Today is March 1st, 2012 as we saw the market move up off that key support mentioned in yesterdays blog post. Things are still in tact and so the advantage has to remain with the bulls. I couple of weeks ago, I somewhat prematurely mentioned that a top may be in, but that is no longer the case as we have continued to move up. I was not applying the method to that, but just anticipating something that had not happened, usually not a good idea.
That is why it is usually not a good practice to try and pick the tops and bottoms of markets. I know it is within some traders method to do just that, but I find that looking for the evidence within the price to tell you with greater confidence what the next likely move of the market will be is a better overall long term plan and or approach.
We don’t have to get it all, but just some of the move most often will do. Reaching for lower risk and draw downs after the trade, to me, has greater appeal than being right about picking a top or bottom. It might help our trading ego’s, but its the $ that we trade for, “daily bread”.
Let me post today’s trades below and I will continue;
Just three trade today all gains and a modest daily goal. My second trade had some quick profit, but almost got stopped out on the remaining. After seeing a greater move back up, the method said to play it safe and cover on the pull back and did nicely on one more. The last of it, I could see had no additional follow through but I still remained positive on the whole trade. A quick reverse back up finished off the day. There was still more in the trade, but I was satisfied with just a little over an hour of trading.
We should never cry about what we leave on the table, but always be thankful for a positive trading session. Thinking about what we could have had, creates anxiety and will change our behavior for something less desirable in any upcoming trades. This is one of those hidden mind games that we need to be aware of. Lets not think that the market is going to “get us” or think things like, “I always make the wrong choices” and such. That type of thinking is like watching a self fulfilling prophesy take place right before our eyes.
You will be calling and thus creating what you don’t want to happen and then we wonder why it, “HAPPENED AGAIN”. The power lies with your mindset and our ability to control the natural side of our human nature. We are not born being disciplined and wanting to do the right thing. Doing the right thing is often much harder than doing the things that come easily and natural to us. It takes work and “strength of mind”, to think it out and then act, which is not easy for many. This is a form of positive self talk for traders and only the beginning. Acting it out is the second part and the key to get different trading results.
If we say to ourselves that, “I always get stopped out”, you are almost guaranteeing you that you will get stopped out on your next trade. Don’t say things like that about you and your trading. That goes for any destructive self talk you might catch yourself saying. Make a list of the things you want to improve on. Then repeat it to yourself with a positive influence on what “YOU WILL DO”. Let me give you an example;
If one of your biggest problems is entering the market late than you might want to think like this. “I always enter themarket on time, not to soon and not to late. I enter when my method tells me to and expect positive results for doing so”. See what I mean. You have the power to change your thinking and thus your results will likely follow. To many traders fall into a form of “self sabotage” within there trading. That is simply, a default to the least common denominator held about you and your trading. We will never rise to a higher level than we allow ourselves or see ourselves and if you are seeing and thinking negatively, it is only common sense that you will get what you most strongly think about. Another strong reason for healthy positive self talk for traders.
This can be taken into many other areas and think it might be a place to stop and finish up with in tomorrow post. Until then good trading, Vince.
Today is Monday December 19th, 2011 and I saw another solid market call completed with today’s 1198 S&P target hit with the early stages of the sharp reversal showing up as well.
In Friday’s blog posting I mentioned that we would see the S&P 1198 number hit, followed by a sharp reversal in prices and towards the end of the day we finally did see just that and in the after market the reversal back up is on. I did try and trade this with some success as I locked in a couple of early targets and held on to the last one for more. I did move my stop a couple of times deciding if I wanted to commit the whole day, which is not really my style, but I gave it shot.
I could not really complete it as I did try and add on to get the equivelent in the drop, but got stopped out on the add on. Just after getting stopped out, the market turned on down towards the target area mentioned like a magnet and since reversed as I figured and wrote that it would in my last blog post.
The pressure is going to turn to the upside in the days to come as this wave down is completed. This is all my own opinion and not advise, but we should see upwards pressure coming back into the market and it could be substantial. Many think this market is going to crash, but having an open mind and looking both ways may be a better idea, but that is just me expressing my mind. If you feel differently, by all means follow your own strategy and method, but this is just my own analysis in the daily markets. The days trade below.
Typically, I would not be looking to take a position trade for the better part of the day, but found myself looking to that today. It is OK because I really had this in mind before I put it on, which is important. There were other good low risk scalp trades to be had but was trying to trade off the call I made on Friday.
The chart above is a larger clean chart of the whole day and part of Friday’s session. No indicators here again today as we trade the price first and still trying to make that clear for those who look on. If you want to see the smaller time frame view of past session look back to weeks and months past and you see every trading session as I trade with plenty to see.
That’s it for now. I will be taking the next two weeks off but may try and post something as a reminder if I am lead to. Wish all my readers the best this Holiday season. Vince
Today is October 5th, 2011 as we continued to see follow through in the reversal from yesterdays big move.
