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

Thursday’s results: This strategy is on hold... but is improving and likely out of the drawdown soon.

The World Index: (+100/-100) reverses from +29 to -36 with most major world markets Bearish. 

Catalysts: Fed’s Williams @ 10:40, Bostic @ 13:00. Banks, airlines & exchanges challenged by Crowdstrike/Microsoft bug, apparently fixed. 

Quick Tip: Critical Add-On

If you're trading stocks or options you need to ensure your portfolio is adequately diversified. Hot sectors in the market come and go, sometimes simultaneously. 

This is a critical component of your plan regardless of your entry and exit rules. 

The problem with trying to diversify your picks without a proven method is difficult. You can easily get stuck trading one hot segment of the market (think AI) and ignore others that are primed to explode. 

Our swing trading strategy uses two unique tools that automatically take diversification into account. And r...

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

Monday’s results: This strategy is on hold... but is improving and likely out of the drawdown soon.

The World Index: (+100/-100) eases from -36 to -14 with sentiment mixed with low volatility. 

Catalysts: Retail Sales & Import/Export Prices @ 8:30. Business Inventories & Housing Market Index @ 10:00. Fed’s Kugler @ 14:45.  

Quick Tip: Volatility Stops

Price is either trending or not, volatile or not. Your results will largely depend on the rules you apply to these four Market States. 

In the chart above I’m trading our intraday trend strategy. It performs best when the market is trending on LOW volatility. 

After the open price chopped up and down in a range that was volatile but not extremely so. Once the signal to enter the trend triggered, you’ll notice the volatility slowed considerably. All the candles were narrower range and smoothly ascending. You’ll also notice that price moved slower. That trade lasted ...

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

Monday’s results: This strategy is on hold... but is improving and likely out of the drawdown soon.

The World Index: (+100/-100) improves from -7 to +21 with Asia Bullish and the west mixed.

Catalysts: Powell’s Text ahead of Testimony @ 8:30. Fed’s Barr @ 9:15, Powell & Yellen @ 10:00, Bowman @ 13:30. 

Quick Tip: Catalysts

Whether you’re a day, swing, or position trader one thing that must happen for your trade to really move is a catalyst. This could be news, earnings, economics, and many other events. 

A strong catalyst helps in several ways. Price moves quicker and usually farther than normal. Volume increases for better liquidity. 

Ideally, you’ll be proactive in finding potential catalysts that have not hit the mainstream yet. On our Swing Trading Stock/Options team, we get an early peak by monitoring Insider Buying and Unusual Options Activity. Both occasionally precede a publicly announced catalyst. Timin...

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

Tuesday’s results: This strategy is on hold... but is improving and likely out of the drawdown soon.

The World Index: (+100/-100) soars from -14 to +57 with all most major world markets very Bullish on rising volatility. 

Catalysts: ADP NFP Change @ 8:15. Jobless Claims & Trade Balance @ 8:30. Services PMI (Final) @ 9:45. ISM Services PMI @ 10:00. Crude Oil Inventories @ 10:30. FOMC Minutes @ 14:00. Futures market closes @ 1:15 ET for the holiday.

Quick Tip: Trend or Reversal?

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

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. Trend following strategies have fe...

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

Tuesday’s results: This strategy is on hold. 

The World Index: (+100/-100) jumps from -14 to +29 with most major markets mildly Bullish. 

Catalysts: New Home Sales @ 10:00. Crude Oil Inventories @ 10:30.   

Quick Tip: Stop Struggling

If you’re struggling to get profitable or consistent in your trading there is a simple, proven solution. 

Join a team. 

There is a reason why the banks, hedge funds, and prop shops have all their traders trading in teams, rather than letting them trade alone in isolation. It works better. 

Here’s some evidence: 

From “The trading performance of individual investors” published in The Journal of Finance found that…Trading teams outperformed individual traders in terms of profitability and risk-adjusted returns. The study suggested that collaboration within teams leads to better decision-making and risk management strategies, ultimately enhancing performance.

In “Emotional Support a...

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

Monday’s results: This strategy is on hold. 

The World Index: (+100/-100) drops from +21 to -14 in a world of mixed sentiment and rising volatility. 

Catalysts: Home Price Index @ 9:00. Consumer Confidence & Richmond MFG Index @ 10:00. Fed’s Cook @ 12:00 and Bowman @14:10.  

Quick Tip: Rotation

If you swing trade stocks and options you’re likely to have a portfolio of positions open. It’s easy to get mesmerized by the movers, like NVDA, and lose focus on a key and important consideration, diversification. 

All sectors of stocks don’t move in the same direction all the time. Looking at the heatmap of yesterday above (courtesy of Finviz.com) it’s interesting that while the S&P was down on the day, most of the sectors were up!

Since the S&P is a market cap weighted index, companies like NVDA, AAPL & MSFT have a larger impact. The rotation out of technology yesterday benefited others. If you had all your trades in t...

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 many traders over the past 24 years who are fixed on one way to trade because that’s what they started doing. 

Think of your prio...