Results of Monday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: : No levels offered due to contract rollover. 

Today’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points (all trades are filtered out prior to CPI release today): 

Buy 4662.00 stop 4658.25. Short 4714.50 stop 4719.75. 

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

Catalysts: CPI @ 8:30. 30-year bond auction @ 13:01. 

Quick Tip: Commitment

If you’re relatively new to trading you’ve probably experienced overwhelm from all the choices you have. All the decisions you must make. 

What asset to trade? 

Which timeframe? 

Which broker? 

Whose strategy to follow? 

How much to risk? 

The list is long. After guiding more than 4000 new traders through the process of making these decisions over the past 15 years I’ve found there is a hierarchy to these decisions. 

Start with commitment....

Results of Friday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Buying 4572.50 was filtered out during the Employment Report @ 8:30. 

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

The volume levels are affected by rollover today and are filtered out. 

The World Index: (+100/-100) gains from +7 to +14 in a world of mixed sentiment. 

Catalysts: 10-year bond auction @ 13:01. 

Quick Tip: Futures Rollover

Futures contracts are buy/sell agreements between two parties. Every contract has a delivery date at which point the transaction ends and goods/money are exchanged. 

Many futures traders have no intention of fulfilling their contractual obligations. They’re either speculating on price direction or hedging against price changes. For these traders exiting the current contract before the delivery date and entering the next contract further out on the calendar is...

Results of Thursday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Shorting 4581.00 stopped out. 

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

Buy 4572.50 stop 4569.00. Short 4628.50 stop 4632.75.

The World Index: (+100/-100) gains from -50 to +7 in a world of mixed sentiment and low volatility. 

Catalysts: Employment Report @ 8:30. UofM Preliminary Consumer Sentiment & Inflation Expectations. 

Quick Tip: Insider Buying Works

Your trading toolbox probably includes tools for the analysis of technical, fundamental, and sentiment data. All good. 

Significant research by Wall Street and academia has proven that Insider buying is predictive of positive future stock price performance. Of course, WHEN that abnormal positive move happens varies widely and understanding that is key to successfully using Insider buying data. 

If you’re...

Results of Tuesday’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 4521.00 stop 4517.00. Short 4628.50 stop 4632.75.

The World Index: (+100/-100) SOARS from -43 to +57 with all major world markets Bullish. Risk on.

Catalysts: ADP Non-Farm Employment Change @ 8:15. Revised Non-Farm Productivity & Costs @ 8:30. Crude Oil Inventories @ 10:30. 

Quick Tip: You’re Biased!

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 self-awareness. You must take the time to assess...

Results of Friday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Shorting 4598.50 was only good for a 6-point scalp but the general area held as the high including through the weekend. 

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

Buy 4557.50 stop 4551.75. Short 4628.50 stop 4632.75. 

The World Index: (+100/-100) falls from -14 to -50 with most major world markets Bearish. 

Catalysts: Factory Orders @ 10:00. 

Quick Tip: Get Fearful

We all trade to win and make a profit. The ups and downs happen along the way. The time to get laser-focused is when you’re feeling like you don’t need to. 

The recent rally in the S&P has us closing in on all-time highs. Our team’s swing trading portfolio using Insiders Buys and Unusual Options Activity (long only trades) soared last week. It’s natural when everything...

Results of Thursday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Buying 4551.00 was only good for a 4-point scalp. The breakout short failed. 

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

Buy 4557.50 stop 4551.75. Short 4598.50 stop 4604.25. 

The World Index: (+100/-100) falls from +50 to -14 in a world of mixed sentiment. 

Catalysts: Final MFG PMI @ 9:45. ISM MFG PMI & Prices @ 10:00.  Fed’s Goolsbee @ 10:00, Powell @ 11:00 and 14:00. 

Quick Tip: Measured Moves

Price tends to move in impulses and corrections. The impulse is the primary direction of the trend. The correction is the minor countertrend move. 

Get in the habit of looking to the left on your trading chart and measuring these impulses and corrections. Frequently you’ll see patterns that repeat. 

For example, an 8-point move higher, followed by a 3-point move lower, then...

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 Tuesday’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 4521.00 stop 4517.00. Short 4598.50 stop 4604.25. 

The World Index: (+100/-100) rises from -29 to -14 with Asia Bearish and the west Bullish. 

Catalysts: GDP @ 8:30. Crude Oil Inventories @ 10:30. Beige Book @ 14:00. 

Quick Tip: UOA

Unusual Options Activity (UOA) is a great leading indicator of price. There are different ways to interpret exactly what qualifies an option to be “unusual” and how to utilize them in your trade selection. 

The foundation is an extreme volume spike relative to small open interest (existing contracts not yet closed out). 

Technical analysts generally agree that volume leads price, so this basis makes sense. If a stock is trading at $30 and massive volume occurs today in the $40...