5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
How is it going lately? As you know market can go into extremes easily.. Are we a little optimistic by gapping up again today?
I suspected so... Today's market action was characterized mainly by price trying to close the gap.. I did not enter as there was no clear signal from stochastics and short-term MACD.. You can see that price closed the gap nicely..
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Price gapped down today by a huge margin -> around 15 points.. Should we view this as a timely correction? Markets cannot keep moving up always anway... As day traders, we should be concerned about how we can capitalize on such movements.. When market gapped down and kept moving down.. I did not go in and I was unsure whether the gap will close or not..
There was divergence with my short-term MACD. notice that short-term MACD is moving up whereas price is moving down... this was another factor preventing me from shorting, I was waiting for a pull back to the Moving averages.. unfortunately, this only happened closed to the closing bell..
Fundamentals:
(RTTNews) - Stocks are down by substantial margins in mid-morning trading on Friday, as the markets have largely shrugged off continued improvements on the economic front in the U.S. as the European debt crisis remains a chief concern. The major averages are all firmly in negative territory, adding to yesterday's losses.
A short time ago, Reuters and the University of Michigan released their preliminary report on consumer sentiment in the month of May, showing that sentiment improved roughly in line with estimates compared to the previous month.
Reuters and the University of Michigan said that their consumer sentiment index rose to 73.3 in May from a final reading of 72.2 in April. Economists had been expecting the consumer sentiment index to increase to a reading of 73.5.
In other economic news released recently, the Commerce Department reported that business inventories increased by 0.4 percent in March following a 0.5 percent increase in February. The increase in inventories came in line with economist estimates.
Before the opening bell, the Commerce Department released a separate report showing that retail sales edged up by 0.4 percent in April following an upwardly revised 2.1 percent increase in March. Economists had expected retail sales to increase by 0.5 percent compared to the 1.6 percent growth originally reported for the previous month.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
How is it going lately? Price gapped up today and continued on it's path of upward trending... however, you can see that the real movement is only during the first 2 hours... thereafter price remained jin a narrow range... bounded in narrow bollinger bands... I certainly don't want to be trading in such conditions. There is no tradeable signal from either stochastics or MACD... No trade today..
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Jobless claims increased more than expected and the recent debt crisis experienced by Greece are all bad news still hanging in the air..
Finally we are seeing some big movement... Price gapped down and kept on sliding all the way till closing bell.
There was not a signal from either stochastics or short-term MACD that allows me to short with comfort! I missed the shorting trade... But, let me remind you again that trading is a disciplined art, we should stick to our rules in all circumstances..
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
How is it going lately? Price surged during the opening bell.. with moving averages sloping upwards... stochastics was already in the overbought region and short-term MACD cut up the signal line...
Price exhibited strong action, but there was no signal for me to go long... No trade today..
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
Nasdaq is effectively closed today, but we can still see some action in the futures market..
Market gapped up and price went up in a straight line.. But I don't recommend you trading in a light market..
No trade today.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
How is it going lately? Price is stalling again as it approaches the resistance formed by a previous high 4 days ago... Moving averages only slope up slightly and I would really like it to have a little bit more slope before I even think of going long..
Stochastics and short-term MACD are not very symmetrical reflecting the price action characterised by short-bodied candlesticks..
Short-term MACD stayed closed to the zero line..
This is no condition for going long... No trade today.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
How is it going lately? Done your christmas shopping? It's a busy end-of-year for me as well.. I have not been updating my blog as much as I would like to..
Today price gapped up by around 8 points.. it proceeded to close the gap almost immediately... after closing the gap, I was not getting a good signal to go long... stochastics was still above the oversold region and short-term MACD did not provide any signal too...
Basically, at hindsight, price went up to break the high established by the opening bell.. but I stand by my decision not to trade as there was no signals.. After breaking the high, candlesticks basically had shortbodies and were zigzagging ... Not an ideal situation to trade...
Hi,
How is it going lately? Price is in a ranging band again... If you observed, moving averages are almost flat .. This gives rise to alot of fake signals in the stochastics... Notice how it is bouncing up and down... If you were to trade on all of these signals, you would encountered alot of whipsaws...
Look at short-term MACD, it is hovering around zero line... I don't think it is advisable to trade in such conditions.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
How is it going lately? We are at turning point again... with the market reaching new highs and sentiments are in a dilemma, market players not knowing when this uptrend is going to end...
Well, what I can say is that market gapped down today.. This was followed by ranging price action... look at the short-bodied candlesticks.. they look ugly to me.. stochastics and short-term MACD zig zagging up and down...
Most importantly, price did not close the gap.. This is a bad sign.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
After rising for the past weeks.. we are again at cross roads.... you can see that price met strong resistance at the hgh formed yesterday... Price moved down... erratically... in zig zag manner ... all the while with support from the moving averages...
