Yesterday, I mentioned I would begin to define the market trend as “down” when it broke the 200 period moving average less than 180 points below price… and today price rests directly on that moving average, teetering between confirmed uptrend and confirmed downtrend. A swing of 50 points lower will be enough to confirm the…
The US Equity Market has taken a surprising downturn, and where some are using the word “correction,” other are using the term, “top” indicating their belief that the Dow High of 14,000 was the ‘top’ price of 2007. Without a doubt, the market is in a much more precarious situation than it was less than…
Larry Connors recently provided his observations on the current market climate in his compelling, yet interestingly titled post Welcome to the Bizarro World. Larry provides not only a brief overview of the ‘strange situation,’ but provides five key strategies for you to consider to help you prosper in your individual trading. He attributes the recent…
The last two weeks has been some of the most volatile trading in the last few years, but certainly not some of the worst times. The $VIX made fresh five year highs (“fear index”) recently as well. While the daily charts of the major indexes appear fragmented and broken from a technical standpoint, the weekly…
Everyone who participates in day trading has their own perspective, setups, indicators, and rules they use that work for them. However, there are some common points that are watched by a majority of intraday traders, and it is imperative to know what they are observing and how price reacts to those key levels. I like…
We all know that it’s a great idea to keep a trading journal, but how many of us actually do it? I know you’re thinking “Not another article on trading journals! I’ve read enough already.” Even if you currently keep a trading journal, and especially if you do not keep one, I highly encourage you…
Did you know you could develop a simple trading strategy that returns winning trades 80% of the time that uses random entries?! It actually CAN be done. For those of you who are still reading, a second question that comes up is whether or not this strategy is profitable – the answer is “sometimes.” This…
All major US Indexes fell precipitously today, with the Dow, S&P, and Russell falling close to 3% in one day, while the Nasdaq fell 2%. As indicated yesterday, there were at least three sources of overhead resistance that the market – or buyers – had to overcome to lift the major indexes. As today’s action…
The markets are in a precarious position right now, from a basic level technical analysis overview. How so? First, we have had a large volatility impulse down which has made new momentum lows. We are now experiencing a ‘counterswing’ up that is being met with potential resistance overhead, which must be overcome (or ignored) by…
If you had to pick between consistent, steady small trading gains with large losses, or a handful of winning trades that result in large gains, but also consistent small losses, which would you choose? If you search yourself honestly, your answer would likely be “I prefer winning more times than losing more times in the…