In two days, we have retraced back up almost 2/3rds of the declines within the last 6 trading sessions. Current price on the Emini S&P 1135 as more work will need to be done to get things turned around. For the short term, 1160, is the outside resistance number that will need to be challenged, which is 25 S&P points away. We will likely see some resistance between here and the high mentioned, but if and when we break over the 1160 number will can expect more behind this rally.
In today’s trading, I just took one trade and it is shown below with other potential turns as marked. It was quick, fast and with little struggle with only a tick or two of draw down after entry. That is just the way I like to see it go down and only happens when three things are present. You need to enter at the right time, the right place and with the right amount of energy behind you to move your position. When you have those three in place, you get the prefect trade.
There were plenty of other good trades before this and plenty of good ones after this, but I took the one when I started following the markets that lined up with those three elements mentioned. Only invested about 20 minutes total in following and trading this session.
Day Traders can trade all day long and some of them do, but if you want to come out on top and not have to put yourself through undue amounts of pressure, then taking a few trades and being done is fine. Not all days are this quick and not all days are the points on the light side, but some of them are and by choice most often.
Trading all day is a personal choice, it is just not mine. I want to enjoy the freedom that trading offers and get to do that often. Living in the mountains, I have plenty of recreation and things to do, but its not all about me. Having time to invest in other things and people is a gift I want to continue to expand on.
Let me shift gears into what I was talking about yesterday and just try and pick it up from where I think I left off.
The thoughts of a day trader is one of the most important things that surround him as he builds up to the point of entering a position. If those thoughts are in line, then many times they will lend itself to much better results, but if those thoughts are off in any way, a different force will tend to take over.
That force will often go unnoticed until it is often to late. Being aware of these facts will better equip you to tackle the challenges of profitability.
So let me go back to my statement, our thoughts will determine our actions and results. That is a very true and real statement. Let me quote a famous author who wrote over 100 years ago in a book called, “As a Man Thinkith”. This is the basis for much of what I want to talk about in the coming weeks. The full quote is, “As a Man Thinkith in his heart, so is he”.
The author is James Allen and he was and still is very popular. He wrote 20 different works and died at an early age of 48.
This quote is taken from the Bible, Proverbs 23:7 and is the basis for his work. The practical principals transcends religion as that is not anything of which this is about, but getting in harmony with you and your world.
The way you think about yourself has so much to do with the results that play out, it is somewhat self fulfilling. If you see yourself as a struggling trader who just can not seem to get anything right, then you will get exactly that in the end results. To expect something different would almost be odd. You can only rise to the level that which you see yourself becoming and if it is that of a struggling trader who can not get anything right and always seems to get stopped out on your trades, then you will find a way to only enter your trades to line up with getting stopped out.
At that point, many will blame the trading method, or system they are following and look for something else, when the thing they need to do is look within themselves and examine the deep seeded views they hold for themselves and how they see the challenges they currently face.
If you make a choice to change your thinking and do the things that will produce the results that line up with where you are going, then you will find it within yourself to wait and only enter the trade when you know you have the greatest chance to profit.
These statements are in its simplest form and it will take a lot more to uncover where I really want to take you, but this is the basis for what we want to accomplish in the next few weeks.
I will stop here, but pick up exactly where I left off tomorrow. This way, you will have time to first think of what was just said and how it applies to you, the trader that is trying to find his way through all of this.
Let me leave you with this, as a trader, if you know what to do, when to do it and why you are doing it, then you have that part covered and need to focus on doing just that. Many know the things mentioned above very well, and can not for some reason still bring it together. There are forces that are working against you that you are not aware of and it is not your fault. That is just the way it is for most, so don’t feel like you are alone. There is help and over the next few weeks we will uncover many of those issues to help you recover to top trader status. It all starts with a thought.
We saw the market fall back slightly today with the Dow down -25 and the S&P -2. The daily momentum is still up as we have one more day until we finish the first 5 days of January completing the first round of the January effect. Lets see how tomorrow finishes up.
I welcome this bull run and am personally glad it is still alive. I do know we are on borrowed time as the market defies gratify. Again, I would have to say this big move up did catch me by surprise as the market sentiment did sway me to become more bearish overall. A confirming break never did come back in late November, so that is some saving grace. Once the market turned up past its old highs of around 1225, I did start to see the 1260 area as a possible target. We hit that and restested yet a bit higher, so as of now, I will just wait and see what the daily charts have in store.
Below on more U-Tube video of the days turning points and continuation trades as per a few of my indicator tools. Trading for a few points is not to hard if you can follow some of these signals, but know what is driving these signals is much better yet. The market does react in predicable fashion more often than not and harnessing some of these trades can yield nice returns. It takes discipline and focus to hit these area’s, but it is totally possible to achieve.
As mentioned, if you know how trader typically act as the price bars are constructed and laid out on your screen, you will know what is coming before it gets their and you will be mentally prepared to take action as it all comes together. The key is knowing, and when to pull the trigger. These marked area’s are kind of like “Cliff Notes” are to reading a book. You will get a lot more out of reading the whole book as opposed to just getting a summary of it. The results can be similar, but with the book, you understand all the related circumstances around why, when and how far moves are likely to move once they do (as it relates to trading).
