Results of Wednesday’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 4885.00 stop 4881.50. Short 4867.00 stop 4871.25 if price falls below and retraces back. 

The World Index: (+100/-100) dumps from +50 to +13 with Asia Bullish and the west relatively flat. 

Catalysts: GDP, Jobless Claims, Durable Goods, Import/Export Balance @ 8:30. New Home Sales @ 10:00. Earnings season continues. 

Quick Tip: Ready to Retire?

You’ve probably heard or read the best ways to have a long and fulfilling retirement: Exercise regularly, sleep more, eat healthy, drink moderately, stop smoking, and minimize stress. 

Here’s one thing you might not have heard about: Connect with people who have the same purpose. It turns out that loneliness is a killer. 

Living in Florida I’m frequently asked when out socially if I’m retired. I’m not and never will be, in the classic sense. Why? To keep...

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 4885.00 stop 4881.50. Short 4882.25 stop 4885.75 if price falls below and retraces back. 

The World Index: (+100/-100) soars from +7 to +50 with most major world markets bullish on rising volatility. 

Catalysts: MFG & Services PMI Flash @ 9:45. Crude Oil Inventories @ 10:30. Earnings surprises (ASML kills it). China commits to stimulus. 

Quick Tip: Overbought?

Price soars way higher, it’s overbought. Price plunges way lower, it’s oversold. There are many indicators and chart patterns for verifying these conditions. 

The rub is these conditions can and do persist. Exiting too soon isn’t all that bad. All you did was make a little less profit. Entering the reversal too soon is trouble. 

The S&P is at all-time highs. 

Yet, we have high interest rates, inflation, national debt, and global debt. 

We...

Results of Friday’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 4870.50 stop 4866.25. Short 4867.00 stop 4871.25 if price falls below and retraces back. 

The World Index: (+100/-100) eases from +21 to +7 with China/HK dragging down an otherwise moderately Bullish world. 

Catalysts: Nothing important on the economic calendar. Presidential race gets narrower.

Quick Tip: Mindset

You probably noticed that the Turning Points shared here frequently don’t trigger. Sometimes a few days can go by without a trade. 

You may be thinking, “This is not enough action for me.” 

On the contrary, this strategy provides far more setups than are freely shared, we’re just trying to get acquainted! Add in the reversal and momentum strategies and there are dozens of opportunities every trading day in our live futures trading room. 

Now you may be thinking “That is too much action ...

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

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

Buy 4767.25 stop 4761.50. Short 4797.50 stop 4800.75.

The World Index: (+100/-100) soars from -86 to +50 with most major world markets solidly Bullish. 

Catalysts: Jobless Claims, Philly Fed MFG Index, Building Permits, and Housing Starts @ 8:30. Crude Oil Inventories @ 11:00. Fed’s Bostic @ 11:30. World Economic Forum in Davos (all week).

Quick Tip: Think Risk First

You might be thinking, "Aren't we trading for the profits?" Yes, however, in the long term a well-structured risk management plan should outweigh the short-term profits you stand to gain.

Why? Trading is a marathon, not a sprint. Your goal is not just to gain high returns in the short run, but to sustain profitable trading over a long period.

Think of it this way. If you’re an engineer and lose your job, you can easily find anot...

Results of Friday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Shorting 4752.00 stopped out. Buying 4701.75 missed filling by one tick, a 50-point runner .

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

Buy 4701.75 stop 4696.00. Short 4780.00 stop 4785.75.

The World Index: (+100/-100) improves from -43 to -29 with Asia more Bearish than the west. 

Catalysts: Fed’s Bostic speaks @ 12:00 PM. 

Quick Tip: Discretion

If you look back to Thursday’s blog (click here for all 500+ issues) you’ll notice the suggested Buy was 4704.00, same as today. Looking at Friday’s blog you’ll see the suggested Buy was 4701.75. 

Why did I change the entry by such a small amount? 

The high-volume that creates these levels offer entry ideas. Sometimes other information is available suggesting you adjust your entry. They could be rules from another strategy, chart patterns, economic releases, and other indicator results. 

I chose to adjust the entry on Friday...

