Yesterday’s results: Buying 5888.50 picked the bottom of the session and ran for 25 points. 

Today’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Buy 5908.50 stop 5904.25 if price retraces down from above. Short 5864.75 stop 5868.50 if price retraces up from below. 

The World Index: (+100/-100) jumps from zero to +43 with most of the world Bullish. Asia up strong. 

Catalysts: Building Permits & Housing Starts @ 8:30. Fed’s Waller @ 12:10. 

Quick Tip: Dividend Plays? Really? 

As traders we’re usually focused on capital gains, not holding stocks over the long term and collecting dividends. However, having a dividend producing portfolio is a fabulous way to balance your wealth growth relative to the ups and downs of active trading. 

John Bogle, founder of Vanguard Group, said “Over the long run, it is dividends, and dividends alone, that account for the lion’s share of stock market returns." 

Warren Buffett was a huge fan as well: "The best investment you can make is in a business that has a d...

Yesterday’s results: No trades triggered.  

Today’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Buy 5789.50 stop 5786.25. Short 5787.00 stop 5790.25 if price retraces back up from below (filtered out during CPI release). 

The World Index: (+100/-100) rises from zero to +21 with sentiment mixed with Asia somewhat volatile, not so much the west. 

Catalysts: CPI & Jobless Claims @ 8:30. Fed’s Cook @ 9:15, Barkin @ 10:30, Williams @ 11:00. 30-Year Bond Auction @ 13:00. 

Quick Tip: Multi-Strat 

Yesterday’s price action did not trigger any trades in the S&P futures for two of our strategies, Volume Profile and Volatility Reversal. Plenty of patience is required when day trading and not getting a quality setup. 

Fortunately, we also trade an intraday Trend/Momentum strategy that ran for 38.25 points (see chart above). It’s not uncommon for the strategies to diverge. Market conditions change and so should your choice of strategy. 

We did utilize the Volume Profile levels to our advantage, however....

Yesterday’s results: Buying 5781.50 picked the bottom of the session and ran for 26.75 points just before the close. 

Today’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: No high-probability levels today. 

The World Index: (+100/-100) dips from +86 to +57 with all major world markets Bullish except the S&P futures. 

Catalysts: PCE Price Index @ 8:30. UofM Consumer Sentiment (revised) @ 10:00. Fed’s Bowman @ 13:15. 

Quick Tip: Trailing Stops

The technique of adjusting your stop loss so it follows or “trails” price while moving in your direction is attractive. There are several ways to place a trailing stop. The first decision you must make is whether you want your platform to automatically adjust it or you to manually adjust it. 

For automatic trailing stops any decent trading platform will allow you to enter the trailing stop by points, dollars or percentage. If your initial stop was 4 points away, let that be the trailing stop. Simple, but that doesn’t adjust for volatility changes. 

If yo...

Yesterday’s results: No trade triggered. 

Today’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Buy 5705.75 stop 5700.00. No short level today. 

The World Index: (+100/-100) plummets from +93 to +7 with Asia Bullish and the west modestly Bearish. 

Catalysts: Nothing on the economic calendar. Fed’s Harker speaks @ 14:00. 

Quick Tip: Choices

The first serious sports car I bought was painted gold. It was the only one of that model the dealer had at the time and they were hard to get. I didn’t love the color, but I really wanted the car. 

Most of the time we have choices and that’s a good thing. Traders have plenty of choices. Maybe too many. Which asset to trade, how many shares/contracts, entries, exits, etc. That’s why you should have a plan and stick to your rules. 

One of the choices I’ve noticed many traders don’t have is which strategy to execute. It seems they learn one and stick with it. Market conditions change and not all strategies work well in all markets. Having no choice leaves yo...

Yesterday’s results: Buying 5698 stopped out. 

Today’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Buy 5630.00 stop 5626.25 (filtered out during FOMC release between 14:00 and 15:00). No short suggestion. 

The World Index: (+100/-100) drops from +33 to +8 with sentiment mixed. Waiting on FOMC. 

Catalysts: Building Permits & Housing Starts @ 8:30. Crude Oil Inventories @ 10:30. FOMC Rate Decision @ 14:00, press conference @ 14:30. 

Quick Tip: Don’t 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 my mind sharp. Learning and reading are great, but nothing beats interaction with peop...

Yesterday’s results: Neither trade idea triggered. 

Today’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: No price levels today due to contract rollover. 

The World Index: (+100/-100) drops from +21 to zero with sentiment mixed and volatility very low. 

Catalysts: Empire State MFG Index @ 8:30. 

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 called rollover. 

For stock index futures the rollover is quarterly near the middle of March, June, September and December. The symbols will change to H, M, U, Z respectively. Starting today we’ll be trading the Decem...

Yesterday’s results: Neither trade idea triggered. 

Today’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Buy 5569.75 stop 5564.00. Short 5688.25 stop 5693.50.

The World Index: (+100/-100) drops from +57 to +21 with most major world markets mildly Bullish on declining volatility. 

Catalysts: Import Prices@ 8:30. UofM Consumer Sentiment @ 10:00. 

Quick Tip: More Price Levels

This blog suggests two good setups every day. One long, one short. They are not the only setups that are presented from the volume-at-price analysis. 

Every trading day offers a different “map” of volume levels. They only work for so long, then they’re taken off the chart. That happens when the level is stopped out. 

Hint: Save the levels that didn’t trigger a trade or stop out. They’re good until they’re violated. 

In Wednesday’s blog post the suggested short was 5581.25. New levels were offered on Thursday. This doesn’t mean the prior level “came off” the charts. Yesterday during premarket trading, the suggested turnin...

Friday’s results: Buying 5461.50 only bounced for 6.50 points. Shorting 5521.00 stopped out for a full loss. 

Today’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Buy 5382.75 stop 5379.25. Short 5581.25 stop 5584.75.

The World Index: (+100/-100) jumps from -43 -7 with Asia Bearish and the Western world Bullish. 

Catalysts: Nothing obvious. 

Quick Tip: Tick Trick

A popular indicator for day trading stocks and index futures is the NYSE Tick. It’s a sentiment indicator that measures the number of stocks moving up versus down. For example, with about 2300 stocks on the NYSE if 1500 made an uptick on the last trade and 800 made a downtick the tick index would be +700 (1500 – 800). 

You can use it as supporting evidence to take long/short positions and as confluence for trend. Readings above zero support buys and readings below zero support sells. Keep in mind that it’s only effective for very short periods of time. 

The main problem with the tick chart is interpretation. Using a one-minute time ...

Yesterday’s results: Buying 5469.75 filled in the Globex session catching the low of the session and ran for 14.00 points still open and running. 

Today’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Buy 5461.50 stop 5458.00. Short 5521.00 stop 5525.75. No trades suggested around the Non-Farm Payrolls release. 

The World Index: (+100/-100) drops from -7 to -43 with most major world markets back to Bearish. 

Catalysts: Non-Farm Payrolls/Unemployment Rate/Average Earnings @ 8:30. Fed’s Williams @ 8:45 and Waller @ 11:00. 

Quick Tip: Night Moves

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

Yesterday’s buy at 5469.75 didn’t fill until 3:20 AM ET. You were likely sleeping. Placing the order beforehand brought you a welcome “Good Morning!”

You had a choice of stops: leave the initial stop level and potentially give up profit on a retracement or make it a trailing stop equal to the initial risk and potentially miss ...