To be successful at this, you have to keep your losses very small. I can not take a 2-3 point stop in the S&P. That does not work for me as it proves that my entry was not as it should. Keeping losses down to 2-4 ticks is key to making your points for the day. I usually start out with a 4-5 tick stop, but it gets moved up as things move my way.
Scalp trading is said to be some of the hardest forms of trading, but it can be the most rewarding in many ways. If you have limited time to trade, you want to see multiple trades within the time you have. If you only see one trade in the first 60-90 minutes of the session, you won’t be able to come back if your first trade is stopped out. So you end the day with a loss. Your minimum risk reward ratio should not be less than one to one when you start out, but if you loose the edge, getting out with two ticks on the emini S&P should be fine. Being flexible will help you go a lot farther as you live to trade another day.
Trade management is another very key element for success. You need to be able keep yourself protected and minimize your risk at all times. Overexposure to market risk will eat away at your confidence and cause you to hesitate when it comes time to pull the trigger. A few small losses can quickly be covered on one trade. Say you have -3 ticks, -2 ticks, -4 ticks as your losses and then come back with a 2.5 point trade, you are about even including commission. The next trade may be scaled out at +1 point and two points for 1.5 point average day. That is 5 trades with 3 losses and two gains. Nothing earth shattering here, but maybe tomorrow you won’t have the three losses and just hit the first two trades which would be a 4 point day minus commission.
So, the key is keeping your losses small and get out of the trade once you loose the trading edge. You live to trade again, and you don’t do big damage to your account. I will say most traders end up beating themselves. Many know what it is they should do, but just don’t do it. Take a break if you are having loosing days. If you have three loosing days in a row, you need to take some time off. This is a must. What ever you are doing, it is not working. Step back and assess your action and attitudes as it relates to your trading method.
I think traders need to talk out what they are seeing and doing as it relates to their trading. If I was struggling, I would record my trading sessions with some type of screen capture software. You can find them for free many times on the internet. I have one that works well and saves it to small files if you want to archive it. I am not afiliated in any way with this software, but I use a program called “Capture Wiz Pro”. You can easily record your trading session and play it back for review to see if you are living up to your written plans.
If you don’t have a well written trading method to follow, you are at a disadvantage right their. You can not just have this stuff floating around in your head with a general idea of what you are suppose to do, that is not going to work. You might as well save your money and practice until you do. Up and coming traders are trading against professionals and big money institutions who thrive on this type of trader as though they were “chum” for a feeding frenzy. I don’t want to put anyone down and that is not my intention. All of us are still learning and need to humble, but I know what it takes.
If you don’t have the time, will or ability you can follow someone you trust or feel is right for you or you can do it yourself. Cover everything as it relates to entry, exits, stops, trade management, daily goal, etc. More Tomorrow……
# Contract x $50 per x1 pt. x 2pts x 5 days wk = $ ——– Weekly Draw
1 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5 days wk
$500.00
2 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5 days wk
$1,000.00
3 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5 days wk
$1,500.00
4 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5 days wk
$2,000.00
5 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5 days wk
$2,500.00
$250.00
6 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5 days wk
$3,000.00
$500.00
7 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5 days wk
$3,500.00
$750.00
8 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5 days wk
$4,000.00
$1,000.00
9 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5 days wk
$4,500.00
$1,250.00
10 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5 days wk
$5,000.00
$1,500.00
11 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5 days wk
$5,500.00
$1,750.00
12 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5 days wk
$6,000.00
$2,000.00
13 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5 days wk
$6,500.00
$2,250.00
14 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5 days wk
$7,000.00
$2,500.00
15 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5 days wk
$7,500.00
$2,750.00
16 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5 days wk
$8,000.00
$3,000.00
This first 16 week section is the bedrock or foundation for going all the way. Not many people will be able to do this, I tell you that right now and up front. These results are not typical and I am not representing them as such. That being said, it is possible.
Just because most people do not have the discipline it takes to realize these results and the ones from below, does not mean it can not be done. It is up to the individual and their drive, passion, hard work and dedication to make this a reality for those that want it.
Many traders are quite satisfied to trade smaller lots and stick with that. I would add, it is easier to trade small size for the most part. When you increase contract size, it usually changes things for most people. Notice how I said, most people. Maybe you are not like most people and in-fact do not want to be put in a class with “Most People”. I don’t blame you, I don’t either.
What I am saying is, if someone does not lay out the possibilities to attain a specific goal, he will never know how to achieve it or even the idea of achieving it, will be foreign to him. So that is why I lay it out as such, for seeing the possibilities of what the exceptional could do.
The most difficult part in reaching this goal is not attaining the 2 points per day to acquire the results, but it is in the mental preparation and “mind games” that people allow themselves to become subjected to.
As you increase your size, there may come a point that you start to get affected by the money. You may say to yourself, “that is a lot of money, I don’t know about that, maybe I should trade smaller”. Here, the money is affecting your decisions and may start creating problems for your actual trading results.