It only broke the moving averages at around 14:30... it is not advisable to go short in such situatioins...
No trade today..
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
How is it going today? After surging for the past week, we have reached the resistance zone... Price is near previous highs and obviously momentum is slowing down...
You can see that candlesticks have shorter bodies and that they are enclosed in narrow Bollinger Bands... Short-term MACD and stochastics zig zag up and down.. there are no real signals ... No trade today..
5 min Emini Nadaq 100
Hi,
How is it going lately? Price staged a surprisingly strong rebound today... It gapped up by around 10 points... there after price remained in a narrow range... Obviously this is not a good sign... The gapped up is caused by institutional traders...
day traders like us do not have the advantage...by the time the gapped finished...price remained range bound.. There are no signals from stochastics or short-term MACD... No trade today.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
How is it going lately? Price gapped up today, there after it remained bounded in the narrow ranges of my Bollinger bands... Do we trade this? Or should we pass this?
The answer is obvious... Also, if you look at short-term MACD, there are no signals... moving averages are also flat...
It is important to be patient during such times...
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
Market is slowing down.... I would really advice you to take a step back and wait for the action to pan out before making any impulsive trade...
Price surged up in the morning only to retrace back during the afternoon session...
There is no way we could have traded this surge... it was too sudden and there were no signals from stochastics or short-term MACD... furthermore, moving averages were almost flat... I decided to stay out of the market.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
How is it going lately? I know we are in difficult times.. prices are volatile... bouncing up and down from the moving averages...
1) moving averages are almost flat... I hardly see any slope..
2) bollinger bands are narrow... price is nicely contained within the bands...
Ask yourself if you want to place high probability trades or risk money randomly...
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
How is it going lately? You can see that moving averages are sloping up so if you are going to enter the market, it is definitely going to be a Long trade...
However, stochastics are bouncing up and down... short-term MACD are close to the zero line... it is not really a good condition to go trade at all..
No trade today..
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
Market is going off on a new high... However, technically speaking, you can see that candlesticks are very narrow.... no signals from short-term MACD or stochastics... There is no need to risk money unnecessarily..
No trade today...
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
How is it going lately? The market has been extremely difficult lately... Price gapped up today... but thereafter price continued with short bodied candlesticks...
Moving averages are almost flat... Notice that bollinger bands are narrow as well...
No trade today...
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
How is it going lately? Price gapped up and continued in a narrow range thereafter... Candlestick bodies are short. Do you want to risk your money in such a market? Not me!
5 min Nasdaq 100
Hi,
How is it going lately? Price gapped down by more than 10 points at the opening bell. There after price is limited in a narrow range characterised by short bodied candlesticks..
You might be tempted to go into a trade due to the signals from stochastics.. But the overall market condition and price actioin prevented me from entering...
No trade today.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
Price gapped up today, but there was strong resistance at 1650 and price turn back down...
There was strong support at the moving averages... Price did break the moving averages towards the closing bell, but bounced back almost immediately..
No trade today.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
How is it going lately? Price gapped up at the opening bell only to cover it almost immediately...There after price made it's way to the moving averages... there is strong support at the moving averages as price bounced up and down...
We see that there is a double bottom pattern formed just above my cyan moving average... But remember double bottoms are only effective at market bottoms... this double bottom is invalid....
No trade today.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
How is it going lately? Price surged up during the opening bell.. However, there after candlesticks are characterised by shortbodies.. Although there is a buy signal from stochastics as it cuts up the signal line, But, you can see that there is strong resistance by the high formed by the opening bell... Hence...
No trade today...
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
Market gapped down 30 points at the opening bell... But, I missed the trade.. There is no way I could have captured this trade... furthermore..
candlesticks thereafter are extremely short bodied... No trade today... We have to wait for a better day.. no point taking risk unnecessarily.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
How is it going? We are not seeing clear trends in the market, as I have mentioned before, market is at crossroads now.
Market participants are undecisive on where the market should go.. It gapped down fast and furious today only to bottom out hovering in a narrow range...
candlesticks are short and moving averages are downward sloping... No trade today.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
How is it going lately? As mentioned before, we are at crossroads... Market gapped down at the opening bell but did not close the gap...
Moing averages are sloping down and bollinger bands are narrow... candlestick bodies are short --> NO trade today..
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
How is it going lately? Price gapped down today and immediately covered it via long whiskers. ( the body of the candlesticks did not cover the gap) . This illustrates weakness in the price structure...
Next, you can see that candlestick bodies are short, and they remain below the moving averages...
