Results of Thursday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Buying 4387.00 stopped out.

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

Buy 4339.25 stop 4334.00. Short 4421.75 stop 4427.50. 

The World Sentiment Index: (+100/-100) drops from -7 to -64 with all major world markets Bearish on rising volatility. 

Catalysts: Nothing on the economic calendar. China continues to struggle. Bond yields are staying high. Risk off. 

Quick Tip: Leftovers

Once you exit your winning trade there are only two outcomes. 

1. You left money on the table. 

2. You got out just in time.

Which do you suppose happens more often? 

The point is wherever we decide to exit, much if not most of the time you’ll leave money on the table. Knowing this in advance should alleviate some emotional reaction to being “wrong on that one.” 

There is benefit in...

Results of Wednesday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Buying 4412.50 filled in the Globex session last night and ran for 18+ points so far, still open. 

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

Buy 4387.00 stop 4382.25. Short 4492.50 stop 4498.00. 

The World Sentiment Index: (+100/-100) advances from -43 to -7 in a world of mixed sentiment and very low volatility.  

Catalysts: Jobless Claims & Philly Fed MFG Index @ 8:30. Bond yields jump on Fed Minutes. 

Quick Tip: Why Day Trade?

If you have a long-only portfolio, IRA, and/or 401-K you’re probably happy with your 2023 performance so far. You’re also concerned about the recent slide. With September and October having some history of trouble, you may consider hedging your longer-term investments. 

You could buy index put options as insurance. That’s an expense,...

Results of Tuesday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Buying 4456.76 stopped out in a fast moving plunge. Read the Quick Tip for more on this. 

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

Buy 4412.50 stop 4407.50. Short 4492.50 stop 4498.00. 

The World Sentiment Index: (+100/-100) advances from -64 to -43 with Asia down hard and the west flat. 

Catalysts: Building Permits @ 8:30. Industrial Production @ 9:15. FOMC Meeting Minutes @ 14:00. China intervenes to protect stock market plunge. 

Quick Tip: Caveat on Reversals 

The suggested turning points in this newsletter are derived from high volume price levels. These represent fair value since buyers and sellers traded heavily at the price both must have considered acceptable. 

Typically, these are good turning points. But when price has significant momentum they can be violated. ...

Results of Monday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Shorting 4510.25 stopped out in the Globex session last night. 

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

Buy 4439.50 stop 4436.00. Short 4543.75 stop 4548.25.

The World Sentiment Index: (+100/-100) drops from -21 to -64 with all major world markets except Tokyo very Bearish on rising volatility. 

Catalysts: Retail Sales, Empire State MFG Index, Import Prices @ 8:30. Chinese economy/debt issues. 

Quick Tip: Resilience 

Baseball great Harmon Killebrew said, “The most important athletic ability is the talent to comeback from behind.” True in sports, true in business, true in trading. 

The great come-back athletes were different than their peers. They knew there would be setbacks. They thought in advance how to handle them. They didn’t get emotional. They snapped to attention...

Results of Friday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Neither trade triggered in a narrow range day. Both levels remain on the chart. 

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

Buy 4439.50 stop 4436.00. Short 4510.25 stop 4516.00.

The World Sentiment Index: (+100/-100) eases from -36 to -21 with Asia firmly Bearish and the west mildly Bullish. 

Catalysts: Nothing on the economic calendar. 

Quick Tip: Simple Not Easy

You’ve probably heard the phrase “trading is simple, it’s just not easy.” Indeed, trade plans can be simple to execute but because of our thoughts, emotions, and behaviors we make them hard to follow thus missing the result we want. 

Let’s say your “simple” trade rules were based on 1) Determine the big picture trend, 2) Sell rallies in a downtrend on a shorter time interval, 3) Buy dips in an uptrend on a...

Results of Thursday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Shorting 4543.75 ran for 51 points to the buy level at 4492.75 that bounced offering 13.50 points. 

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

Buy 4439.50 stop 4436.00. Short 4510.25 stop 4516.00.

The World Sentiment Index: (+100/-100) slumps from +37 to -36 with most major world markets Bearish on rising volatility. 

Catalysts: PPI @ 8:30. UofM Preliminary Consumer & Inflation Sentiment @ 10:00. 

Quick Tip: Open Trade Management

Money messes with our heads. Until you get a grip on the emotions associated with winning and losing, you’re unlikely to succeed. 

Here’s a viewpoint I learned from one of the all-time great traders, Larry Williams: “More money is lost due to overstaying positions (greed) than exiting due to the fear of losing money.” 

Your fear...

Results of Wednesday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Buying 4489.00 stopped out. The Breakout offered only 7.75 points. 

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

Buy 4492.75 stop 4487.00. Short 4543.75 stop 4548.25.

The World Sentiment Index: (+100/-100) rises from +29 to +37 with all major world markets neutral to Bullish on low volatility. 

Catalysts: CPI & Jobless Claims @ 8:30. 

Quick Tip: Proactive Waiting

Plenty of time in trading is spent waiting. Waiting for a setup, waiting for an economic release, waiting for a profit target. Lots of waiting. 

Here’s how to make this productive: Get proactive. Get in the habit of asking “What if…?” questions. Answer them. In doing so you’ll be making decisions in advance and be able to act on the spot. No wondering, guessing, procrastinating or flat-out missing the...

Results of Tuesday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Buying 4485.75 caught the bottom of the session and ran for 38 points to the next volume level (unpublished, click the button below to join and receive all the levels). 

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

Buy 4489.00 stop 4485.25. Short 4543.75 stop 4548.25.

The World Sentiment Index: (+100/-100) jumps from -57 to +29 in a world of mostly mild Bullish sentiment. 

Catalysts: Nothing on the economic calendar. Deflation in China. Waiting on the CPI. 

Quick Tip: Lemonade

Reframing your thinking is like turning lemons into lemonade. Yesterday is a great example of when you should be reframing your thinking and thus your attitude. 

The suggested buy caught the bottom of the session and ran a healthy 38 points. However, the actual bottom of the session was the suggested stop loss! To the tick!

OK,...

Results of Monday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Neither suggested trade triggered and both levels remain on the chart for today.

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

Buy 4485.75 stop 4482.00. Short 4543.75 stop 4548.25.

The World Sentiment Index: (+100/-100) falls from -14 to -57 with most major world markets Bearish on rising volatility.  

Catalysts: Nothing on the economic calendar. China’s economy disappoints. Waiting on CPI.

Quick Tip: Get Another Strategy

For the past two days neither of the best volumes levels offered here triggered a trade. Patience is required for sure. 

The alternative is to trade more than one strategy. The key is to find a strategy that is complementary, not competitive with the others in your trade plan. 

Two popular styles to combine are breakout/reversal and trend following. Price is always in one...

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

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

Buy 4485.75 stop 4482.00. Short 4543.75 stop 4548.25.

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

Catalysts: Nothing on the economic calendar. Earnings season slows. Waiting on CPI. 

Quick Tip: Lose Enough 

A popular formula for determining your risk on any given trade is the Fixed Percentage rule. You pick a percentage, usually 2% or less of your trading account, and that is the most you can risk on each trade.  

It works great because as your account grows your risk can increase giving you the opportunity for greater reward. Conversely, if you’re in a drawdown you will be risking less. 

While that formula is fine for the math side of the equation,...