In this case, it come down to personal choice and meeting your overall objectives. If your goal is to earn 200,000 a year at trading, that is a worthy goal. You may only need to trade up to a specific number of contracts and stop at that point. (The number of contracts to do that is 8-9 contracts at 2 points per day, that is do-able.) What you feel comfortable with at that time. As your account grows, you may feel more comfortable with increasing your size and you may not. Again, personal choice.
If you decide to go to the next level, it usually does get harder, but it is only in your mind. If you stick to the plane and do all the things I teach in my trading manual, listen to the mental exercises two or three times a week, which will allow the neuro-linguistic programming their to take effect and in addition, work on yourself as I explain, there is no reason why you will not have a shot at moving on to the next level.
17 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5 days wk
$ 9,000
$ 3,500 wk
18 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5 days wk
$ 9,500
$ 3,750 wk
19 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5 days wk
$ 10,000
$ 3,000 wk
20 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5 days wk
$ 10,500
$ 4,250 wk
21 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5 days wk
$ 11,000
$ 4,500 wk
22 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5 days wk
$ 11,500
$ 4,750 wk
23 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5 days wk
$ 12,000
$ 5,000 wk
24 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5 days wk
$ 12,500
$ 5,250 wk
25 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5 days wk
$ 13,000
$ 5,500 wk
26 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5 days wk
$ 13,000
$ 5,500 wk
27 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5 days wk
$ 14,000
$ 6,000 wk
28 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5 days wk
$ 14,500
$ 6,250 wk
29 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5 days wk
$ 15,000
$ 6,500 wk
30 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5 days wk
$ 15,500
$ 6,750 wk
31 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5 days wk
$ 16,000
$ 7,000 wk
32 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5 days wk
$ 16,500
$ 7,250 wk
So, you decided to go for it. You will need support. NO DOUBT. Trading for Big Money does not come easy. When things get a little tough in this section, you will need someone to help you through.
I offer support long after the purchase of my course and anyone scaling up their contract size over time is going to need help in keeping perspective, clarity and focus when targeting higher objectives. This is not an option. If you need and want much more time to attain these higher goal objectives I am sure we can work something out. Just let me know.
I currently have a small group of traders and do plan to grow, but I am not interested in growing into very large group. This way, I will have time to address individual needs from traders as the process of meeting their daily trading goals unfold.
33 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5
$ 17,500
$ 7,250 wk
34 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5
$ 18,000
$ 7,250 wk
35 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5
$ 18,500
$ 7,250 wk
36 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5
$ 19,000
$ 7,250 wk
37 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5
$ 19,500
$ 7,250 wk
38 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5
$ 20,000
$ 7,250 wk
39 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5
$ 20,500
$ 7,250 wk
40 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5
$ 21,000
$ 7,250 wk
41 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5
$ 21,500
$ 7,250 wk
42 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5
$ 22,000
$ 7,250 wk
43 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5
$ 22,500
$ 7,250 wk
44 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5
$ 23,000
$ 7,250 wk
45 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5
$ 23,500
$ 7,250 wk
46 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5
$ 24,000
$ 7,250 wk
47 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5
$ 24,500
$ 7,250 wk
48 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5
$ 25,000
$ 7,250 wk
48 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5
$ 25,500
$ 7,250 wk
49 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5
$ 26,000
$ 7,250 wk
50 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5
$ 26,500
$ 7,250 wk
51 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5
$ 27,000
$ 7,250 wk
52 x 50 dollars pt. x 2 pts x 5
$ 27,500
$ 7,250 wk
If you are on a quest for greatness, this section is where it happens. You will need all of the things mentioned in the section just above and now, more. If you are able to continue scaling up your trades and get an occasional day that you bring in 6 or 8 points, say two or three times a month, this will insulate you from the occasional day that you get stopped out at your daily loss limit. (-4 points) Having a daily loss limit is so important, I cannot express it enough. YOU NEED TO CONTROL LOSSES.
That is what is always needed at any stage. There would not be any reason to consistently trade for your daily goals and in one day or week, loose a ton or ground and cash. That is what happens to traders all the time. They make it fast and loose it faster.
You need to make it slow and hold on to it. In my trading manual, I lay out all the specifics on how to go about doing this and again, you will need some kind of additional support.
When you start out at week 2, after your 1st week warm-up, you will be risking $100 (1 point, $50 pt x 2 contracts) against an account of say $5,000, an average opening balance for many people. That represents 2% of your equity per trade taken.
After the second section from above, if you are still on course, your risk per trade is now down to .85% per trade taken. Very Good, considering that you have been taking money out of your account. After the third and last section, if you are again still on course, your risk per trade is down to a touch over .50% and that is outstanding.
Overall your risk is going down all along the way and you are taking cash out of the market. By doing this, you are lessening the impact that the money will have on you. You do not have it all on the line, something a gambler would do.
This is the reason why, I do think it is possible for the exceptional to achieve results similar to this. It, by any means does not happen very often, but again, do not let that hold you back. Just because others have tried and not been able to do it, does not mean that has to be transferred over to you, does it?
I DON’T THINK SO! and you shouldn’t either.