Although we get a double bottom pattern in the second half of the trading day, the fact that price remains below the moving averages prevents us from making aggressive bets. No trade today.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
Market gapped down today, only to cover it in mid-day.. candlesticks are characterised by long whiskers...
moving averages are almost flat... Although we see several signals from stochastics and short-term MACD,
the overall market condition is not condusive to trading... No trade today..
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
How is it going lately? Price gapped up today and continued in a narrow range... candlesticks are short-bodied and Bollinger Bands are narrow..
I did not get a signal to enter... No trade today...
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
How is it going lately? Market gapped down today only to cover it immediately...However, you can see that price is bouncing up and down from the flat moving averages...
There is not enough return for me to want to risk my money... No trade today!
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Prices are in for a short-term correction soon.... price range is getting narrower and this crazy uptrend simply can't just continue forever.... Moving averages are flat and There is no signal for me to enter the market today... No trade today..
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
Market has been on an upward trajectary for the past week.. Do you really think that this will continue forever? Good news have less and less impact on the market. It just can't keep on continuing on it's rocket trajectory...
Today's market is pretty obvious...Moving averages are flat.. I mean horizontal flat !! There is some sort of mean reversion by price hovering up and down But do you want to take the risk in such a market? We have seen better times and opportunities to capture in the market. You don't have to force a trade.
No trade today.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
Market is reaching new highs... it sky rocketed up from the opening bell... There is obviously instituitional buying interest and the jump was too great and too fast for day traders to jump on... There wasn't a pullback and no obvious signals from stochastics or short-term MACD. I wasn't willing to take the risk in this over bought market... No trade today.
Hi,
How is it going lately?
Market reaches the high established last month... However, candlestick bodies are extremely short-bodied... Do you think you have a chance in this environment? Not me... I decided not to trade in this environment.. NO TRADE TODAY.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi, price gapped up by around 20 points during the opening bell.. it then continued on its uptrend there after with short-bodied candlesticks... The uptrend is obviously caused by institutional buying... There were no signals for me to enter the market...
I think the chart lookings interesting,, but there simply is no signal and we should not force a trade here. NO TRADE TODAY.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
Price continued on its downtrend from the start of the market. But all these is on short-bodied candlesticks... Moving averages are downward sloping...
It makes sense to go short, however, do we have a chance ? Is there a signal? I don't think so....
First we are looking for a pullback to the moving averages before entering at the same time if this is accompanied by stochastics or short-term MACD signals,
that would be perfect... However, I get none of these and I am unwilling to take any risk at this point.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
How is it going lately? I have been traking a break from the market for the past week to spend some quality time with my family ...
Hope everything's well and you are trading fine as well...
There isn't much of a trade today.... We can see that price gapped down but covered the gap immediately... then it plunged again...
This is followed by price making a comeback with extremely short-bodied candles... do you really want to go into such a market??
Not practical.... and dangerous... No trade today.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
Price gapped up and continued on it's upward trajectory, but signals from stochastics and short-term MACD are not enough for me to enter the market.
Candlestick bodies are short and price remained tightly ranged... No trade today.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
If you noticed, price is still on a downward trajectory, when will this stop? I don't know, but does this automatically mean that we should go short? No!
Look at the price action today.. candlesticks are highly erractic and there are no clear signals from stochastics or short-term MACD.
Fundamentals.
The May Existing Home Sales report was the day's headlining news item, though it failed to produce a sustainable move in stock prices. Annualized existing home sales for May hit 4.77 million units, which is the highest rate since October, and up 2.4% from the previous month. However, expectations were set on a 3.0% month-over-month increase.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
How is it going lately? Market is finally going down which it should. I have said that it is impossible for the market to keep on going up in a straight line...
Price gapped down and continued on its downward trajectory without any signals from stochastics or short-term MACD. There was no chance for us to go short...
NO TRADE TODAY.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
How is it going lately? We are seeing a period of short bodied candlesticks again... Moving averages are flat and Bollinger Bands are narrow...
Do you think this is a good trading environment? I wouldn't risk it...Don't be fooled by the signals from the stochastics. No Trade today.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Moving averages are almost a flat horizontal.. Price hovers up and down from the moving averages.... However, if you ignore this fact, stochastics exhibited alot of signals,
If you traded on these signals without taking into account the flat moving averages, you will be taking too much risk.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Price gapped down today and continued on its downward path... There after, candlestick bodies are short...
There are no signals from short-term MACD or stochastics -> NO TRADE TODAY.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
How is it going lately? Are we seeing the market stalling finally? What I can say is that on a daily basis the range is getting smaller and smaller. This tells us that market participants are getting cautious.
Price was on a downtrend from the opening bell... But look at it carefully, do you think you can trade this? There are no relevant signals from either stochastics or short-term MACD.Candlesticks thereafter have shortbodies.
