Trade Aptitude

risk management swing trading trade planning Jun 24, 2024

Today’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Nothing tradeable today.

Friday’s results: This strategy is on hold.

The World Index: (+100/-100) rises from -43 to +21 in a world of mixed sentiment and low volatility.

Catalysts: Dallas MFG Index @ 10:30. Fed’s Daly @ 14:00.

Quick Tip: Optimal Stops

Limiting losses is critical for success in trading. Stop Loss orders are one important part of your risk management plan.

Where to place your Stop Loss is a personal matter. One common and sensible place is at the price your trade is proven wrong.

Here’s how to optimize your Stop Loss placement: Log the MAE (Maximum Adverse Excursion) for every trade setup, whether you took the trade or not. MAE is simply how far against your entry it went before stopping out or hitting your first profit target.

Obviously, the largest MAE you’ll have is the stop itself. But on all those...

Trade Aptitude

options personal development swing trading trade planning Jun 21, 2024

Today’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Nothing tradeable today.

Thursday’s results: This strategy is on hold.

The World Index: (+100/-100) plummets from +21 to -43 with mosrt major world markets Bearish on increasing volatility.

Catalysts: Flash MFG & Services PMI @ 9:45. Existing Home Sales @ 10:00.

Quick Tip: Being Different

Here’s a great quote from Earl Nightingale: “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…”

This 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 it’s a good idea to stop trading live money and start looking at alternative trading styles. Be open-minded. I’ve met too...

Trade Aptitude

options stock market swing trading trade planning Jun 04, 2024

Today’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Nothing tradeable today.

Monday’s results: This strategy is on hold. To understand why, read yesterday's newsletter.

The World Index: (+100/-100) plummets from +57 to -29 with most major world markets Bearish.

Catalysts: JOLTS & Factory Orders @10:00

Quick Tip: Your Hot List

If you’re a directional stock or options trader you know the importance of stock selection. All the trading skills in the world don’t matter if you’re trading assets that don’t move.

You could look at the historical performance of stocks to assume their past will repeat in the future but that’s not ideal.

There is a better way… a true Leading Indicator. Insider buying. Key executives have only one reason to write 7 and 8-figure checks to own more of their company. They think it’s going up and research has proven this to be true.

From "The...

Trade Aptitude

day trading swing trading technical analysis May 10, 2024

Today’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Buy 5231.25 stop 5227.25. Short 5296.25 stop 5300.75.

Thursday’s results: Shorting 5249.50 filled in the Globex session (3AM ET) and stopped out.

The World Index: (+100/-100) jumps from +14 to +50 with all major world markets Bullish.

Catalysts: Fed’s Bowman @ 9:00. UofM Sentiment (Preliminary) & Inflation, Fed’s Kashkari, and Logan @ 10:00. Fed’s Goolsbee @ 12:45.

Quick Tip: Fast Moves

Everyone loves a fast move in your chosen direction. Study enough price charts and you’ll see a recurring pattern: fast move up, base, fast move down. Sometimes the base is non-existent, and a pivot is formed. This pattern happens in reverse as well.

Fast moves stall and/or reverse more often than they just keep going. Taking some if not all your profit is never a bad idea. You can always re-enter at a better price during...

Trade Aptitude

options stock market swing trading Apr 25, 2024

Today’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Buy 5048.50 stop 5043.25. Short 5109.25 stop 5115.00.

Wednesday’s results: Neither trade triggered.

The World Index: (+100/-100) plunges from +64 to -14 with most major world markets turning Bearish.

Catalysts: Jobless Claims & GDP @ 8:30. Pending Home Sales @ 10:00. META plunges on lower revenue forecast and higher AI investment expenses. MSFT & GOOG report after the close. Let's hope this isn't a Hat Trick.

Quick Tip: Smart Money

The reason it’s not called “Lucky Money” is because the success of these traders isn’t based on luck. It’s based on knowledge and high probabilities.

For stock and options traders there are two proven ways to find Smart Money buyers and ride their coattails. Free training available! Click here.

Tired of day trading alone and guessing what to do next? Join our team. You can learn...

Trade Aptitude

day trading futures swing trading Apr 12, 2024

Today’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Buy 5215.25 stop 5210.25. Short 5296.25 stop 5300.75.

Thursday’s results: Shorting 5254.25 picked the high of the session and ran for 12 points to the close (more for Swing traders).

The World Index: (+100/-100) improves from -29 to +7 with Asia Bearish and the west Bullish.

Catalysts: Earnings season kicks off with the major U.S. banks premarket. Import/Export Prices @ 8:30. Fed’s Collins @ 9:00. UofM Consumer Sentiment & Inflation Outlook (preliminary) @ 10:00. Fed’s Schmid @ 13:00, Bostic @ 14:30, Daly @ 15:30.

Quick Tip: Swinging Futures

One of the many benefits of day-trading futures over stocks is the capital requirement. With stocks you must maintain a minimum of $25,000 in your account for pattern day trader status giving you 4X leverage.

There is no minimum in the futures market. In fact, the capital...

Trade Aptitude

options stock market swing trading trade planning Apr 11, 2024

Today’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Buy 5113.75 stop 5109.25. Short 5254.25 stop 5258.00.

Wednesday’s results: The buy level at 5231.50 was filtered out during the CPI news release volatility.

The World Index: (+100/-100) drops from +21 to -29 with most major world markets mildly Bearish or flat.

Catalysts: ECB Monetary Policy @ 8:15. PPI & Jobless Claims @ 8:30. ECB Press Conference, Fed’s Williams @ 8:45, Barkin @ 10:00, Collins @ 12:00, Bostic @ 13:30.

Quick Tip: Best Swing Trades

If you’re a swing trader of stocks or options you probably have some technical analysis rules for entry and exit. There are countless indicators and methods that work just fine.

One “edge” you might not have optimized yet is your stock/option selection method. Many traders will simply look for the high-volume candidates with appropriate volatility. That’s not enough. ...

Trade Aptitude

options swing trading Apr 02, 2024

Results of Monday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Buying 5311.00 only offered a 6.25-point move. Shorting 5306.25 ran for 24 points but not before just stopping out by a few ticks. Hoping your stop placement was looser. :-)

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 5311.25 stop 5316.00.

The World Index: (+100/-100) improves from +7 to +29 with most major world markets modestly Bullish on lower volatility.

Catalysts: JOLTS & Factory Orders @ 10:00. Fed’s Bowman @ 10:10, Williams @ 12:00, Mester @ 12:05, and Daly @ 13:30.

Quick Tip: Best Option Setup

Unusual Options Activity (UOA) is a great leading indicator of price.

What are they? Identifying the best candidates starts with an extreme volume spike relative to small open interest (existing contracts not yet closed...

Trade Aptitude

day trading personal development psychology swing trading Mar 28, 2024

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...

Trade Aptitude

investing swing trading trade planning Mar 22, 2024

Results of Thursday’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 5286.50 stop 5280.75. No short trade today.

The World Index: (+100/-100) dumps from +43 to -14 with Asia Bearish and the West mixed.

Catalysts: Fed’s Powell @ 9:00 and Barr @ 12:00.

Quick Tip: New Paradigm

What are your beliefs about successful trading? How have you been taught?

Technical analysis – “All I need is a good indicator or two to be a winner, history repeats itself enough for me.” That’s OK.

Fundamental analysis – “Indicators are lagging, I want to study and KNOW the asset I’m trading to predict the future with confidence.” That’s OK too.

Chart analysis – “Patterns on the chart are predictive...

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