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...

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...

Results of Thursday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Shorting 4797.50 ran for 27.50 points. 

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

Buy 4811.00 stop 4807.75. Short 4808.50 stop 4811.75 if price falls below and retraces back. 

The World Index: (+100/-100) eases from +50 to +21 in a world of mixed sentiment. 

Catalysts: UofM Consumer Sentiment (Preliminary) & Existing Home Sales @ 10:00. 

Quick Tip: Limit or Market

Yesterday’s entry was perfect. In fact, it was too perfect. Price turned on the entry and that means you may not have been filled on the trade. 

Fortunately, this isn’t a common occurrence. But it does happen enough that you should have contingency plans in place. 

Here’s a couple of ideas: 

1. Place your reversal orders early. The futures market fills orders based on time of...

Results of Tuesday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: The short at 4813.00 was high of the session and offered a 33.50-point run. 

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

Buy 4739.00 stop 4733.25. Short 4797.50 stop 4800.75.

The World Index: (+100/-100) plummets from -43 to -86 with all major world markets very Bearish on rising volatility. 

Catalysts: Retail Sales & Import Prices @ 8:30. Fed’s Bowman & Barr @ 9:00. Industrial Production @ 9:15. Business Inventories & Housing Market Index @ 10:00. Beige Book @ 14:00. Fed’s Williams @ 15:00. World Economic Forum in Davos (all week)

Quick Tip: Second Chances

The high-volume price levels presented here remain on the chart until they are violated. Many times the level will trigger a trade but not stop out by the end of the day, like yesterday’s chart. 

You’ll notice that this...

Results of Thursday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: The buy at 4805.50 stopped out. The breakout short ran for 14.75 points. 

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

Buy 4775.25 stop 4771.00. Short 4830.50 stop 4835.75.

The World Index: (+100/-100) dumps from +36 to +14 in a world of mixed sentiment and modest volatility. 

Catalysts: PPI @ 8:30. 

Quick Tip: Don’t Fight It

When trading reversal entries in this or any strategy you should carefully consider the dominant trend. Yesterday’s reversal failed immediately, and the breakout suggested saved the day for the strategy (see chart).

You can look at a higher time frame chart for confirmation of the dominant trend. You can also assess the speed of movement approaching the reversal entry. 

Start marking up you charts and saving copies for future reference. It won’t take long...

Results of Monday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Shorting 4780.00 stopped out. Buying the breakout delivered 17.25 points at the close. 

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

Buy 4739.00 stop 4733.25. Short 4799.25 stop 4802.25.

The World Index: (+100/-100) improves from -29 to -7 with most major world markets quiet.

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

Quick Tip: Breakouts

The turning points offered in this newsletter start as reversals but are breakout candidates after stopping out. Yesterday is a perfect example of how the breakout rule frequently allows you to join the trend and repair the losing trade. 

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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....

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 4769.00 stop 4765.25. Short 4800.50 stop 4805.50 (Buy the breakout if this short fails). 

The World Index: (+100/-100) reverses from +29 to -21 with most major world markets mildly Bearish. S&P futures are not. 

Catalysts: NAHB Housing Market Index @ 10:00. 

Quick Tip: Consistency

Here’s an important quote from Dr. Brett Steenbarger, author of many books on trader psychology and an accomplished S&P futures day trader:

“You are most likely to become consistent IN your trading if you are consistent in working ON your trading.” 

How? Preparation and review. Sports teams do this. Prepare for the opponent, play the game, watch the video reviews. 

Are you preparing...

Results of Monday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: : No levels offered due to contract rollover. 

Today’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points (all trades are filtered out prior to CPI release today): 

Buy 4662.00 stop 4658.25. Short 4714.50 stop 4719.75. 

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

Catalysts: CPI @ 8:30. 30-year bond auction @ 13:01. 

Quick Tip: Commitment

If you’re relatively new to trading you’ve probably experienced overwhelm from all the choices you have. All the decisions you must make. 

What asset to trade? 

Which timeframe? 

Which broker? 

Whose strategy to follow? 

How much to risk? 

The list is long. After guiding more than 4000 new traders through the process of making these decisions over the past 15 years I’ve found there is a hierarchy to these decisions. 

Start with commitment....

Results of Friday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Buying 4572.50 was filtered out during the Employment Report @ 8:30. 

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

The volume levels are affected by rollover today and are filtered out. 

The World Index: (+100/-100) gains from +7 to +14 in a world of mixed sentiment. 

Catalysts: 10-year bond auction @ 13:01. 

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...