Do you really feel comfortable trading such markets? I don't think the risk/reward justify entering the market. NO TRADE TODAY.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
How is it going lately? Price gapped down and price remained below my green moving average for sometime before cutting up again
with a last spurt upwards towards the closing bell in order to close the gap.
Can you trade this? It is almost impossible to trade this pattern, no obvious signals.. No trade today.
Hi,
Price reached new highs since Mar and we are seeing a new surge in up trend... Will this continue? I don't know...
but it seems too fast for another 3 months uptrend with a meaningful correction...
Price gapped up during the opening bell and remained in a tight range there after it is very difficult for us tor trade in this environment.
No trade today.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
Apparently the consumer confidence data were better than expected and price surged during the opening bell.
There were no signs from short-term MACD or stochastics from the opening, price just surged... there after, it was enclosed in a narrow
bollinger bands with short-bodied candlesticks...
The only traders who benefited from this surge are the insitutional investors who caused this surge in the first place...
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
How is it going lately? The first thing you should notice is that bollinger bands are extremely narrow.
Next, candlesticks are extremely short-bodied... Although there are several signals from stochastics cutting the signal line,
you can see that price is mainly hovering around the green moving average, there is no real pullback...
No trade today.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
How is it going lately?
Market seems to at crossroads, price was on a wild ride up and down... Price remained above the moving averages while stochastics gives out
signals to long and short... Do you think this is a good idea to enter the market?
Definitely not, we would never want to force a trade... Bollinger bands are still narrow and price action is limited... No Trade today.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
How is it going lately? There is a nice uptrend today and price is climbing up slowly... But, there is no pullback by price to the moving averages...
Stochastics formed nice turning points, but this is not accompanied by real price action.. Hence it is wise not to force a trade.
NO TRADE TODAY.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
Market seems to be resilient and bounced up today. You can see that the green moving average is the support line for price as it moves up..
However, do you see a trading opportunity? MACD, stochastics are erratic and there isn't a good trading signal for us to enter with confidence.
NO TRADE TODAY.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
How is it going lately? Market is at a turning point. We can see that moving averages are flat and that Bollinger Bands are narrow.
You might say why don't we capture the upswing at the opening.
But look carefully, moving averages are flat, do you want to enter just because stochastics are pointing up? NO TRADE TODAY.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
How is it going today? Are we going through a correction? This is timely... as we know it is technically impossible for price to keep on rising in a straight line..
Price gapped down today and edged slowly down... You can see that candlesticks have short bodies and that it stayed witin a narrow band..
NO trade today.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Has market finally waken up to reality? China, Brazil is going up.. but that is not enough to help the U.S. get out of recession. Are the stress tests robust enough? Is this really the bottom as major business leaders have said?
We do not know, what we do know is that stocks cannot just keep flying up.. they have to correct at some point, this V shape correction if it were to continue, would constitute a highly unlikely technical pattern...
It is only natural that we expect some correction along the way. Price came down, but there are no signals that I can trade on.. No trade today.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
How is it going lately?
There are several signals from stochastics and short-term MACD but when considered together with other technical indicators, these are not valid signals...
First, look at the first signal from stochastics when it cut down the overbought region, can we go short? No! price is above the moving averages and moving averages are slanting up.
Next, look at the second signal from stochastics when it cut up the oversold region. OK, this time round, since price is above the moving averages, we can go long...
But, look at the moving averages,, they are flat... and we are nearly the closing bell.. do you think we have enough time for price to stage a rebound?? No trade today.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
We might be at a turning point these next few days. If price does not fall down again, it will continue to go up for another few more days, continuing the uptrend. No trade today, prices are just hovering up and down around the moving averages which are flat. Bollinger bands are flat as well. Short-term MACD is hovering around the zero line as well. You can tell that this is no condition for trading.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
How is it going lately? Apparently the upward trend is slowing down now.. Price have short bodies enclosed in a narrow bollinger bands.
Do you think it is wise to trade the market today? The answer is obvious. No Trade today.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
How is it going? Price gapped down today again..is this the start of a new downtrend? Let's wait and see for a few more days. I have said time and again that the apparent uptrend could not continue forever, there must be a technical correction somewhere.. We are going to wait for this to happen.
However as you probably know by now, there is nothing 100% sure in trading... We can have a hypothesis and wait for the market to work itself out. Be prepared mentally when it comes and take advantage of it.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
Market is at sort of a crossroad now having a rally for the past month.. It could not keep on going up forever.. So there is this minor correction today..
