Trade Aptitude

options stock market swing trading trade planning Apr 11, 2024

Today’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Buy 5113.75 stop 5109.25. Short 5254.25 stop 5258.00.

Wednesday’s results: The buy level at 5231.50 was filtered out during the CPI news release volatility.

The World Index: (+100/-100) drops from +21 to -29 with most major world markets mildly Bearish or flat.

Catalysts: ECB Monetary Policy @ 8:15. PPI & Jobless Claims @ 8:30. ECB Press Conference, Fed’s Williams @ 8:45, Barkin @ 10:00, Collins @ 12:00, Bostic @ 13:30.

Quick Tip: Best Swing Trades

If you’re a swing trader of stocks or options you probably have some technical analysis rules for entry and exit. There are countless indicators and methods that work just fine.

One “edge” you might not have optimized yet is your stock/option selection method. Many traders will simply look for the high-volume candidates with appropriate volatility. That’s not enough. ...

Trade Aptitude

risk management trade planning Apr 10, 2024

Today’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Buy 5236.25 stop 5231.50. Short 5296.25 stop 5300.75 (filtered out for CPI announcement).

Tuesday’s results: Buying 5213.00 bounced for 6 points before stopping out one tick from the day session low.

The World Index: (+100/-100) gains from +7 to +21 with most major world markets leaning Bullish on low volatility.

Catalysts: CPI @ 8:30. Fed’s Bowman @ 8:45. Crude Oil Inventories @ 10:30. Fed’s Goolsbee @ 12:45. FOMC Minutes @ 14:00.

Quick Tip: Stop Trading?

hemAll trading strategies have drawdowns (a protracted losing streak). The challenge is trading through them. You can’t stop thinking that it may “never come back” or churn for an extended period. Then you 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...

Trade Aptitude

personal development psychology trade planning Apr 09, 2024

Today’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Buy 5213.00 stop 5208.50. Short 5296.25 stop 5300.75.

Monday's Results: Neither trade triggered and remain on the chart.

The World Index: (+100/-100) eases from +14 to +7 with most major world markets flat or modestly Bullish.

Catalysts: Nothing on the economic calendar today.

Quick Tip: Think like a CEO.

You should manage your trading like a business. Even if you’re employed, think of it as a side business. You’re unlikely to have employees and that means you need to wear different “hats” to be successful. You’re the CEO, CFO, and Trader.

The CEO creates the vision then ensures it becomes a reality. He is the author of the trading plan, documentation, and review processes. He is not mired in day-to-day performance. His focus is on long term growth and goal attainment. Spend some time developing a written vision statement and goals...

Trade Aptitude

day trading futures options stock market trade planning Apr 08, 2024

Today’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Buy 5184.25 stop 5179.00. Short 5296.25 stop 5300.75.

Friday's Results: No trades triggered.

The World Index: (+100/-100) gains from -50 to +14 with most major world markets flat or modestly Bullish.

Catalysts: Nothing on the economic calendar today.

Quick Tip: Morning Routine

Preparing for your trading day is critical. You should have a routine you follow that includes the following:

Review Market News: Start by scanning major financial news outlets for any overnight developments that could impact the market. This includes economic data releases, geopolitical events, key corporate earnings reports, and news specific to the contracts you trade.

Check Futures and Overseas Markets: Assess how global markets are performing by checking futures contracts for major indices like the S&P 500, Dow Jones, and Nasdaq. Also, review how overseas markets, particularly in Asia and...

Trade Aptitude

day trading trade planning Apr 05, 2024

Results of Thursday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Buying 5247.00 stopped out. The short idea never triggered.

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

Buy 5184.25 stop 5179.00. Short 5296.25 stop 5300.75.

The World Index: (+100/-100) plummets from +30 to -50 with all major world markets Bearish on rising volatility except the S&P Futures, modestly higher.

Catalysts: Non-Farm Payrolls @ 8:30. Fed’s Barkin @ 9:15, Bowman @ 12:15.

Quick Tip: Freight Trains

Teammate Curt is our in-house expert on 0DTE spreads on the SPXW. In the training documents he shared with the team there was one market condition he called the Freight Train.

