Today is Monday January 11th and is a typical day for many traders to return to the market after having taken time off.

The price action seemed a little better than it has been lately, but the volume was really about the same. A busy day in EMINI S&P Futures is between 1.5-2 million contract, with the lower figure being border line active in my opinion.

On Friday I posted my blog a bit early, I had a few things to do and wanted to get it out before the weekend, but I did come back at 11:30 am West Coast time to pick up a nice move. I had a couple of small loses of only 1 S&P point combined, trying to figure out which way the market was going to move. I initially was leaning long and was just a little early. Had I waited, I would have had the real market read that I was looking for. The market did give me a head fake and I bit to the short side. With no follow through and a loss of the momentum, I did not wait to take a full stop. My first thought of a long break out was right and I jumped on it quickly without hesitation. I was down 1 point so far, but did not let that persuade me into taking the position. It was on the high tick, I did not want to miss it because I could see that the move was for real. I left the position open and road it to the top. I exited the first half of the trade at I think +4 1/2 points and second half at +5 points as I can remember. I posted it on U-Tube Friday and will paste it in here today.

That was nice to go into the weekend with a nice gain, but I like the fact that I did not get flustered by the first misdirection. Friday was a brutal day for anyone who traded the middle part of the day, just brutal. That is when you need to wait and back off. No follow through to any trades and no price range movement.

I happened to stop right after I got my first trading goal for the morning on Friday. Had I been trading, I am sure I would have been trying to scalp only those small swing trades for a few ticks, 2,3 or 4. If you tried to get any more that, you would have been stopped out, several times over the course of hours. The market stopped moving Friday, so to speak at about 7:30 and it started up again at 11:30. Those are the times I had said last week or so, were the best times to trade. The first 60 to 90 minutes and 11:30 to 12:45, West Coast time. We will see the volume and the trade range come back pretty soon, but until then, be modest with your trading goals.

There is nothing wrong with- get in, get out, get done. It works for me. It could work for you too, if you know how to operate it. Just like a piece of heavy machinery, you could not expect to get up on one of those Cat Tractors and start pulling and pushing levers. It takes time for someone to show you how to do it. It comes with instruction and you need to practice. In time, you know how it operates and you can maneuver it around.

The same is true for trading the S&P emini futures market. You most likely will need someone who does it, to show you how it is done and explain what you need to look for. We are not born knowing how to trade and it is not natural for someone to pick it up like riding a bike. It is more like driving a tractor, not everyone is able to do it, but for the traders who are determined to succeed and have the patience and trading discipline to go by the manual, and occasionally use a little insight, it can be mastered. This what I teach in my Emini Day Trading Course at Sniper Day Trading.

I mentioned in Fridays post that you need three things for success. Trading Discipline, to not over trade and wait for High Probability Trade Setups, you need to know how to trade, (Sniper Trading method or your own method or system) and you need to be mentally strong to overcome and recognize the mind games that come with Day Trading, especially if you decided to Day Trade for a Living. All three of those are no easy task and is attainable, if you break it down in small bit size pieces. Like any large project or undertaking, you always break the project down to small tasks. When those tasks are addressed and a certain level of success has been had, you can move on to the next. You may work on all three area’s at the same time, but in small attainable goals that will be achieved simultaneously.

Many people just want to get up on that thing and ride it. Side step the needed training, not think about developing personal disciplines to help you not react impulsively and not even be aware of the last  part, influences of negative trading psychology. We often end up being our own worst enemy and I know I said that before once or twice.

Start doing things in your life that you can exercise trading discipline and self-control. If you wait until you are in front of your trading screen, you could be giving good money away, don’t do that. Much more to say and no more room or time. Continued in tomorrows post.

Today, I took four trades, last video,  -1 tick /+4 ticks, +4 ticks / + 2 ticks / +4 ticks , +4 ticks.  I split up a couple of the trades, thinking there was going to be more, but I could see that there wasn’t and rather than give it back on the second half, I elected to take it. To me, 1 S&P point or 4 ticks is fine. Others would say, why bother. To each his own, I guess. I have been only trading very small, there will come a time that I will get back up to a larger contract size, but I am in no hurry right now. I am enjoying building my website and teaching traders to see what I see.

   

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Tags: day trade for a living, Day Trading, Emini Day Trading Course, exercise trading discipline and self-control, influences of negative trading psychology, price range movement, Sniper Day Trading, Sniper Trading, trading the S&P futures market