Price gapped down.. but it immediately made attempts to cover the gap..However, price action there after is mixed at best.. although at around 14:30
we get a signal from stochastics cutting up the oversold line and short-term MACD cutting the signal line, price is below the moving averages and this
is not the right time to go long --> NO TRADE TODAY.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
How is it going lately? What goes up must come down... prices have been climbing and climbing and it is not entirely impossible if we see a correction here.
Price gapped down today and covered up in midday trading session...Moving averages are extremely flat and bollinger bands are narrow..
This is the first and most important signal that caution me against entering the market.. No trade today.. We should wait until there are clearer signals from the market.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
How is it going? price ended the day slightly higher today.. But is this an uptrend or is the uptrend coming to and end??
The market has been rallying over the past one month... It can't just keep on going up and up forever.. This is my long term view..
On the day trading basis, we have short-bodied candlesticks enveloped in narrow bollinger bands..These are not ideal trading conditions..
No trade today.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
How is it going lately? Price gapped up by around 18 points today... It went further up in an effort to reach new highs...
Were you tempted to go LONG in this situation? If you observe carfully, you see that stochastics is not giving a signal during this price climb...
Price then fell and found support at the moving averages and stochastics formed a double bottom, this seems to be a good signal to go LONG,
but, price action is characterized by short candle bodies... Do you want to take unnecessary risk that might not be rewarded? Not me..
No trade today!! In fact price is trading tight in a range of around 10 ponts. It is impossible to make money here.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
How is it going lately? Market is in a ranging pattern and frankly speaking.. there is nothing much we can do about it... However.. You can tell from a larger time frame that it might have a technical rebound... --> see below..
Daily Emini Nasdaq 100 chart
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
How is it going lately? Price action is bad as usual and candlesticks are short.. Obviously if given a choice, you would want to go short instead of long...
However, there are no clear signals from either stochastics or short-term MACD... No trade today!
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Moving averages are slanting down and candlesticks are characterized by long whiskers... This is simply not the ideal condition we want to be in when trading...
There are several signals from stochastics, but this is not supported by short-term MACD and the price action... Conclusion -> NO TRADE !
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
There is no trade today... There is no obvious trend as indicated by how moving averages behave... They are basically flat and price is hovering sightly below it..
Next, if you look at stochastics and short-term MACD, there appears to be signals when they cut the signal line, but I did not go in because of the price action..
NO TRADE TODAY.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
How is it going? The market is opened for only half a day.... It kept on plunging down... Can you really short this?? Not me.. There is simply not any signals I could catch to go short.. Short-term MACD and stochastics are already in the negative region.. There are no signals.. The only signals would be the short-bodied red candlesticks down..
Can you short this? I don't have the confidence to go short in this situation. NO TRADE TODAY.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
How is it going lately? Market is still digesting the new stimulus packages the government is dishing out.. Candlesticks are short bodied and moving averages are flat...
There is a slight signal in stochastics and short-term MACD when they cut their signal line... But I did not short for the following 2 reasons:
1) there is strong support at 1175 to 1180 region... but when the signal came out I could only enter at 1188 it exhibited low risk/reward ratio... Not worth the risk..
2) Even though stochastics and short-term MACD are falling, candlesticks are not really below the moving averages and if I were to enter the market, I would go long simply because prices are still above the moving averages.
NO TRADE TODAY.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
How is it going lately? Market is in a ranging condition and there isn't much to trade. The point here is that you should be able to discern the trading condition and make decisions whether to enter the market or not.
Reasons:
1 Moving averages are flat
2 Bollinger bands are narrow
3 Stochastics and short-term MACD show irregular moving patterns.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
How is it going lately? Big banks have declared ever increasing losses and governments injecting more and more money...
There is almost a singal for going short today... with stochastics and short-term MACD cutting down the signal line.. However, I wasn't comfortable with the fact that the market was flat yesterday and the day before and the day before.... etc..
There is no clear trend and it is better to wait for a clear signal... I did not short...
After the first 30 minutes of plunging, price edged downwards slowly with short-bodied candlesticks.. There is nothing you can do with this condition... It is not worth the risk and I stayed on the sidelines..
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
Is there a trade today or not? On hindsight, it seems that we have a trade from the signals in stochastics and short-term MACD. Furthermore, it seems that we could have somehow tagged onto this V-shaped trend reversal..
However, the cold hard truth is that moving averages are almost flat and when stochastics or short-term MACD cut their signal lines, price did not find support from the moving averages.. Instead it was below the moving averages and there was some resistance to price reaching out above the moving averages..
This itself is a major signal that stopped me from going long..
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
Market activity is slowing down... we have been ranging up and down, whipsawing sideways for the past month..
It pretty easy to know that we should not enter the market today.... Moving averages are extremely flat and Stochastics and short-term MACD only gave long signals...