As you can imagine, this defines a market that is strongly running in one direction. Like yesterday after the Fed’s Kashkari floats the idea of no interest rate cuts in 2024 and the market drops...

Trade Aptitude

trade planning Apr 04, 2024

Results of Wednesday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: No trade triggered.

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

Buy 5247.00 stop 5241.25. Short 5311.25 stop 5316.00.

The World Index: (+100/-100) reverses from -29 to +30 with the open world markets neutral to mildly Bullish (China, HK closed).

Catalysts: Jobless Claims @ 8:30. Fed Speakers: Barkin @ 12:15, Mester @ 14:00.

Quick Tip: Handling Streaks

Regardless of strategy, trading results move in waves much like price on a chart. Winning, losing, and flat streaks. Your trade plan should have rules for how you respond to these events.

Winning streak rules are simple if you follow a fixed percentage risk management plan. Let’s say your maximum risk per trade is 2% (common) of your trading account. As your winning streak continues the percentage of the growing account...

Trade Aptitude

trade planning Apr 03, 2024

Results of Tuesday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Buying 5242.00 ended the plunge in price and offered a 9-point run before chopping sideways for the remainder of the day. The better trade was the breakout short from 4274.25 which ran 32.25 points to the turn.

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

Buy 5201.75 stop 5196.75. Short 5291.00 stop 5295.75.

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

Catalysts: ADP Employment Change @ 8:15. Fed’s Bostic @ 8:30, Bowman @ 9:45, Powell @ 12:10, Barr @ 13:10. Final Services PMI @ 9:45. ISM Services PMI @ 10:00. Crude Oil Inventories @ 10:30.

Quick Tip: Adjusting Targets

Your trading plan should have a basic set of entry and exit rules. Think of them as useful for “typical” market conditions. You can define typical by data...

Trade Aptitude

options swing trading Apr 02, 2024

Results of Monday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Buying 5311.00 only offered a 6.25-point move. Shorting 5306.25 ran for 24 points but not before just stopping out by a few ticks. Hoping your stop placement was looser. :-)

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

Buy 5242.00 stop 5236.25. Short 5311.25 stop 5316.00.

The World Index: (+100/-100) improves from +7 to +29 with most major world markets modestly Bullish on lower volatility.

Catalysts: JOLTS & Factory Orders @ 10:00. Fed’s Bowman @ 10:10, Williams @ 12:00, Mester @ 12:05, and Daly @ 13:30.

Quick Tip: Best Option Setup

Unusual Options Activity (UOA) is a great leading indicator of price.

What are they? Identifying the best candidates starts with an extreme volume spike relative to small open interest (existing contracts not yet closed...

Trade Aptitude

day trading futures Apr 02, 2024

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

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

Buy 5311.00 stop 5305.50. Short 5306.25 stop 5312.00 if price drops below and retraces to entry.

The World Index: (+100/-100) falls from +21 to +7 with most major world markets still closed for the Easter holiday.

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

Quick Tip: Hidden Gem

Of all the markets you can day-trade, there is one that offers more benefits than the others and it’s the least popular with retail traders.

The news, social media, and advertising are so influential in convincing us what is “hot” that the trader unwilling to dig deeper with personal research misses great opportunities.

If there was ever a true “match made in...

Trade Aptitude

day trading personal development psychology swing trading Mar 28, 2024

Results of Wednesday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: No trade triggered.

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

Buy 5280.00 stop 5274.25. Short 5274.25 stop 5280.00 if price drops below and retraces to entry.

The World Index: (+100/-100) jumps from -14 to +21 with most major world markets mildly Bullish.

Catalysts: GDP & Jobless Claims @ 8:30. Chicago PMI @ 9:45. Pending Home Sales & UofM Consumer Sentiment/Inflation Expectations (revised).

Quick Tip: Expectations

“What are you struggling with?” was the question I asked a group of traders a while back. One woman said she had “expectation” challenges. She felt she needed to acknowledge that every trade cannot be a home run, or “10 to 1” as she phrased it.

I respected her self-awareness. Expectations is not a commonly voiced trading...

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 62 63 64 65

Thanks for joining The Daily Market Forecast Community!