Results of Monday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: There was a typo on the short yesterday, well below price. The long didn’t trigger. 

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

Buy 4364.75 stop 4360.75. Short 4498.00 stop 4502.25.

The World Index: (+100/-100) drops from +21 to +7 in a world of continuing mixed sentiment and low volatility. 

Catalysts: CPI (watch Core) @ 8:30. Fed’s Barr @ 10:00. Fed’s Goolsbee @ 12:45. 

Quick Tip: Big Picture

What’s your Big Picture? The correct answer depends on your time horizon (intended holding period) and trading chart time interval. 

If you’re a day trader using a 5 or 10-minute chart, you’d be out by the end of the day and watching the behavior of the 30 or 60-minute chart. 

If you’re a swing trader using a 60-minute chart, you’d be out in a several days or weeks and watching the Daily chart. 

If you’re a position trader using a Daily chart, you’d be holding long term and wa...

Results of Monday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: There was a typo on the short yesterday, well below price. The long didn’t trigger. 

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

Buy 4364.75 stop 4360.75. Short 4498.00 stop 4502.25.

The World Index: (+100/-100) drops from +21 to +7 in a world of continuing mixed sentiment and low volatility. 

Catalysts: CPI (watch Core) @ 8:30. Fed’s Barr @ 10:00. Fed’s Goolsbee @ 12:45. 

Quick Tip: Big Picture

What’s your Big Picture? The correct answer depends on your time horizon (intended holding period) and trading chart time interval. 

If you’re a day trader using a 5 or 10-minute chart, you’d be out by the end of the day and watching the behavior of the 30 or 60-minute chart. 

If you’re a swing trader using a 60-minute chart, you’d be out in a several days or weeks and watching the Daily chart. 

If you’re a position trader using a Daily chart, you’d be holding long term and wa...

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

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

Buy 4336.25 stop 4332.50. Short 4397.50 stop 4402.25.

The World Index: (+100/-100) plummets from +29 to -71 with all major world markets very Bearish. 

Catalysts: UofM Consumer Sentiment @ 10:00. Hangover from Powell’s comments.   

Quick Tip: Stops

To survive and thrive in trading managing risk is critical. The basic component in your risk management plan is the stop loss (how much you are willing to lose on each trade). 

There are many types of stop loss methods including:

1. Dollar

2. Maximum Adverse Excursion 

3. Volatility

4. Moving Average

5. Time

6. Opposing signal 

7. Percent Retracement

Like your choice in style of trading, your stop loss method needs to resonate with your personality. You must trust, even like it. 

Given that markets change in volatility constantly the volatility st...

Results of Wednesday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Neither level triggered and remain on the chart. 

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

Buy 4336.25 stop 4332.50. Short 4433.25 stop 4436.75. 

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

Catalysts: Jobless Claims @ 8:30. 30-year Bond Auction @ 13:01. Powell speaks on a panel discussion titled "Monetary Challenges in a Global Economy" @ 14:00. 

Quick Tip: Trade THIS Way

Should you trade multiple strategies? Or focus on one? 

Given a big enough account diversification becomes mandatory. You’ve never heard of a hedge fund that ran “one” strategy. But what about those of us with relatively smaller trading accounts? There are pros and cons. 

Pros: 

More trading opportunities. When one strategy is waiting for entry, another may be active. This means more efficient use of your capital and time. You'll have an "abundanc...

Results of Tuesday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: In a relatively narrow, choppy session, neither level triggered and remain on the chart. 

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

Buy 4336.25 stop 4332.50. Short 4433.25 stop 4436.75. 

The World Index: (+100/-100) jumps from -57 to -14 in a world of mixed sentiment and low volatility. 

Catalysts: Fed Speakers @ 9:15 (Powell), 13:40, and 14:00. 10-year Bond Auction @ 13:01. 

Quick Tip: Hot Lists

Stock traders and investors have a challenge that futures and Forex traders don’t have. How to winnow down your trading candidates from around 9500 stocks. 

There are some common filters that are easy to implement like price and volume. Picking stocks that are between $10 and $50 reduces the selection to 4500. Add in average volume over 1 million daily and you’re down to 710. 

You can keep adding filters to get to a manageable number, but you still don’t have any idea about...