Obviously we should not go long in such a scenario when price is ranging below the moving averages .. No trade today.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
How is it going? Price trended down from the opening bell declining slowly all the way till 12:00 pm ..
If you look at stochastics.. you might think there is a chance to go long... but is that really so??
Moving averages are trending down, candlesticks have short bodies,, and Bollinger bands are narrow.. This goes against my principal for going long... --> NO TRADE TODAY.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
How is it going lately? Market is not really trending lately and it is increasingly difficult to find trades with good risk/reward entry points.
I did not trade today.. The chart says it all. If you were able to catch the first few minutes of red candlesticks, congratulations. I was not able to do that because the moving averages were flat and although stochastics cut down the signal line, the cut from the short-term MACD was not as obvious.
The mid-term MACD did offer a good signal, however I decided not to enter as current market conditions have been whipsawing up and down especially when moving average are flat...
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
How is it going lately? I hope 2008 was good for you. Nobody knows how 2009 is going to turn out, but let's make this a profitable year as well.
This is my first trade for the year... I am still testing the market... To be frank, I don't like the candlestick patterns...
Price gapped up and immediately closed the gap... It then rebounded from the moving averages and I took the chance to long 1 contract at 1269.... My target is the high formed earlier. I exited at 1280 with profits of $220. Notice that I did not trade a second contract because there simply is no trend in the market.. Bollinger is not expanding too.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi
How's it going lately? Market was flat for most part of the morning session until around 14:30 when it broke off from the moving averages...
On hindsight, we know that we should have gone long.. But, if you look at stochastics and short-term MACD, you will realize that there are no signals at all...
Stochastics was in the over bought regioin and short-term MACD was already high...
I wouldn't risk a penny on unsure signals like these..
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
We still have 2 weeks to the new year.. Trading is particularly muted during this period and there is no need to be brave and take unecessary risks...
If you observed the charts... You will notice that moving averages are almost flat. Bollinger bands are not expanding and candlesticks have short bodies.
Under such conditions, stochastics and short-term MACD simply doesnt make for good indicators..
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
How is it going? Market gapped down today and closed the gap immediately... But upon closing... there is strong resistance at the 1230 line...
Moving averages are also flat... Price then plunged down immediately.. without any singals from the stochastics / short-term MACD...
No Trade today.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
Market gapped up today and continued it's path up.. Candlesticks have short bodies and price is not really trending anywhere.. Flat and enclosed within narrow bollinger bands...
Under such conditions, short-term MACD and shochastics are simply not reliable guages of entries or exits..Price action is still the main indicator we should look at for decision making ..
5 min Emini Nadaq 100
Hi,
Look at the chart, price gapped up today and it never stopped going up.. But we only know this from hindsight.. there is no way we could have tell this during actual trading..
Candlesticks have short bodies, stochastics and short-term MACD looks bad.. It is not worth the risk to trade..
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
We hit a new low ...
Market gapped down and edged lower bit by bit with short-bodied candlesticks... I don't even have to look at it to tell to that it is not a good to trade..
Moving averages are sloping down... MACD hovered around zeroline... it looks bad.. it is bad... NO TRADE TODAY.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
The market is in a turmoil now.. It went down during the morning session then at 13:00 it rebounded suddenly all the way into the closing bell. Is there a reason for this? I don't know.. Should we trade this? it depends..
Moving averages are sloping down and while prices are still below the moving averages, it does not make sense to go long... Stochastics, short-term MACD cut their signals at the same time and it seems like a good signal, but, there have been too many fakes in the current market.. I decided to stay out of the market, sure I missed a move, but I am trading according to my principles which proctects me in adverse conditions..
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
Market gapped down today and eventually closed the gap in the later part of the trading session.. However, as you can observe that the candlesticks have short bodies enclosed in a narrow bollinger band.. Do you think that this is a good market to trade in?
Obviously not!
Next, at around 14:00, it starts to get interesting and price starts to turn up and head towards the moving averages.. Moving averages are sloping down and I am not particulary interested in going long... NO TRADE TODAY.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
How is it going lately? The market gapped down again today... and never really covered the gap.. candlesticks have short bodies and it doesn't really make any sense for me to take the risk to enter the market.. NO TRADE TODAY.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
How's it going? The race is finally over and we have a new president.. I am not going to expound on my political views here.. And I am surely not going to allow politics affect my trading...
What I observe is that today is characterised by short-bodied candlesticks that doesn't make it appealing at all for me to enter the market. There is a slight negative slope plus a gap down from the opening bell.. I would rather go short than long... But frankly,,, I did nothing... It simply isn't worth the risk..
Shorting might look like the right thing to do but you can only know this with hindsight..
NO TRADE TODAY.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
Maket action is muted before the election, even traders are suspending trading and thinking about who would win the elections?
