Emini Trading Weekly Day Trading Wrap Up

Volume in the S&P 500 has been steadily declining for the past 90 days or so, but the long trend has stayed in place.  The most important lesson this week is to become dissinterested in the market when it’s choppy, and push for profits when the market has strength and is respecting areas.  It’s so simple, but on of the toughest things to stick to when trading.

For the past couple of weeks we’ve been begging people not to buy into the perma-negative commentary on the news.  In fact, if you’re trading intra-day watching the news is one of the worst things you can do for your discipline.  A lot of traders have been trading short, and keep getting squeezed.  Remember, what’s popular is usually wrong.

Prior Results Are Not Indicative Of Future Results.

01/31/12 Emini Trading Recap Video

There was quite a bit of movement today in the e-mini S&P 500 and e-mini oil markets.  We had two major news announcements today.  Consumer Confidence and Chicago PMI created some emotional spikes that squeezed out many traders holding long positions.

With overall volatility a little lower than average today, we wanted to be careful not to participate in trades during “choppy” zones.  And even though the market pace was slower on the ES, support areas were generally being respected, which gave us some nice long setups.

Prior Results Are Not Indicative Of Future Results.

Oil futures 01/23/12 – $410 available profit per contract

Right after market open today the oil futures showed us that it deserved some attention.  We had 4 consecutive setups; all winners for a gross profit potential of around $410 per contract.

At our last 2011 Trading Mastery Boot Camp, we spent 2 days driving home this lesson:

Focus on the right market, with the right setup, at the right time.  Everything else is noise!  

And when the market is respecting our areas and hitting our targets, then confidently execute setups.  When it’s just chopping around or not giving clear signals, then sit on the sidelines.

Last week was a little slow because of MLK holiday, but I can already see the momentum starting to build in the markets today.  And even though a lot of people are pessimistic about the markets, my latest forecast videos have only been anticipating more upside.  And the S&P emini has continued to climb higher over the past 5 trading days.

Prior Results Are Not Indicative Of Future Results.

01/18/12 Oil, S&P 500, Euro and Broad Market Analysis

We saw a little more volatility and “emotion” coming back in to the market from yesterday’s trading.  And even though a lot of perma-bears are sitting short, the charts say more upside movement is likely.

The MAP Trade Signal Software gave us 66% winners on longs for the ES today, and the CL (oil e-mini futures) had a trade of the day with a $1.00 short trade.  Unfortunately, I was distracted by the ES and didn’t get a fill on that short, but it was a great day nonetheless.

Prior Results Are Not Indicative Of Future Results.

01/17/2012 S&P 500 Mid-day trading update

 

The market is behaving as expected for the day after a holiday.  And coming off of a nice volatile market last week, we need to be extra careful not to get over-aggressive when the market is chopping around.

This morning we had a high-probability long setup that failed right off of the trend line.  When the S&P emini broke to the downside, it was clear that sellers were still in control.  With that in mind, we can still look to participate in long trades, but we need to wait for confirmation that buyers can grab hold of the momentum and drive price to technical targets.

For more information on how to trade during slower market environments, just click here to watch the “Top 10 Trading Lessons of 2011“.

Prior Results Are Not Indicative Of Future Results.

How Standard & Poor’s European Downgrades Benefit Day Traders

So there’s been a ton of fear and panic around the possible downgrades of 15 European countries…

And that has made for some incredible movement in the markets this afternoon. In the video below you’ll see how once sellers lost control after the lunch break, shorts started popping through price support areas with no problem.

Pay attention to today’s market recap video, because we’ve seen many days play out just like today…

We’re also starting a new round of Foundations Classes this week. If you have any questions about Emini Academy cost or scheduling, feel free to call an Education Counselor at 800-788-1658.

Prior Results Are Not Indicative Of Future Results.

Emini S&P Recap – Strong Trend Reversal at a Key Time

This morning showed us another beautiful trend reversal in the late morning. After two nice long trade setups, we had 2 quick shorts down to the key support area at 1192.

It’s so vital to not get an “emotional directional bias”… In other words, don’t get locked into thinking the trend is going to continue forever! And don’t try to guess when it’s going to end. In my opinion, it’s best to look for objective signs that the trend has ended, wait for a high probability setup, and take profits at the first sign of weakness.

The reason I say take profits quicker when you’re taking a “counter-trend trade” is because you’ll be trading into areas that have proven to hold before. Here’s an example of what I’m talking about:

We went into a lot of detail into our Foundations Class, which teaches the basics of how to use the MAP Trade Signal Software. For those of you not familiar with our trading strategies, I did a quick recap video of the setups before the lunch break:

Also, we had a great time at the 2011 Las Vegas Traders Expo. Our happy hour inspired me to write a post on some of the topics we were discussing.

Prior Results Are Not Indicative Of Future Results.