Trading for as lofty of a goal as described in this section is again not easy and it may be as previously stated that you trade up to a specific number of contracts and “Hold the Line, Stay with Me”. A famous line from the movie Gladiator. Sorry there, a little off subject. The point is, this plan is not for everyone.
A very attainable goal, is to start trading just one contract for the whole month. If you have averaged 2 points per day, high and lows, then you increase your contract size to two, for the month. If you do not get to a net 20 days x 2 points per day, you stay at one contract until you do. Then you can move on to three and so on.
If you stay close to this plan, with conservative daily targets of 2 points + an occasional windfall 6-8 points once of twice a month, you will be trading 12 contracts and on pace to making over $250,000 a year. That is making it slow and holding on to it.
For so many others, it will only seem like a dream and those that have failed will tell you, “It can not be done”. Don’t let anyone’s negativism take your dream. Back in the day, others who knew what I was doing tried to do just that to me. If I would have listened to them, where would I be know, no where close to what I have achieved.
In closing, I believe that trading for 2 points per day is achievable and feel totally confident in my approach in getting it. I don’t currently trade the size I would like, but that will soon change. Getting my daily goal and helping people get theirs has clearly defined my objectives at this time.
Today is Monday, November 2nd and the Market holds.
Well, we were anticipating some pretty important market action today and so far so good. The Dow was up about 75 points today, but in order to slow down and turn this market around, we will have to see about 75 more Dow points to the upside. That is current overhead resistance and will need to break above that (9860) pretty decisively.
I think I said it all in yesterdays post, so I won’t repeat myself here again. We just need some time to see how this is going to play out and the above scenario lays out the other side of the equation. Tomorrow, I will post a daily chart of the Dow and S&P to better show you what I have been saying.
Today, I took 3 trades starting around the New York afternoon session, 11 a.m. West Coast. The first was a split trade and half came off at only 3 ticks, the second half was stopped out for -4 ticks. I was looking for the turn and just a touch early. So this trade gave me a net loss of -1 tick on half the position,- $12.50.
The next trade, I did find the turn that I was looking for and picked up + 1 point on 2 contracts and let the other half run for +8.25 points. I was looking for prices to get a little higher but I did not push it, I got out at 1035.25 and I saw a potential high for the move at 1038. We came within 2 ticks of that trade high call at 1037.50 before the market retreated 6 points.
I re-entered long right at one of my “Turning Points” at 1033 and did not take half off early like I normally do but let the market take me to exactly where I thought it would, with the whole position. Once I was getting close to my target area, I took off half the position at +5.75 points of profit. I gave the other half some room to work, so it could make an attempt to hit the high side of 1040. It did not make it and I got stopped out at +4.25 points on the other half.
That was all quite OK. I did notice that after I got stopped out, that the price did turn just after and move up to hit the 1040 level I had called.
We were running out of time, but I did and still do see 1043 before the move is finished, but that will probably come in the night session or in tomorrow market.
On that pull back, off the first good move, I was looking for prices to come down to 1031.75, which was 6 points off the previous high. Well, we came within 1 tick, 1031.50.
I make reference to all of this in the video’s I have posted below. These are live trading video’s of everything I just wrote above. The first three are tied to the first two orders and the last two are tied to the last trade.
I am not really saying how I come up with these trades on the video’s but I am reading price action. I do have a custom indicator that I have created that gives you these “Turning Points” and only risks 1 S&P point on the trade. I do build my screens up with a few more tools to complement each style of trading I am in.
If I were to trade, this mornings session, there were good low risk turning points present there as well and would have easily gotten my daily goal, (2 to 4 points)
Around 9 a.m. West Coast time, the market gave some traders a big gift, a 16 point sell off. I am sure I would have had some of that. I do see possibly getting out once and re-entering again short, but that was a fantastic move. Their were great add-on spots on the way, if you so chose to, but, what I am saying is these ”Turning Points”, happen all day, when the market is moving.
Yesterday was just incredible for my “Turning Point” signals. The market was definitely moving and if you knew where those low risk entry points where and positioned yourself in font of it, you would have done well. They were happening all day long, one after another, for huge moves. My stops on the entries were still one point and the majority worked out for multiple point gainers.
When the market is not moving much and price action is quite, I love to trade out of my T-1 scalp screen. Very accurate for short moves, averaging about 3/4 point each. I really only need a few of these to hit my daily goal and do just that, if the market is moving or not. Even in a slow chop zone, if you follow the method, it comes out. I will say, that the opposite is true as well. I am thinking and speaking to myself here. When I don’t follow my method and at times I don’t, just like everyone else, it does not usually work out and that is a good thing, believe it or not. I do not want to reinforce negative behavior and am glad the trades do not work when I go outside my method.
That is the exception, not the rule, because I do a pretty good job in following my method, plan and rules. The same will be true for anyone else who attempts to do the same.