Look at the candlesticks.. shortbodies and long shadows..moving averages are flat..Bollingers narrow.. do you really want to trade in such conditions? Control your greed, know when to stay out when the market says so...NO TRADE TODAY.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
Market gapped up today only to return back the gains by mid day.. Seriously... I couldn't tell where the market was going..
I did not like the candlestick patterns...short bodies and irregular patterns...If you look at stochastics alone, it gave a buy signal... and you might have won some money if you go long... But is this the right way to trade? Taking excessive risks for just a little profit?? No trade today...
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
There seem to be strong support at the 1200 level and price movements around this region is muted.. I am not seeing a healthy moving average slope for me to go long...
Stochastics and short-term MACD exhibit dirty movements and price action is charaterized by short bodies ...
This is not my ideal market... NO TRADE TODAY.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
If you think that market is uninteresting lately.. you are right.. why? because moving averages are flat and candlestick bodies are short.. This are the reasons why you should stay out.. If you are trading for the thrill, you might win money for a while... but I guarantee that you are going to lose in the long run... Have patience and take a long term view on your profitability... there is no need to trade when you dont have to ..
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
Market is till in turmoil today.. as it whips up and down.. If you observed, you might think that the downturn of stochastics and short-term MACD is a good signal.. but in the overall assessment of technical indicators.. I decided not to go short..
Candlesticks movements are dirty... moving averages are flat... this are the main reasons why I did not enter the market.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
Market is pretty quiet today... It is a typical day you wouldn't want to trade and the reason is simple..
1 Moving averages are flat
2 bollingers are not expanding.. the bollinger bands are flat as well..
3 candlesticks have long shadows.
4 if you look at stochastics alone, you might have a trading signal...
5 short-term MACD cuts up the signal together with stochastics.. Do we have a good signal to go long here?
But if you combine this with all that you know about technical analysis, you will reach the conclusion that it is not worth to go long at all..
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
How is it going?
The market has been particularly difficult lately and I couldn't really find good trading opportunities.. I am not forcing myself to trade. As day traders, we are not forced to take up unnecessary positions like institution traders...
The candles sticks today have the typical short bodies and long shadow patterns.. This by itself is a warning signal of a ranging market... furthermore, short-term MACD is close to the zero-line... this is not a good signal either..
Stay out!
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
So you have heard of the coordinated rate cuts? Is it working? Apparently not.. I decided to stay out of the market.. I did not like the long shadows on the candlesticks. Next, I don't like the fact that there is no real slope in the moving averages.. Also, Short-term MACD is close to zero line... No trade today.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
Market is still crashing... We have no idea when this is going to end... So we should short? Not really.. take a look at the charts... I couldn't really tell whether market is going up or down during trading hours...it went up just to go down again in a zig zag manner.. this is very BAD! stochastics osciallates up and down... do you think you can trade in such an environment? Yes, but only if you take big risks... I am not willing to do that...
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
If you look at the 5 min chart.. moving averages are almost flat and stochastics cut up the signal line...this was a Long signal... however, I did not enter the market..
Simple reason... candlesticks movements are dirty and moving averages are flat... This is reason enough for us not to trade..
Be patient...
Daily Emini Nasdaq 100
If you look at the daily chart, stochastics has started to turn up and yesterday there was a huge up candle.. If this trend continue, we can expect the market to turn up again...
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
How's it going lately? I hope you are not trading recklessly because the market is simply undecided.. and ranging.. Seems like we are still digesting how Fannie and Freddie's salvation by the US goverment is going to ease market uncertainty..
You might think that the signals from stochastics are sufficient to go long... but wait a minute, moving averages are flat and candlesticks movements are dirty with short bodies .. . NO TRADE TODAY.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
So did you think that saving Fannie and Freddie by the US government is good news for the markets? Yes price did gap up but it quickly covered the gap and moving averages are slanting down... I was not too keen on going into the market.. as I couldnt read where price was going... News about Fannie and Freddie is already priced into the market and it is not really shocking news. The government had given us plently of warning before they finally decided to save the subprime institutions..
The charts show a double bottom pattern both in price and in stochastics... but this is not a real signal... moving averages are down and candlesticks patterns are dirty.. I did not go long.. Today is a day to stay out of the market..
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Moving averages are slanting down, there might be signals from stochastics and short-term MACD, but candlesticks have short bodies and price range is enclosed in narrow bollinger bands.....
The market doesn't look appealing to me at all..
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Price gapped up today only to close the gap and even further..Moving averages are flat.. there is no reason why you should risk your money in trading.. The best way is to stay out of the market...
Short-term MACD and stochastics is not giving any signal as well.