New Trading Education Projects and Announcements for Emini Academy

Today I have a few exciting announcements… After our first stock market investing competition in high school nearly 10 years ago, Chris Henry has become a vital part of the Emini academy education and software development team.  As some of you know, he has taken over as the Director of Education for the Emini Academy.

And now that we have Chris heading up our incredible support team, I will be able to kick off a new project and focus more on my own trading development.  Even though I am being relieved of many day-to-day administrative responsibilities, I think this step will help me focus my efforts on trading and helping our student traders by rolling out these new projects:

• The first project is a trading journal to track some of my successes, failures, and lessons that I want to share with other traders. You will also see some of my trading strengths and weaknesses, and how both play a role in my execution.

• Next, we will be opening an advanced trading room for MAP Trading Program graduates.  This room will be reserved for traders who no longer need someone to give them feedback in the live market analysis classes, but still want the daily interaction and supportive environment.

• We’ve also been studying trading psychology resources in the trading room recently.  And since we know trading is a performance activity and requires more than trading indicators to become consistent, I will be teaming up with some industry leaders to publish more training on top-level performance, trading psychology, and skill development.

Prior Results Are Not Indicative Of Future Results.

3 Key Points to Consider Before Attempting to Become a Day Trader

Last night we were at a round table discussion with some experienced traders at the Traders Expo in Las Vegas.  We were exchanging trading philosophies and experiences in the market.  It was really interesting to hear stories of victories and battle wounds.  That inspired me to write this post about some of things I’ve come to learn about trading.

1.  Day Trading Is NOT Easy – Human beings seek out the path of least resistance.  And the reality is that trading requires many people to “re-engineer” the way they process market information.  For some, trading comes effortlessly.  For the majority of us becoming a trader is a grueling process.  And the reality is that few traders push through to become consistently profitable.

Over the years I’ve been fortunate to talk with some highly skilled traders.  And no matter what market, time frame, or strategy they use it always comes down to discipline and perceiving yourself as a professional manager of risk.  After all, there are only two things you can control in the market: your trade selection and trade management. As Mark Douglas explains in Trading In The Zone, that you must truly be able to accept risk and boldly move forward in spite of an unknown future.  People with that innate ability typically have a better chance at succeeding compared to someone who’s terrified of losing money.

2.  You’re not a robot - I once heard someone say, “Top traders think and act like robots”.  At face value that sounds like an intelligent statement, but the fact is that you’re human, and humans have emotions!  The only way to “turn off” your emotions is to die or use a completely automated system.  So instead of trying to completely eliminate emotions from trading, it’s more practical to learn to control them.  The first step is awareness.  Become aware of your emotional triggers, then become proficient at keeping them at bay.

For example, I can get frustrated if the market isn’t filling my trades, stopping me out, or starts whipsawing around.  My instinctual behavior pattern is to “lash out” and start revenge trading.  And if I don’t walk away or refocus my energy on staying disciplined, I will likely lose money.  So the idea is to figure out what your weaknesses are, and take quick action so they don’t destroy your trading confidence.

3.  The market will punish undisciplined trading - Have you ever thought you could “outsmart the market” by guessing what was going to happen next?  If so, you may have found that chasing price will give you a lucky trade every now and then, but over time you’ll get run over.  Unlike many of us would like to believe, profitable trading doesn’t happen over night.  You must work to develop consistency, even if you’re using a rules-based trading strategy.

So how do you stop chasing the market?  Especially since we’re in a business with no guarantees and a constantly changing landscape.  The answer is actually quite simple, but easier said than done.  Instead of attempting to force the market to move at your command, why not pre-define your setup and wait for the market to tell you when it’s ready for your participation?  That might be a complete paradigm shift for you.  In other words, think in terms of “hunting for grade A trades”.  You know, trades that you’ve seen play out a thousand times and you know has high profit potential.

Prior Results Are Not Indicative Of Future Results.

3 trades, 6.5 points available profit (and student charts)

Even though the volume was a little lower today, the market was trading with clear strength and direction… And this made for 3 nice trade setups.

The net result was about 6.5 points in available profit potential.  Here’s what some of our students were able to pull out:

{Rick} 1 trade 7pts
{Heath} 2 trades, +5 points
{Rob} up 3.25 on 2 trades
{Robert} GREAT and learned ONE lesson on price action
{Todd} 3 trades, 3 winners, up +4.5pts
{William} 3 trades 5 pts
{Heath} +7 points this week on 3 trades…not much in the way of volume of trades, but nice winning %
{Devin} + 2 on 1 trade
{Manuel} up 4

Also, don’t forget to register for tomorrow’s live webcast from the 2011 Las Vegas Trader Expo!  We’ve got a few surprises for everyone…

 

 

 

Prior Results Are Not Indicative Of Future Results.