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

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

Buy 5280.00 stop 5274.25. Short 5274.25 stop 5280.00 if price drops below and retraces to entry. 

The World Index: (+100/-100) jumps from -14 to +21 with most major world markets mildly Bullish.

Catalysts: GDP & Jobless Claims @ 8:30. Chicago PMI @ 9:45. Pending Home Sales & UofM Consumer Sentiment/Inflation Expectations (revised).   

Quick Tip: Expectations 

“What are you struggling with?” was the question I asked a group of traders a while back. One woman said she had “expectation” challenges. She felt she needed to acknowledge that every trade cannot be a home run, or “10 to 1” as she phrased it. 

I respected her self-awareness. Expectations is not a commonly voiced trading...

Results of Friday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: No trade triggered in a choppy narrow day. 

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

Buy 5242.00 stop 5236.25. Short 5314.50 stop 5320.25. 

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

Catalysts: Fed’s Bostic @ 8:25. New Home Sales @ 10:00. 

Quick Tip: No Setups?

This blog suggests two potential turning points for the S&P futures. There are many more volume levels that our team uses. But for the past two days price never touched any of our volume levels. 

No problem. Our team has multiple strategies with edge to fill the gap when one isn’t providing setups. There are more reasons to trade multi-strat though: 

1. Diversity. Markets change character. They’re either trending or not, volatile, or not. No single...

Results of Monday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Shorting 5236.75 picked the top of the session and ran for 26.50 points before closing the session +22.50. 

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

Buy 5184.25 stop 5179.00. Short 5221.50 stop 2527.25. 

The World Index: (+100/-100) plummets from +57 to -7 with major world markets mixed on lower volatility. 

Catalysts: Building Permits & Housing Starts @ 8:30. Waiting on FOMC tomorrow.

Quick Tip: Exit On Close

If you traded yesterday’s short suggestion (see chart) and let it ride to the close you had an awesome start to your trading week. 

However, watching that open trade all day would have been difficult given the swings and spikiness of the price action. Just about any trailing stop rule set would have limited your potential. 

There is one great trader I know of who...

Results of Thursday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Buying 5238.00 only offered a 3.50-point scalp. Shorting 5233.00 ran for 45 points. Having a good week? 

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

Buy 5220.50 stop 5215.75. Short 5216.50 stop 5221.25 if prices falls below and retraces to entry. 

The World Index: (+100/-100) remains at +25 with most major world markets mildly Bullish with low volatility. 

Catalysts: Empire State MFG Index & Import Prices @ 8:30. Industrial Production @ 9:15. UofM Consumer Sentiment @ 10:00. 

Quick Tip: Contract Selection

Unlike the stock market where you have thousands of stocks to choose from, the futures market has dozens of contracts. Still, diversification is good. The question becomes which contracts should you trade. Here’s a quick look at filtering for...

Results of Wednesday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: No levels suggested. 

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

Buy 5238.00 stop 5232.25. Short 5233.00 stop 5238.75 if prices falls below and retraces to entry. 

The World Index: (+100/-100) jumps from -13 to +25 with most major world markets mildly Bullish with low volatility. 

Catalysts: PPI, Retail Sales & Jobless Claims @ 8:30. 

Quick Tip: Which Market? 

The word “market” can mean asset class: stock market, commodities market, currency market, etc. 

It can also mean “condition:” trending market, ranging market. 

Your strategy rules should be customized to a market condition. No strategy performs well in all market conditions. 

It’s commonly said that markets trend around 30% of the time. That leaves 70% for range-bound...

Results of Tuesday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Buying 5183.00 picked the bottom of the session and ran 60+ points to the close. 

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

No qualified volume levels today. 

The World Index: (+100/-100) drops from +31 to -13 in a world of mixed sentiment and plunging volatility. 

Catalysts: Crude Oil Inventories @ 10:30. 30-year Bond Auction @ 13:01.

Quick Tip: ATR Exit

Yesterday’s buy was one of the best we’ve seen in years. It ran smoothly with a few pullbacks to form price pivots for a trailing stop that was never touched. 

One open trade management tool we have is the ATR extension. The black dotted line on the chart represents the 14-period daily average true range (ATR) added to the prior day session close. You can subtract it to get the ATR extension below as well. 

Price...

Results of Tuesday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Buying 5097.00 stopped out. 

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

Buy 5046.75 stop 5042.75. Short 5138.25 stop 5143.00. 

The World Index: (+100/-100) inverts from -31 to +31 with most major world markets mildly Bullish on low volatility. 

Catalysts: ADP Employment Change @ 8:15. JOLTS Job Openings & Powell @ 10:00. Crude Oil Inventories @ 10:30. Fed’s Daly @ 12:00. Beige Book @ 14:00. 

Quick Tip: Day Trade Exits

We’ve all heard the advice to “let your winners run.” For swing and position trades that is good advice. For day trades, not necessarily.

Why not? Your day trade has a time stop. You’re out at the session close. While it’s possible to get a runner all day long and into the close, the likelihood is price will move in impulses and...

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 5097.00 stop 5092.25. Short 5138.25 stop 5143.00. 

The World Index: (+100/-100) drops from -19 to -31 with the major world markets leaning Bearish on very low volatility. 

Catalysts: Final Services PMI @ 9:45. ISM Services PMI @ 10:00. Fed’s Barr @ 12:00 & 15:30. 

Quick Tip: Change is Coming

Here’s a great quote from Market Wizard Ed Seykota, “The markets are the same now as they were 50 years ago because they keep changing – just like they did then.” Clever, huh? 

Lately it seems that every morning is a waiting game for price to break out of a narrow range. Trend attempts fail. Reversals get modest gains. 

What to do? 

1. Have abundance. The more strategies...

Results of Monday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: : Buying 5173.00 filled in the Globex session last night running 14+ points and still open. 

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

Buy 5046.75 stop 5042.75. Short 5117.50 stop 5121.00.

The World Index: (+100/-100) jumps from -25 to +38 with all major world markets neutral to modestly Bullish. 

Catalysts: Durable Goods @ 8:30. Home Price Index @ 9:00. Fed’s Barr @ 9:05. Consumer Confidence & Richmond MFG Index @ 10:00. 

Quick Tip: Set/Forget 

One of the nice features of trading the levels from this newsletter is the set/forget entry available on the reversals. 

Yesterday’s buy at 5173.00 didn’t trigger until 12:55 AM ET. Depending on your time zone you may have been sleeping. Placing the order beforehand brought you a welcome “Good Morning!” if...