Results of Monday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: In a relatively narrow, slow session, neither level triggered. The levels remain on the chart. 

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

Buy 4336.25 stop 4332.50. Short 4433.25 stop 4436.75. 

The World Index: (+100/-100) plummets from +33 to -57 with all major world markets Bearish. 

Catalysts: Fed Speakers @ 7:30, 8:00, 9:15, 10:00, and 13:25. Comments from the Fed’s Kashkari turn slightly hawkish. Today’s lineup of speakers should be closely monitored. 

Quick Tip: Context

You should have a trading strategy (or better yet, several) that is profitable over time. That’s called positive expectation or edge. It doesn’t mean they’re profitable all the time, just over enough time. 

If you are dedicated and document your strategy results by capturing the context of the market at the time of each trade, you will likely find additional edge. Knowing common statistics like wi...

Results of Friday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Shorting 4367.75 stopped out. 

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

Buy 4336.25 stop 4332.50. Short 4433.25 stop 4436.75. 

The World Index: (+100/-100) lifts from +25 to +33 with Asia very Bullish and the west mixed. 

Catalysts: Nothing on the economic calendar. The Middle East war is set to expand. Musk’s X/AI launches (along with other AI news). The UK is nearing a recession. 

Quick Tip: Your Ideal Timeframe

Establishing your trading timeframe before entry is critical. The shorter your timeframe the more frequent your trades are likely to be. This relates directly to how much time you want to devote to your trading. 

Our swing trading strategy for equities utilizes a key catalyst for stock selection: Large Insider buying. Why? Because Insiders know best about the prospects of their company. Historical research validates this. 

Large institutional options buyer...

Results of Thursday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Shorting 4305.00 offered a 9.25-point move. 

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

Buy 4275.75 stop 4270.00. Short 4367.75 stop 4371.50.

The World Index: (+100/-100) drops from +64 to +25 with most major world markets modestly Bullish.

Catalysts: Employment Report @ 8:30. Final Services PMI @ 9:45. ISM Services PMI @ 10:00. 

Quick Tip: Which Market?

There are dozens of futures contracts available to trade. The question is which are best for you. Here’s a quick look at filtering for candidates: 

1. Volume. Without adequate volume you’ll experience slippage and not perform as well in the real world. 

2. Margin. Check with your broker and determine whether your account size can afford the margin required. Keep in mind that all brokers will give you more day-trading margin than you should use. Keep your per-trade risk to no more than 2% of your account, even if the...

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

Today’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points (FOMC Filter applies from 14:00 to 15:00, no entries): 

Buy 4096.75 stop 4092.00. Short 4270.75 stop 4276.50.

The World Index: (+100/-100) eases from +14 to zero with Tokyo soaring and all other major world markets relatively flat. 

Catalysts: ADP Payroll @ 8:15. Final MFG PMI @ 9:45. ISM MFG PMI & JOLTS @ 10:00. Crude Oil Inventories @ 10:30. FOMC Statement @ 14:00 & Press Conference @ 14:30. 

Quick Tip: Trend or Reversal?

You might be thinking that trading trends sounds safer than picking a turning point. Many strategies focus on trading in the direction of a larger time frame trend. This makes sense and it works. 

But it’s not necessarily “safer.”  Your initial priority is making sure your trade plan rule set has “edge,” meaning over time it’s profitable. After you have that the idea of safe becomes irrelevant. Just trade the strategy that appeals to you psy...

Results of Thursday’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 4126.50 stop 4120.75. Short 4208.25 stop 4212.00

The World Index: (+100/-100) SOARS from -50 to +57 with most major world markets solidly Bullish. 

Catalysts: PCE Price Index @ 8:30. Fed’s Barr @ 9:00. UofM Consumer Sentiment @ 10:00. AMZN/INTC earnings suggest risk-on. 

Quick Tip: Drop the Ego

One of the hardest transitions to make as a trader is the reframing of your belief about winning and losing. We were raised defining winning as good and losing as bad. Now we must change that belief.

Mark Douglas, author of two books on trading psychology said, “When you really believe that trading is simply a probability game, concepts like right or wrong or win or lose no longer have the same significance.” 

Curtis Faith, one of the original Turtle Traders and author of Way of the Turtle, summed it up ...