Today is Wednesday May 19th, with the S&P futures were off 9 point and the Dow off -66.

Yesterday, at the close, the market was building a little trading opportunity that I mentioned. I did think that the break may come to the upside for the after market trading, but I left the call open for the market to decide. It broke down for an initial drop of 11 S&P points just after the session close, a clear break.

I never trade the after market but since I was writing at the end of yesterdays market I just thought I would point it out.

I did mention that if the market took out the lows from two days previous that we would see some pretty good selling. That number was 1112 on the S&P and today we traded down to 1098 before buyers came back in.

If the market was going to make a stand, tomorrow is going to have to be the day. There is a chance that we will see 1128 in tomorrow session. Today the S&P closed at 1109.75, just shy of its daily mid point trading range. The S&P emini futures traded 13 points off the high and 11 points off the low, a 62% daily retracement of its range.

Tomorrow the market could trade down to 1103-1106, but that level will need to hold if we are going to attempt a run to 1128. If I had to choose, is tomorrow an up or down day overall, I would have to say its an up-day. Will the rally follow through if it comes, that I don’t know and is to far out. I think that if the market was going to crack and really break down, I don’t seeing it being easy for the bears to get in early and get it right. Usually at key turning points, the market is tricky in revealing its true intentions. Its main goal is to get you to bit, in what seems like the obvious direction, only to stop you out and leave you behind.

Today I had only a three trades and picked up my daily goal. The first trade +1.25 , -1.25 on 2 contracts with the last trade scaling out on 3 contracts, +2.50 points, +4.25 points and  +3 points. It was an easy day and just left it at that. I had traded a lot more the two previous days and I was worn out. Yesterday I got up early for the open and traded the better part of the day. It takes a lot out of me and I am sure anyone who trades all or even most of the day. You need to have a very high level of concentration to stay sharp. If you get tired, you will make mistakes. That is why I was trading small.

The video above, shows part of the last trade and I go back over the day to show the turning points in my T-2 trending model. I am only showing a small portion of the screen and cover everything accept two timing indicators, one above and one below. There is a lot more to it as I have two trading manuals totaling over 150 pages that cover my method in detail as well many hours of DVD training material and several video’s of live trading each day that I send out explaining how to trade with “Price Action” while still using trading tools and indicators as a guide. With that said, the method is easy to understand and grasp but it does take time to get familiar with everything. Anything that is of value, will take work and dedication to master, no doubt, but what I have is real and can be duplicated for those who see its possibilities.

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“Reduce Stress Associated with Trading Gains and Losses”

Many times, a traders biggest losses will come just after he has had his best gains. That is why you will hear how traders make it and lose it right back. Being mentally stretched will not help but hurt your efforts. That is why it is a good idea to take the easy gains the market gives and walk away on most days. All of this said, leads me into the topic I mentioned I would cover yesterday.

All traders have expectations, with most of them very high. We all know that trading is a zero sum game. For every winner there is a looser. As traders and investors provide liquidity to the markets, there expectation is to come out ahead of other traders by positioning themselves properly to take advantage of price movement. Every trader can not come out on top and it is proven that most traders and investors loose money. They loose it to the those who better position themselves to capture a piece of the movement.

Notice how I said a piece of the movement. You can not have it all, but that is where part of the problem lies. Most traders are not able to walk away with several points of profit, whether it is in stocks or emini futures. Why is that true?

It has to do with “Greed” and not being satisfied with the easy and obvious trades the market gives you. So, you will be reducing trading stress on yourself when you have modest gains and walk away for the day. There is no more struggle, no more anxiety, no more wondering how you will end the day, its done, period. You booked your gains and you will come back tomorrow and do it again. As the opportunities show themselves to you, there are special days you can capture more, but that is not every day, 2-4 times a month. If you try and go for the fences every day, you create all to many problems for yourself and make the whole venture that much harder.

So far, I am talking about dealing with and booking your gains. Dealing with your losses is another area of stress where most of the focus is usually on. But before I do on to that, which will probably be a follow up in tomorrows post, accepting the gains that the market gives easily is what it is all about. Most traders dream of the day when they can put on a few trades, make money and then go do other things with the free time and now money that they have.

If you want that dream to come true, maintaining control over your emotions and taming your expectations of making a killing every day needs adjustment. I will continue in tomorrow’s posting………….  Until then, Good Trading.

Related posts:

1. Reduce Stress Associated with Trading Gains & Losses, Part 2
2. Controlling Day Trading Losses !
3. Limited Gains on Large Gap Higher
4. Strength to take your Losses
5. Another Day of Solid Day Trading Gains

Tags: reduce stress trading gains losses, reduce trading stress, zero sum game