These turning points are very easy to see and have only a few conditions attached to them before you can enter the trade, not to hard and very clear. I have all of this layed out in my 80 page manual and DVD video series. The price for my course is coming down as I have stated before. Any one interested to learn more, contact me at vinnie@sniperdaytrading.com
I had a fairly easy day on the board today. It could have been better, but the opposite is also true. I had one loss that totally could have been avoided, but I had to get over it and move forward. If I were to beat myself up over that, it could effect future trades. Knowing that, I saw my mistake very easily and learned something from it. It’s always important to go over your trades, especially after the trading day, to see anything that you might have missed. If you make mistakes, its OK, we all do, but we need to learn from them so we can minimize the damage and not repeat it if possible.
Today’s trading I had 12 gains 4 losses and came right up to $1,000 dollars and stopped. I turned my data feed off and did other things today. I traded for about one hour from 8:45 to 9:45 am West Coast time. There was not a lot of movement and it was a bit choppy, but I was still able to squeeze out my daily goal. I was only trading 5 contracts for all orders, so I had the equivalent of capturing 4 points net after commission. I came in to today’s market with low volume, not a great deal of direction, not a lot of overall movement and still captured my points. I am pleased when ever I get good results with less than ideal conditions.
Yesterday, I went over a new idea that portrays discipline in the life of a trader. Last week I pointed out another idea and will give a short recap now.
1) Your trading environment has an effect on your trading performance, so keep it neat and organized, it makes a difference. (last week)
2) A balanced home life and priorities that are a reflection of your personal long term goals and values, a key ingredient for long term success. (yesterday)
3) Exercises that you can take to expand your general level of self-control in any area, which will spill over into greater control while trading. (today)
Point number three is what I will briefly discuss now. Maintaining control while trading is going to be one of your best friends, if you can find a way to harness it’s benefits. One of the hardest things to do is to act when you need to, not before, and not after.
If you discipline yourself in small areas of life, it will send a message to your brain that you do what you say, when you say it. If you procrastinate in putting things off and then scramble to get it done at the last minute, like finishing your Taxes on the deadline day, you may not be as in control as you would like.
The good news is, we can all get better at improving in this area. Find something small, that you know you can overcome. It may take some thought and it can be just about anything that can effect positive change. If you resolve to overcome whatever that is, and get some desired benefit, you are now exercising your mind, will power, self control and gaining greater self esteem. There are many benefits that can spill over into your trading session. You will come to trust yourself more over time as you exercise yourself in these areas. That will give you added self control when you need to stay out of the market because your trade setups are not yet present and a whole host of other benefits as well.
Back to trading technicals. Before you put a trade on, your TIMING is going to be critical. When you see the trade setup that will yield you an easy point, you need to have the discipline to take the trade at that moment. If you wait for confirmation, you will either overpay and risk getting stopped out, thus also hurting your chances of getting filled at your target.
This kind of discipline and confidence can only come from getting a good handle on what you are looking for, but once you know that, the thing to do is execute. If you hesitate and are not sure, when a perfect trade setup presents itself, you have a problem. You will eventually get frustrated and your next few trades may become losses, when you finally get the courage to take the trade.
You need to not let that happen, by envisioning the whole process ahead of time, you can train your mind to jump on the trade, the moment you are sure it meets all the qualifications of a legitimate trade setup. With short term trading, you need to put it on only when your timing tells you to, but do not hesitate. Whatever time you take to examine your strategy for what constitutes a trade setup, that is what you need to get familiar with. You know what it looks likes before and have seen it hundreds of times, so when you see it in live trading action, that memory recall is what you will need to draw on.
Seeing the trade set itself up and developing in a live environment is critical. As the trade develops you see what has happened so many times before when the conditions are met, you come to expect the same outcome this time and place the trade with a high level of confidence and capture the intended outcome.
Today is Friday, April 3rd and I had a good day, but not without a few problems.
I started out just fine. I almost had my daily goal in just a few minutes. But then I was not patient enough to wait just a minute more for a clear signal and sure enough, I got stopped out. That trade was going to put me over the top and capture my daily goal, about 15 minutes worth.
What happened after that is, I found myself in an up-trending market and was looking for a counter trend trade setup. This was the trend starting about 8:30 am W.C. time. I doubled up on a trade short 5+5 for two positions short and got stopped out with a 4 tick stop. Why I fought that trend up, I don’t know. This goes back to what I was commenting on earlier in the week. If you get a picture or idea in your mind that the market is going to do something and it is not co-operating with you, the problem is not in the market action, but with you, or me in this case.
This is why we all need to be humble and respect the markets. Trading success can be a great thing to give you confidence in your ability to put together winning trades, but it can also be an Achilles heel. Each and every day, you really need to keep an open mind to direction. This is what can happen to a lot of traders if they think they know the next move of the market. Let the market tell you and don’t be impatient. If the whole series of moves looks a little confusing, just let a little time go by. That is what I did today, when I was up to almost daily goal and slipped back just a little in the red.
I took a break and came back a little later and started nailing it. I came right back like I have done in the past to post some real nice gains for the day. I ended up taking it to two times daily goal or around $2,500 in equity, but it took me some time. I just put on mostly small trades, 1 point, 3 ticks and so on. I was just focusing on market timing. I took my trade size down to average 5 contracts, some smaller, a few bigger, but averaged around 5. With a 5 contract average I probably picked up a net after commission 10 points of profit to get my totals.
