Results of Tuesday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: The short at 4598.50 missed filling by 6 ticks. 

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) jumps from -14 to +50 with all major world markets Bullish. 

Catalysts: Core PCE Price Index (primary Fed inflation measure), Jobless Claims & Personal Income/Spending @ 8:30. FOMC Williams @ 9:15. Chicago PMI @ 9:45. Pending Home Sales @ 10:00. OPEC meeting all day. 

Quick Tip: Find Your Filters 

Are there market conditions that your strategy performs better or worse in? Probably so. Price is either trending or not and volatile or not. These are very different conditions and knowing with evidence how your strategy performs in each of them is important. 

Why? Because you’ll be able to...

Results of Friday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Shorting 4397.50 stopped out. The breakout worked great but never retraced to fill (see Quick Tip below). 

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 4397.50 stop 4402.25.

The World Index: (+100/-100) jumps from -71 to +21 in a world of mixed sentiment and mostly low volatility. 

Catalysts: Nothing on the economic calendar of importance.  Waiting on CPI tomorrow. 

Quick Tip: Breakout Entries

The volume levels presented here can be traded as reversals or breakouts. The entry rules vary: 

Reversals: Enter at the price suggested. In solid trending markets look for further evidence of a potential reversal. Scaling in as price enters the level also works well.  

Breakouts: Allow the price to touch the stop from the reversal (we assume fill at touch). Look...

Results of Thursday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Shorting 4305.00 offered a 9.25-point move. 

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

Buy 4275.75 stop 4270.00. Short 4367.75 stop 4371.50.

The World Index: (+100/-100) drops from +64 to +25 with most major world markets modestly Bullish.

Catalysts: Employment Report @ 8:30. Final Services PMI @ 9:45. ISM Services PMI @ 10:00. 

Quick Tip: Which Market?

There are dozens of futures contracts available to trade. The question is which are best for you. Here’s a quick look at filtering for candidates: 

1. Volume. Without adequate volume you’ll experience slippage and not perform as well in the real world. 

2. Margin. Check with your broker and determine whether your account size can afford the margin required. Keep in mind that all brokers will give you more day-trading margin than...

Results of Tuesday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Neither trade triggered. 

Today’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points (FOMC Filter applies from 14:00 to 15:00, no entries): 

Buy 4096.75 stop 4092.00. Short 4270.75 stop 4276.50.

The World Index: (+100/-100) eases from +14 to zero with Tokyo soaring and all other major world markets relatively flat. 

Catalysts: ADP Payroll @ 8:15. Final MFG PMI @ 9:45. ISM MFG PMI & JOLTS @ 10:00. Crude Oil Inventories @ 10:30. FOMC Statement @ 14:00 & Press Conference @ 14:30. 

Quick Tip: Trend or Reversal?

You might be thinking that trading trends 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...

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 4164.25 stop 4159.50. Short 4225.50 stop 4230.75.

The World Index: (+100/-100) eases from +29 to +14 with China/HK struggling and the remaining major markets Bullish. 

Catalysts: Employment Cost Index @ 8:30. Home Price Index @ 9:00. Chicago PMI @ 9:45. Consumer Confidence @ 10:00. Waiting for FOMC tomorrow.   

Quick Tip: Sweet Dreams 

The futures market opens at 6:00 PM ET. It’s called the Globex session, and it is usually easier money than the day session. 

Why? The participants are different. Day session volume brings out all the large lot and algo traders and that creates a nosier effect on price action. 

If you’re thinking “I don’t have the time to analyze the market and know where to...

Results of Friday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Buying 4126.50 picked the bottom of the session multiple times offering 16 points maximum and 13.50 at the close. 

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

Buy 4096.75 stop 4092.00. Short 4208.25 stop 4212.00.

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

Catalysts: Nothing on the economic calendar. Waiting for FOMC Wednesday is likely.  

Quick Tip: Second Helpings

The volume level that held the market up on Friday was originally produced on May 24th. It was also Thursday’s day session low. And it generated 4 winning entry signals on Friday. 

What should we expect going forward? 

Traditional technical analysis looks at a price level that often works as strong support. While that may be in some cases, the...

Results of Monday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Shorting 4261.50 only offered 7 points before stopping out. 

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

Buy 4181.75 stop 4177.50. Short 4305.00 stop 4309.00.

The World Index: (+100/-100) jumps from -57 to +21 with most major world markets mildly Bullish. 

Catalysts: Flash MFG & Services PMI @ 9:45. Richmond MFG Index @ 10:00. Treasury yields ease. MSFT & GOOG earnings after the close (applicable to Globex trading). 

Quick Tip: Small Winners

Trading has only four outcomes; big winners, small winners, small losers, and big losers. 

Allowing big losers is the kiss of death so keep what you’re risking small. Your small losers don’t need much analysis beyond stop loss optimization for varying market volatility. 

Your big winners are likely open managed or...

Results of Friday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Shorting 4402.25 only ran for 8.25 points. 

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

Buy 4285.75 stop 4280.00. Short 4415.00 stop 4419.50.

The World Index: (+100/-100) eases up from -64 to -36 with most major world markets Bearish. 

Catalysts: Empire State MFG Index @ 8:30. Fed-speak @ 10:30. Israeli war updates.

Quick Tip: “Almost” Trades

Your control of trading is limited. You can control entry, exit, risk, and reward. You have no control over where the price goes. 

Friday’s short was planned well. Price rallied to a key volume level where shorting had edge, then reversed and went 8.25 points in your favor. Hopefully you found some profit in the move and tightened your stop loss. 

The second touch went a few ticks beyond the original stop printing the high of the...

Results of Thursday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Buying 4397.25 ran for 20.25 points. 

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

Buy 4228.50 stop 4223.25. Short 4402.25 stop 4406.50.

The World Index: (+100/-100) plummets from +64 to -64 with all major world markets Bearish.

Catalysts: JPM beats on earnings. Import Price Index @ 8:30. Fed-speak @ 9:00. UofM Consumer Sentiment @ 10:00. Israeli war escalates. 

Quick Tip: Edge on Friday the 13th?

It turns out there is no edge to be found on Friday the 13th. However, there is some interesting evidence about trading on any Friday. 

It's believed that stock markets tend to rally on Friday due to short covering by traders to avoid paying interest on a short position over the weekend. 

Our intraday trend strategy for the S&P futures shows a solid long bias throughout the day...

Results of Wednesday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Neither trade suggestion triggered. 

Today’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points (filtered OUT during CPI release if price is too volatile): 

Buy 4397.25 stop 4392.00. Short 4498.00 stop 4501.50.

The World Index: (+100/-100) jumps from +29 to +64 with all major world markets Bullish. 

Catalysts: CPI & Jobless Claims @ 8:30. Crude Oil Inventories @ 11:00. 30-year bond auction @ 13:01.  

Quick Tip: Are You Blind?

You’re reading this so we’re not talking about your vision. No offense. There are so many cognitive biases that affect our trading results, and everyone has some. Possibly the worst bias is called Personal Blind Spot.

It occurs when you fail to recognize your weaknesses and shortcomings, leading to suboptimal trading decisions and poor performance.

One of the primary ways to resolve this bias is through self-reflection and...