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

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

Buy 4704.00 stop 4699.25. Short 4780.00 stop 4785.75.

The World Index: (+100/-100) jumps from -58 to +14 in a world of mixed sentiment and lower volatility. 

Catalysts: ADP Employment Change @ 8:15. Jobless Claims @ 8:30. Final Services PMI @ 9:45. Crude Oil Inventories @11:00.  

Quick Tip: Open to Change

Last year change I wrote a blog on being “open to change.” The idea came from an article I read about five top Wall Street traders’ thoughts on how to deal with disruption in the markets. There were plenty of differences between them including chosen asset class, style, strategy, all the typical things. 

There was one huge commonality, though. They all stressed keeping an open mind. Be willing to change. Markets change. Technologies change. Laws change. Governments change. 

Change...

Results of Tuesday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: The levels yesterday were not updated from the day before (error) and were non-tradable.  

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

Buy 4704.00 stop 4699.25. Short 4814.25 stop 4820.00. 

The World Index: (+100/-100) stays at -58 with the major world markets Bearish on increasing volatility.   

Catalysts: Fed’s Barkin @ 8:30. ISM MFG PMI & JOLTS @ 10:00. FOMC Meeting Minutes @ 14:00. 

Quick Tip: No FOMO

Seasoned traders spend time on the review process. They document every trade their strategies set up, taken or not. They compare their results (behavior) to their plan. This is an excellent way to improve incrementally and get more disciplined and confident. 

There is a “downside” you’ll need to handle, though. Since you can’t take every trade every day and night you’ll find in your documentation and review process that you MISS LOTS of great trades. It gets worse if ...

Results of Friday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Shorting 4821.50 delivered 14.00 points to the buy level at 4807.50, which didn’t fare as well only offering a 4.25-point bounce. 

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

Buy 4807.50 stop 4802.25. Short 4821.50 stop 4827.25 if price closes below and retraces to fill. 

The World Index: (+100/-100) plummets from +21 to -58 with the major world markets Bearish on increasing volatility.   

Catalysts: PMI Final @ 9:45. 

Quick Tip: Expectations and Reality

People are impressionable. Sometimes that can be a problem. We can have great expectations that don’t match up with reality. A perfectly fine trading result can seem like a failure after experiencing a big win. 

Here’s an example. Let’s say the first time you traded the levels shared in this blog your first trade was a 40-point winner. Clearly you’d be ecstatic. What would your expectations be for future trade suggestio...

Results of Thursday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: No trades triggered. 

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

Buy 4807.50 stop 4802.25. Short 4821.50 stop 4827.25 if price closes below and retraces to fill. 

The World Index: (+100/-100) rises from zero to +21 in a mildly Bullish world with low volatility. 

Catalysts: Chicago PMI @ 9:45. 

Quick Tip: Optimism & Pessimism. 

Can they co-exist? Should they? Yes, but on different levels. 

Starting the New Year, it’s common to set goals. You want to be optimistic about your trading, career, family, and the state of the world itself. It would be wasteful and unnatural to be pessimistic. 

Those positive goals you set are in your “big picture.” Where you want to be a little pessimistic is in the details. 

How are you going to achieve your goals? You want to imagine the roadblocks and challenges that will inevitably arrive on your path to success. Once you see what thos...

Results of Wednesday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: : Buying 4798.00 stopped out. 

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

Buy 4704.00 stop 4699.25. Short 4822.25 stop 4826.50 

The World Index: (+100/-100) drops from +7 to -14 with the major markets mixed. S&P futures Bullish.

Catalysts: GDP, Jobless Claims, and Philly Fed MFG Index @ 8:30. 

Quick Tip: Never Stop…

…learning! 

If the market is a mirror that reflects your character flaws, then trading is the journey of self-improvement.

You’ve no doubt read books, enrolled in courses, hired a mentor, listened to podcasts, read blogs, and watched countless videos on HOW to trade the markets. You’ve educated yourself with all the information you needed to complete a personalized trade plan. 

Is it working for you? Are your trading results right on target? 

If not, consider this quote, author unknown, “Successful trading is 10% analysis, 90% psychology, and 100% dis...