If I am having trouble, for whatever reason, I almost always go back to my bread and butter trading. Sometimes when you are targeting 2 or 3 points in a trade and the market is not giving it to you, change and be satisfied with 1 point here and 1 point there. It adds up pretty fast, if you keep stringing them along one after another. It counts just the same as a 3 point trade. Trading is not always easy and there are many unseen factors you could be battling, but try and keep it simple. My method is simple, but not easy. And there is a difference.
I have a short video of some of the last trades I took today. It is on a clean chart and I will show you some of my timing techniques while using trendlines. I could have captured a lot more points on a lot of these trades, but that was not even in my mind for the most part. I was concentrating on market timing. If I just get that part right, I know I can pick up the profit, it all adds up the same at the end of the day.
Today is Wednesday April 1st and I had another quick day of profits.
I start out today with a nice one point trade short for half of my now higher daily goal, followed up with another 1 point trade just after that, for a quick $1,000 dollar daily goal in just a few minutes. With the commission cost it put me just above $900 and I needed one more small trade to at least get over a thousand. The next trade came to me very nicely for yet another 1 point gain, but with only 4 contracts on board to safely give me a little over $1,100 for about 20 minutes of trading.
That is what I like about trading the way that I do. I have said this before a few times, but it bears repeating. No struggle, just a few quick easy high percentage trades. When checking the stats for how long I was in the market to get my trades today, my computer told me that it was only 3 minutes of actual in the market trading time. That is an average of 1 minute per trade. That is COOL.
When you are in the market for a long period of time, you do have higher exposure, no matter what the circumstances are. More time in the market = more risk – period. If you know what you are doing, you can minimize that risk with stop loss orders, but none the less, you have more risk.
Now, I get to do other things, that can be very rewarding to me. Time is something that you can never get back, once it is lost. You can always make more money, but if you invest yourself in things that can bring you personal dividends, you can look back at your life and have no regrets. That is the way I see it. The key to making something like this a possibility is knowing how to trade, so that you can pick up your points for the day. If you need a mentor to help you through the process, send me an email and we can discuss how I can help you put it together.
Here is a little trading tip for the day: KEEP AN OPEN MIND WHILE TRADING
In looking back at the one thing that I thought gave me the most trouble in my trading, that would have to be keeping an open mind as to overall direction and not having a bias. This is one of the secret killers that is always lurking, looking to destroy trading accounts.
If you make a decision in your mind that the larger trend is going up or should go up, then you will not be able to see the short setups that are right in front of you. The same is true in the opposite direction. As far as the bigger time frame, leave your mind open and let the market tell you which way it wants to go. If you have a strong conviction about direction and things start to change, you will not see it. I GUARANTEE IT.
You will become blind as to what is happening, because your subconscious mind will not let you see. You have created a mental block as to the current reality of the present price action. On the other hand, if you hold your opinion to general market direction lightly, if things change, you will have no mental blocks to overcome when you need to take a trade in the opposite direction. The market trades on a two way street and you need to see cars coming in the other direction or else you will have a HEAD ON CRASH, with the outcome producing casualties.
Example: In a past struggle, I remember thinking that the market should go down and I was looking for a short set up. I place a trade and get stopped out. I still think the market is going down, but my timing was off, so I re-enter short and again get stopped out. Something is wrong and I need to stop and check market direction because I am fighting the trend. That is what I should do, but I still have in my mind that this market should be going down any moment now and you try and short again. What do you think happens after that? Stopped out again. If I would have taken the correct action, like I mentioned above, I need to stop and assess the larger time frame and wait to trade in the correct overall direction.
The moral of the story, KEEP AND OPEN MIND TO OVERALL DIRECTION and don’t let this happen to you.
Today is Friday March 27th and I had another smooth day trading the S&P.
I had an interesting day today, in that I did not start trading the size that I wanted to, because I did not see great price action at the time I started trading. I put my first trade on at 8:12 am West Coast time, but it was not good enough for me to put the size on, so I waited. I did make a few nice trades and had a few small losses, working my equity up to around $1,000 in a little over 30 minutes.
I decided to take a break and do some teaching with a student of mine and came back later, after the market had a chance to change up its price action with a few new reads. At around 11:56 am, I put on a trade with 5+5 contracts, for a total of 10, at the same price of 813.75, and rode that up for 5 solid points of gain. I did not scale out of the trade, but just rode it up for all that it gave me.
The trade lasted only about 6 minutes. That trade added $2,500 dollars to the $ 1,000 that I already had, for a nice add on trade, taking me to $3,500 for the day. Once prices got over 815.50, there were other forces from higher time frame charts working to push the market higher. If you look back at your charts to that time, you may see what I am talking about.
As far as the broad market is concerned, the Index’s are still in a solid uptrend on the daily, with some overhead resistance on the Dow coming in a little over 8,000. There was very little pull back on the way up, which tells me that when the market does stop, there will be a nice reactionary move back down to the middle. In order for this uptrend to stay intact, the Dow will have to stay above 7,700 and the S&P above 813 on the cash, which is only a few points below where we currently are.
