Today is Wednesday January 6th and the market ended the day flat.
We are three days into the New Year and we had one good day and two consolidating days. Tomorrow, we will have to get things going. If Thursdays session breaks 1130 on the futures, it is likely we will see 1123 sometime in the session or soon there after. We will have come back half way at that point, from the intra-day low set last week. If the first, (break 1130), then the second is likely.
Currently, all the moment is up, monthly, weekly, daily, and the 120 minute or 2 hour bar chart in the cash S&P. There is a little room for the market to retrace, probably down around that 1120′ ish area in the emini futures, but after that, it gets a little sketchy. I will post what the sentiment numbers are in Thursdays blog, to see if we have had any shifts in bullishness, which I have been waiting for.
So, until then we will have to read price action and take it a day at a time. If we do get a spike in bullishness, I will be in “Stock Market Red Alert” mode. We will then be taking a closer look at price action once that happens and everyone should be ready, for the unexpected, no surprises. Personally, I expect a big selloff, but it is just my opinion. Until then, we are still within the up-trend.
I did take a few trades (4), in the S&P E-Mini, they are as listed. -1 tick/ +5 ticks, +3 ticks / +4 ticks, + 2 ticks/ +2 ticks. The market is still very slow, for this afternoon’s session. I am sure it is going to pick up next week. I have a U-Tube video of todays trades below.
The daily direction does not make any difference, as an emini S&P day trader. I look to Scalp small pieces of the days movement out of the markets current trading range. From there, book the profit and call it a day.
Next weeks movement will be better than this week over-all. I am sure of that. More volume will come back into the market and we will see a lot more opportunities to Snipe or pick off a few points. Get in, Get out, get done. If you can do that, you have no issues, no struggle to come back from a negative equity position. If you take a break and come back for the afternoon session, I recommend you cut your size down. If you are up in the morning and come back in the afternoon and give it back, what have you accomplished. If you have the confidence to take only solid method trades in the afternoon, I would recommend that you cut your size in half at a minimum. If you draw down against your equity, you can still end the day with a gain and that is so very important. I would not recommend that for new traders. You need to get in the habit of staying in control, book your gains for the day and move on.
As day traders , one of the reasons people like this business is that you can make money in a relatively short amount of time from the comfort of your home. So the money is the lure, but it’s really what the money can do for you and that would be an added dimension of freedom, including time freedom. So, if you are able to capture the money rather quickly with a minimal struggle, does it not make sense to then play out the scenario I layed out above. Capturing 2-4 points in an hour or less is what we are talking about. You then have the money, so now its time to go do what the lifestyle promised you. Freedom and time freedom. What will you do with the extra time you have on your hands. It is always a nice idea to parlay that and invest it into other people and relationships. I once heard of two people, one had a lot of money and the other much less. The person who had a lot of rich relationships was really the person who was considered rich. I believe what we do in this life lives on and it is in those things which will last.
So, it is a worthy goal to capture your points for the day and go do something else. What ever you have a passion for, besides trading. To often, we saturate ourselves in the very thing we love, only to mess it up by allowing ourselves to become un-balanced.
When we are learning something new, it is normal and natural to invest your time and energy and lots of it. Nothing in life does come easy, I think we all know that one, but once we have achieved and found our new skill to capture our daily goal, what ever that is for you, I believe, less is more at that point.
I have just heard so many story’s of traders doing well early on and over-stay their welcome, to the point of giving all early gains back to the market. Frustration sets in, and all kinds of weird things can start to happen to even the best of traders if you do not guard yourself. We trade against ourselves just as much as we do against other traders and institutions. Don’t make it harder for yourself than you have to. Book your gains and enjoy life. Then come back tomorrow and do it again. It takes 21 days to form a habit, is what they say, why not form one as nobel as this.
Good trading to all!
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