Results of Friday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Shorting 4598.50 was only good for a 6-point scalp but the general area held as the high including through the weekend. 

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

Buy 4557.50 stop 4551.75. Short 4628.50 stop 4632.75. 

The World Index: (+100/-100) falls from -14 to -50 with most major world markets Bearish. 

Catalysts: Factory Orders @ 10:00. 

Quick Tip: Get Fearful

We all trade to win and make a profit. The ups and downs happen along the way. The time to get laser-focused is when you’re feeling like you don’t need to. 

The recent rally in the S&P has us closing in on all-time highs. Our team’s swing trading portfolio using Insiders Buys and Unusual Options Activity (long only trades) soared last week. It’s natural when everything...

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 4521.00 stop 4517.00. Short 4598.50 stop 4604.25. 

The World Index: (+100/-100) rises from -29 to -14 with Asia Bearish and the west Bullish. 

Catalysts: GDP @ 8:30. Crude Oil Inventories @ 10:30. Beige Book @ 14:00. 

Quick Tip: UOA

Unusual Options Activity (UOA) is a great leading indicator of price. There are different ways to interpret exactly what qualifies an option to be “unusual” and how to utilize them in your trade selection. 

The foundation is an extreme volume spike relative to small open interest (existing contracts not yet closed out). 

Technical analysts generally agree that volume leads price, so this basis makes sense. If a stock is trading at $30 and massive volume occurs today in the $40...

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

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

Buy 4551.00 stop 4546.25. Short 4598.50 stop 4604.25. 

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

Catalysts: New Home Sales @ 10:00. 

Quick Tip: Lead or Lag?

The never-ending challenge in trading is forecasting future price direction using lagging information from technical indicators. Better than nothing but not good enough!

Significant research has proven that there are two superb Leading Indicators of stock price. Insider buying and Unusual Options Activity. 

Combining the two is the perfect addition to your stock/options trading plan. Learn how in this free training session. Click here. 

No disappointments!

...

Results of Monday’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 4547.50 stop 4543.25. Short 4598.50 stop 4604.25. 

The World Index: (+100/-100) drops from +7 to -29 with the major world markets flat or modestly Bearish on low volatility. 

Catalysts: Existing Home Sales @ 10:00. FOMC Meeting Minutes @ 14:00. NVDA earnings after the close. 

Quick Tip: Be Different

“If you set out to be successful at something and you don’t know how to do it, look around at what everybody else is doing, and don’t do that…” Earl Nightingale

This advice is especially true with trading. If everyone traded the same way there would be no counter parties. We need plenty of different styles and opposing viewpoints for the markets to exist. 

If you’re still struggling...

Results of Friday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Buying 4517.00 caught the bottom of the day and offered 17.50 maximum before closing the session +11.00 points.

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

Buy 4521.00 stop 4517.00. Short 4598.50 stop 4604.25. 

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

Catalysts: Nothing important on the economic calendar. 

Quick Tip: Insider Buying? 

Back on May 3rd of this year I blogged about how effective using Insider Buying is for future stock performance. On that day there was widespread Insider buying in the banking industry during the plunge from a few bank failures. 

Here’s how those trades worked out: 

TCBI +38% before settling +17% now.

LKFN +18% now. 

ZION +62% before...

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...

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...

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...

Results of Monday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Shorting 4261.50 only offered 7 points before stopping out. 

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

Buy 4181.75 stop 4177.50. Short 4305.00 stop 4309.00.

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

Catalysts: Flash MFG & Services PMI @ 9:45. Richmond MFG Index @ 10:00. Treasury yields ease. MSFT & GOOG earnings after the close (applicable to Globex trading). 

Quick Tip: Small Winners

Trading has only four outcomes; big winners, small winners, small losers, and big losers. 

Allowing big losers is the kiss of death so keep what you’re risking small. Your small losers don’t need much analysis beyond stop loss optimization for varying market volatility. 

Your big winners are likely open managed or...

Results of Friday’s Best S&P Futures Turning Points: Shorting 4402.25 only ran for 8.25 points. 

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

Buy 4285.75 stop 4280.00. Short 4415.00 stop 4419.50.

The World Index: (+100/-100) eases up from -64 to -36 with most major world markets Bearish. 

Catalysts: Empire State MFG Index @ 8:30. Fed-speak @ 10:30. Israeli war updates.

Quick Tip: “Almost” Trades

Your control of trading is limited. You can control entry, exit, risk, and reward. You have no control over where the price goes. 

Friday’s short was planned well. Price rallied to a key volume level where shorting had edge, then reversed and went 8.25 points in your favor. Hopefully you found some profit in the move and tightened your stop loss. 

The second touch went a few ticks beyond the original stop printing the high of the...