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

Today’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points (all trades filtered during GDP release): 

Buy 5046.75 stop 5042.75. Short 5117.50 stop 5121.00.

The World Index: (+100/-100) plummets from +38 to -44 with most major world markets Bearish on rising volatility. 

Catalysts: GDP @ 8:30. Crude Oil Inventories @ 10:30. Fed’s Bostic @ 12:00 and Williams @ 12:45. 

Quick Tip: Pros Agree

Three celebrated authors on trading success, Mark Douglas, Van Tharp, and Alexander Elder, all agree that one aspect of trading is crucially important: 

"The key to trading success is emotional discipline. If intelligence were the key, there would be a lot more people making money trading." - Mark Douglas

"Successful trading is not about being right; it’s about being disciplined. Discipline is the ability to follow one's trading plan,...

Results of Monday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: : Buying 5173.00 filled in the Globex session last night running 14+ points and still open. 

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

Buy 5046.75 stop 5042.75. Short 5117.50 stop 5121.00.

The World Index: (+100/-100) jumps from -25 to +38 with all major world markets neutral to modestly Bullish. 

Catalysts: Durable Goods @ 8:30. Home Price Index @ 9:00. Fed’s Barr @ 9:05. Consumer Confidence & Richmond MFG Index @ 10:00. 

Quick Tip: Set/Forget 

One of the nice features of trading the levels from this newsletter is the set/forget entry available on the reversals. 

Yesterday’s buy at 5173.00 didn’t trigger until 12:55 AM ET. Depending on your time zone you may have been sleeping. Placing the order beforehand brought you a welcome “Good Morning!” if...

Results of Friday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: The trade idea never triggered. 

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

Buy 5073.00 stop 5068.50. Short 5117.50 stop 5121.00.

The World Index: (+100/-100) drops from +38 to -25 with most major world markets neutral to modestly Bearish on less volatility.  

Catalysts: New Home Sales @ 10:00. 

Quick Tip: Bubbles

Warren Buffett is famous for his annual letter to shareholders. If you haven’t read one you should know that he’s a great writer and borderline humorist. 

Since we’re at all-time highs and the AI craze is bringing out the word “bubble” I want to share some Buffett on that topic with you. 

Feb. 25, 2012 “Over the past 15 years, both Internet stocks and houses have demonstrated the extraordinary excesses that can be created by combining an...

Results of Thursday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: The trade idea never triggered. 

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

Buy 5073.00 stop 5068.50. No great shorts today. 

The World Index: (+100/-100) eases from +69 to +38 in a mildly Bullish world on plummeting volatility. 

Catalysts: Nothing on the economic calendar. Let’s see if there is any follow-through from the NVDA rally. 

Quick Tip: You’re the Enemy

Showing my age here quoting Walt Kelly’s Pogo cartoon: “We have met the enemy, and they are us.” 

Developing traders put so much time and effort into finding the best strategy and risk management plan (both important) that they ignore the real enemy in trading. 

Your personal psychology about winning or losing, and being right or wrong, will ruin your performance more than a mediocre...

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 5046.75 stop 5042.75. No great shorts today. 

The World Index: (+100/-100) soars from +6 to +69 with all major world markets (except India) firmly Bullish. 

Catalysts: Jobless Claims @ 8:30. Flash MFG/Services PMI @ 9:45. Existing Home Sales & Fed’s Jefferson @ 10:00. Crude Oil Inventories @ 11:00. NVDA sparks worldwide rally in equities. 

Quick Tip: Hybrid Trading

There isn’t only “one way” to trade successfully. There are countless strategies and methods that can be profitable. You need to find what resonates with your trading psychology, style, and risk tolerance. 

For example, consider two popular styles of trading: trend following and mean reversion. They both can be very profitable...

Results of Tuesday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Buying 4972.75 only offered a 6.50-point bounce. 

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

Buy 4926.00 stop 4920.75. Short 5026.50 stop 5031.00.

The World Index: (+100/-100) inches up from zero to +6 in a world of mixed sentiment and rising volatility. 

Catalysts: Fed’s Bowman @ 13:00. FOMC Meeting Minutes @ 14:00. NVDA after the bell.

Quick Tip: Why Multi-Strat?

If you read this blog daily you know that our team trades live daily in a multi-strat environment. Focusing on multiple strategies is not for everyone. In fact, few of our team trade all the strategies. 

So why know how to trade them? 

1. Diversity. Markets change character. They’re either trending or not, volatile, or not. No single strategy works well in all those conditions. Having the choice...

Results of Friday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Buying 5026.00 stopped out. Shorting 5022.50 on the retracement ran for 9.75 points. 

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

Buy 4972.75 stop 4969.25. Short 5026.50 stop 5031.00.

The World Index: (+100/-100) plummets from +67 to zero in a world of mixed sentiment and low volatility. 

Catalysts: Nothing important on the economic calendar 

Quick Tip: Smart Money

Who are your “Smart Money” Connections? 

Most traders don’t have even one, let alone many. 

For the longest time, I didn’t either. And now that I have many, I wouldn’t trade any other way. Following “Smart Money” trades is absolutely the best edge I’ve found in 25 years of trading. 

And I want to share this with you!

You’ll see all...

Results of Thursday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points:Shorting 5040.25 was only good for a 5.25-point scalp. 

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

Buy 5026.00 stop 5021.75. Short 5022.50 stop 5026.75 if price falls below and retraces to entry.  

The World Index: (+100/-100) jumps from +29 to +67 with all major world markets Bullish on rising volatility.  

Catalysts: PPI, Building Permits, Housing Starts @ 8:30. Fed’s Barr @ 9:10. UofM Consumer Sentiment @ 10:00. Fed’s Daly @ 12:10. 

Quick Tip: 4 Fears

You know that a winning trader is a confident trader, and a losing trader is a fearful trader. Part of your personal development plan should be eliminating your fears. 

Yes, fears. Plural. You can have more than one. Over the years teaching traders I’ve noticed different types of fear. 

1. The most obvious...

Results of Wednesday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Buying 4972.75 caught the bottom of the session and ran for 41.50 points at the close. 

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

Buy 4998.00 stop 4994.25. Short 5040.25 stop 5045.25. 

The World Index: (+100/-100) eases from +36 to +29 with most major world markets Bullish on low volatility. 

Catalysts: Retail Sales, Jobless Claims, Empire State MFG Index, Philly Fed MFG Index, Import Prices @ 8:30. Industrial Production @ 9:15. Business Inventories, Housing Market Index @ 10:00. Fed’s Waller @ 13:15. 

Quick Tip: No Fear

Looking at the chart above how price was approaching the buy level you might feel like you were stepping in front of a freight train. Confidence required. 

Of course, since you knew the entry well beforehand a set/forget order would have been a good solution...

Results of Tuesday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Buying 5013.50 was filtered out during the CPI release. The Short didn’t trigger. 

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

Buy 4972.75 stop 4969.25. Short 5040.50 stop 5045.25.  

The World Index: (+100/-100) reverses from -25 to +36 with most major world markets Bullish on low volatility. 

Catalysts: Fed’s Goolsbee speaks @ 9:30. Crude Oil Inventories @ 10:30

Quick Tip: Swiss Army Knife 2

If you didn’t read yesterday’s blog it would be helpful to do it now. Here’s a link. 

We like Bollinger Bands as a technical indicator because they display most of the information we need to understand market state: trend and volatility. 

In reading his book, Bollinger on Bollinger Bands, I found a pearl of trading wisdom that stuck with me, and I use all the time....