 points. 

Quick Tip: Trend or Reversal?

You might be thinking that trading the trend sounds safer than picking a turning point. Many strategies focus on trading in the direction of a larger time frame trend. This makes sense and it works. 

But it’s not necessarily “safer.”  Your initial priority is making sure your trade plan rule set has “edge,” meaning over time it’s profitable. After you have that the idea of “safe” becomes irrelevant. Just trade the strategy that appeals to you psychologically. 

Here’s an even better idea: Learn both trend and reversal trading then use the correct strategy for the current market condition. Sounds simple but just like trading in general, not necessarily easy. Given enough research and statistical evidence,...

Friday’s Results: Friday’s Results: Neither trade suggestion triggered. 

Quick Tip: Volume/Share Bars

Trading can be simplified to the analysis of 3 variables: price, time, and volume. Using time-based charts is most common and important. In them you can see wide and narrow range bars/candles giving you evidence of where big moves started and slowed or stopped. Good to know. 

Another view that offers some “hidden” information is the Volume or Share bar. These are time independent. They paint a new bar after “X” number of shares/contracts have traded. If you’re trading an active futures contract like the S&P (or a stock like AAPL) you can have your share bars set to 10,000 (or more) to instantly “see” what volume filled in a move by simply counting the bars. That can be accomplished by adding a volume indicator to the chart, but with the share bars you’ll see the...

Thursday’s Results: The short @ 3817.75 caught the high of the session and ran for 51 points (if you used the wider stop suggestion). 

Quick Tip: Decide / Correct

Predictions, forecasts, and feelings. Helpful or not? You could argue that the only thing that matters is what price action is suggesting in present time. Fair argument. 

But are you prepared for what price action is suggesting? Are you using the correct strategy for the current market conditions? Will today be a trending or range-bound day? It’s helpful to consider this before you get started. If the market changes character then you can change your outlook. It’s good for your confidence to have an outlook from the start. 

I read a quote the other day that pertains. Nina DiSesa, named by Fortune magazine as one of the 50 most powerful women in American business (in 2000) said “You can always correct a poor decision, but if you do nothing, you can never...

Wednesday’s Results: Neither trade suggestion triggered in a relatively narrow-range spiky day.

Quick Tip: Pay Yourself

If you’re like many retail traders you are focused on growing your trading account so you can increase your risk and ultimately your expected reward. Taking a “paycheck” from your trading account seems like taking a step backward.

The trading account is intangible. The figures on the statement don’t mean the same to you as a tangible reward. Psychologically, you NEED to be rewarded for a job well done. Make those wins REAL.

Here’s a simple trick for getting paid, growing your account, and improving your trading skills simultaneously:  

1. Determine your payday (weekly, bi-weekly, monthly).  

2. Log your trading account balance at the start.  

3. On payday calculate your gain/loss in the account.  

4. Pay yourself a pre-determined percentage of the gain. Take nothing...

Tuesday’s Results: The buy @ 3891.50 stopped out instantly.  

Quick Tip: Artful Exit

Entries for directional trades are easy. You expect price to rise or fall and you have supporting evidence where the entry should be. Not a whole lot to think about. 

Exits are another story. While a good entry is important, you make or lose all the money when you exit. If you monitor your open trades you’ll see the open profit or loss moving up and down. Watching money come and go can be an emotional experience, especially for the newer trader. Not good. 

You need rules in your trade plan for exits. But rather than have one static rule set you should have multiple exit strategies to use in different market conditions. Once you enter, the market characteristics may change, and your original exit idea is less effective. 

Here’s one alternative to consider. If you’re trading multiple strategies (tuned to different...

Friday’s Results: The suggested buy @ 3675.50 ran for 36.25 points.

Quick Tip: Visualization

In sports psychology one highly successful technique is positive visualization. In essence, the athlete will vividly imagine and visualize in the mind’s eye the result of what they are about to do.

Golf is an easy example for clarification. Top golfers, coached by sports psychologists are taught an interesting visualization technique. Famous golf coach and psychology professor Dr. Richard Coop instructs this way:

1. Before you take your shot, visualize exactly what it will look like, including minute details like how far it will roll after landing. Jack Nicklaus claimed it changed his game.
2. HOWEVER, if you address the shot with even a hint of a negative attitude (indecision, concern, lack of focus, etc.) step back and reframe your mind until you are visualizing the perfect shot.

How does this apply to trading? While traders are not in control of the physical outcome like athletes,...

Wednesday’s Results: The suggested buy level at 3648.75 stopped out for a 3.50-point loss (per contract).

Quick Tip: Epictetus

Not being knowledgeable in Greek philosophy I had no idea who Epictetus was. But a famous quote of his is applicable to trading so I’m sharing:

“Men are disturbed, not by the things that happen, but by their opinion of the things that happen.”

What’s your opinion about losing?

Losing is a fact of life. Reacting to it with destructive opinions (beliefs) won’t help. Look at each loser carefully. You either followed the rules precisely or you didn’t. Journal all the trades with the reason why you didn’t. Scan this journal in your morning routine now and then to refresh your memory on what not to do.

Today’s Best S&P Turning Points:

Sell 3755.50 stop 3761.25 (in a fast-moving market consider a stop at 3763.75 and size down).

Buy 3675.50 stop 3679.75.  

Trade Fearlessly,

Mike Siewruk

P.S. Did you know...