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 +43 to -36 with all major world markets flat or Bearish. 

Catalysts: Non-Farm Payrolls/Unemployment Rate @ 8:30. Fed’s Cook @ 12:00. 

Quick Tip: Great Job! 

Your focus when trading should be on doing the job well. That doesn’t necessarily mean winning. You can do your job well and lose. Why? Because we have no control over the outcome, only our behavior and discipline to follow our rules. 

Here are your main “job” components as a trader: Research, practice, preparation, execution, and review. 

There are plenty of analogies that compare traders with athletes, musicians, artists, and the military. These are all considered performance activities. So is trading. Think about how much time and effort the successful of those professions put into these same “job” components.

I’ve found the definitive work on this subject is in Dr....

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

Friday’s results: This strategy is on hold. 

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

Catalysts: Final MFG PMI @ 9:45. ISM MFG PMI, MFG Prices & Construction Spending @10:00

Quick Tip: When to Stop

All trading strategies have drawdowns (a protracted losing streak). The challenge is trading through it. You can’t stop thinking that it may “never come back” or churn for an extended period. Or you could get FOMO and think if you stop now it will roar back and you’ll miss the gain. Obviously, these thoughts are destructive. Don’t go there. 

What you should do is have Stop-n-start rules to follow. These are rules that tell you when to stop trading the strategy and when, if ever, to start up again. This will take the emotion out of the process. Apply these rules to the performance of individual strategies, not your whole trading account. 

Here’s an example of a rule set...

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

Thursday’s results: This strategy is on hold. 

The World Index: (+100/-100) eases from -29 to -14 with sentiment mixed on varying volatility, leaning Bearish. 

Catalysts: PCE Price Index, Personal Income & Spending @ 8:30. Chicago PMI @ 9:45. Fed’s Williams @ 12:05. 

Quick Tip: Good Question

Think for a moment before you answer this seemingly simple question. Do you find it harder to take a loss or a profit? 

The answer says a lot about your trade plan, style, trading psychology, and what you need to work on. 

If your answer was a loss, then your risk management plan needs help. You’re probably risking too much. You might be trading the wrong strategy, one with more losers than winners like trend following. Your personality might be the problem if you get annoyed being wrong (trading is about probabilities, not certainties). 

If your answer was a profit, then your risk management is fine, but your profit target...

Today’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Buy 5343.00 stop 5339.25. Short 5340.00 stop 5343.75 if price drops below and retraces up to entry. 

Wednesday’s results: Buying 5321.50 was filtered out during the FOMC Minutes volatility. 

The World Index: (+100/-100) rises from -37 to +7 with sentiment mixed, firmly Bearish in Shanghai & HK, Bullish elsewhere. 

Catalysts: Jobless Claims @ 8:30. Flash MFG & Services PMI @ 9:45. New Home Sales @ 10:00. Fed’s Bostic @ 15:00. 

Quick Tip: After Losing 

What do you do after a losing trade? 

There’s statistical and observable evidence that the number of winning traders is much smaller than the number of mediocre, losing, and failed traders. 

If that’s the case, then the best lesson you could learn and the surest route to success in trading is to emulate the winners. Copy their successful actions. 

Setting aside their actual strategy rules, which you may never be privy to, think about how they handle losses. They have them, too. The answer is...