That is how I currently see it – you might view it differently. The maximum I see for the S&P is in the 840 range, before we see a pull back, but since we are very close to support right now, the 813 needs to hold on the cash market.
Below are some questions from someone interested in my method. I have answered all of these questions before, but I will do it again for everyone’s benefit.
I watch your videos on your blog and have some questions.Do you always use a trend-line break of some sort for entries?
Are the entries orders stop or limit orders and where are they placed?
I see reference to 5 tick stops. Doesn’t onessuccess rate have to be quite high when targeting 3-4 ticks with a 5 tick stop?
Do you offer any training beyond the blog videos?
Answer to #1 &2 ) I almost always look for some sort of trend line break to enter a trade. It may be that a pattern is developing, like a triangle or any other pattern. Upon the break or at a back fill point, you can enter the trade. I do occasionally enter on a buy stop, but that is not very often. So the limit order is what I most often use. By using limit orders, I have missed trades by not getting filled, but that does not bother me too much because I only need to wait for the next trade. If I extend myself too much by placing buy stop orders or sell stop orders to get into a trade, I sometimes need to take the trade farther to get filled, and expose myself to greater risk by getting stopped out. Most of the orders I place, I quickly move my stop up to 4 ticks, but when I do place a buy stop entry order or sell stop entry order, that is when I find I need the extra tick, so as not to get stopped out on a back fill of the original break out. It is not the same every time and would greatly depend on current price action.
Answer to #3 ) I use 4 and 5 tick stops almost always, rarely anything more. I see where you might be concerned with such a small stop – not many people can trade with their stop being this small. There are a few keys to being successful at this business. One is good timing. I have a set number of conditions that need to be present before an order should be placed. When those conditions are present, there is usually an 80% chance that I will hit 1 point of profit. My ultimate trading goal is to hit 2-3 points profit per day, every day. You only need to make 2 or 3 of these trades to make that happen. If you see a bigger potential of a move, you can scale out of your trade at, say, 1 point for the first half and something higher, like 2 points, just like I did yesterday. If I see a much larger potential, which does not always happen, I will elect to stay with the trade and have it give me whatever is in it, as with today’s trade of 5 points. It really all just depends on price action. That is why it takes time to learn the market ins and outs. There is no quick and easy way to master all that the market can throw at you in a short period of time. It can take years. But on the other hand, for someone who is satisfied with a daily income of 2 to 3 points profit, you can simplify the process a great deal.
Yes, you will miss big moves and yes, you could have made a lot more on certain trades, but if your goal is to make MONEY, then new traders need to be realistic in what they can expect from the markets.
If I place a trade and I only get the small move of 3 ticks on that trade, I would initially have my stop no more than a 4 tick stop. If the trade moves in my favor by 2 ticks, I move my stop to 3 ticks, and then maybe to 2 ticks, until I get filled. I am riding my small stop up with the move in my direction and hitting my small target 80+ percent of the time with a 3 tick fill. If you do the math, it comes out very nicely. In just a couple of trades, you are done.
Two trades for 1 point and 1 trade for 3/4 point, trading say only 4 contracts, will almost always give you $500 dollars in less than 30 minutes. That comes to $1,000 dollars an hour. Who makes that kind of money these days? The key is that you keep your personal struggle to get your daily goal to a minimum and then come back tomorrow to do it again.
As I wrote in my blog a couple of days ago, it can be difficult for traders to be able to identify which trades are going to run and which ones are only good for 1 or 2 points. The best way to handle that is to just trade everything for 1 or 2 points max. This will give you the opportunity to keep your focus on correct timing and not over thinking and analyzing for the big 3 or 4 to one profit ratio trade.
Answer #4) I can discuss with individuals interested in personal mentoring, one on one. I will see what your trading level is and go from there. It can be that my trading method does not work for everyone because of past trading habits that they may not be able to change. It will depend on the individual and how teachable they are. For some people it might be like putting a round peg in a square hole, and my style of trading does not match their personality.
But if you come with an open mind and want to learn what it is that I know, I would bet that I can help you become profitable. I can spend personal screen time going over my method so that you understand how it works and what it is that we look for in a trade setup. If you have Trade Station, I can set your screen up with everything I use to trade. If you are using Ninja Trader, then I can also set your screen up to very closely match my settings on Trade Station. Both are excellent platforms for trading the S&P. You will have access to my trading room for 2-3 months, where you will hear and see me put my trades on. I would want you to learn and not only follow my trades so I will have you understanding why I am looking to take each trade. Very important. We all need to think for ourselves. This is what will make good traders for the long term.
I have a trader that I am currently working with, and in this last week he is hitting over 80 percent on all of his trades, targeting for only one point. He is posting profit of about $1,000 dollars a day. He is getting it. There is still more work to do for him, but he is working hard on mastering his timing. He does better at long trades than short, but I am working with him to help him see where the correct timing is for those short trades. His concern is not looking for the monster trade of 5-10 points, but just cranking out 1 point trades with 4 contracts. What more could anyone ask for.
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