Market has been extremely volatile lately and I have been staying out when I need to. Knowing when not to trade is an important part of trading.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
The reason is pretty obvious... Moving averages are sloping down.. This means that we should be looking at shorting rather than going long..
In order to do that, we have to look for stochastics and Short-term MACD cutting down from the overbought line..There were several cases of this happening, but candlesticks were not really pressed against my longest moving averages when this happened. What this means is that we don't have a good risk/reward.. Don't risk your money in such market conditions... Save your bullets for any day..
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
Market is still in the undecisive stage... But there is a long signal today.. The classic long signal..
First and foremost, moving averages are not too close to each other.. and slightly sloping upwards.. This is pretty important..
Price crashed down all the way from the opening bell to find support at my slowest moving averages.. This was coupled with an upturn in Stochastics and Short-term MACD... I longed 1 contract at 1959 ..
Notice how price found resistance once more when it reached the opening price? Stochastics and short-term MACD also turned down.. I exited at 1969 with profits of $200.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
The same situation continued from yesterday... If you based your trading decision only on short-term MACD and stochastics, you will find a LONG signal,
But, if you are watching the market on the whole, you will notice that the moving averages are still flat, candlesticks have short bodies just when stochastics and short-term MACD are cutting the signal lines.. This isn't the right condition to enter the market..
Novice traders will look at this chart and say.. If he'd been long, he would be making $$$... You can only know this from hindsight... My judgement is based on real time market conditions and they did not seem right to make the plunge.
5 min Emin Nasdaq Emini 100
Hi,
How is it going on lately? The market is quiet again.. The number one factor that I dislike is here again..--> Moving averages are almost flat.. You need at least some kind of slope to trade... whether up or down.. it dosen't matter..
If its up,, high chance we will go long,, if its down, high chance we will go short... Next, look at the stochastics and short-term MACD is this something you will expect in a good trading market? zig-zag patterns with no clear symmetry, close to the zero line.. etc.. Is this good for your trading? Obviously no.. STAY SMART AND STAY OUT.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
If you look at the moving averages, it is slanting upwards nicely... But at the sametime did you notice divergence with the Short-term MACD? This is a good market to go long only on hindsight...
In live trading, I can't find any good signals to go long.. There is a strong surge at the opening bell.. but that was it.. afterthat, price moved in short spurts... with short bodies... dancing aboving the green moving average..
There was no real pullback that we can use to enter the market. Don't be fooled by this chart that it is daytrading is easy.. This chart is on hindsight.. in live trading, you wouldn't see this. You will be wondering whether price is going up or down.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
What is the market doing right now? It is in an undecisive stage.. The candlesticks have short bodies with long shadows, moving averages are almost flat. It is not a market which I am interested in entering.. Waste of time... Low reward high risk... Be patient and wait for the right opportunity.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
The moving averages are sloping upwards... and price gapped up today.. on hindsight it seems like a good opportunity to go long.. Or is it?
If we were to go long, we had to wait for a pullback and rebound from the moving averages, plus stochastics / short-term MACD cutting up from the oversold region. But look carefully, there is no signal to go LONG...
Also, I did not like the short-bodied candlesticks.. this shows that market is undecided...taking small steps at a time.. it is difficult to make money in such a market...
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
How is it going? Market is in a zig zag fashion again today... What I dislike most is the downward sloping moving averages.. On hindsight you might think it is possible to do a range trade --> by tradin between the channels..
But ask yourself what is the risk/reward and you will immediately realize that this is not feasible... Although there appears to be several potential signals from stochastics, this really has to be interpreted on a wholistic basis.. Look at the situation on a whole, dont just look at one technical indicator.. and the answer will be clear.
5 min Nasdaq 100
If you look carefully, moving averages are flat, stochastics was already in the overbought region when price started to move up.. These are not the right signals to go long..
From 11:00 am onwards.. price moved in narrow range.. with short candlestick bodies.. Is this the right condition to trade? NO! Be patient. I think the market has been extremely difficult recently.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
The market is down today.. and on hindsight there is a nice down trend.. see the nice trend lines that can be drawn by joining the highs and lows of the candles...
So do we short??
NO!
Why? --> we are really looking for stochastics and short-term MACD to cut down from the top... if you look at the signals.. most of them are buy signals... weak buy signals.. cutting the signal line from under... Obviously this is a bad market to go long... so what do we do? stay out!
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
If you have been following my blog. you will know that I would trade in today's market.. Reason is simple
1 FLAT moving averages -> look at it, it is almost horizontal
2 Short-term MACD -> it is hovering around zero line.. nothing exciting..
3 Stochastics -> not symetrical at all,
4 Price action -> candlesticks with short bodies..
Do you want to trade in such a market? Not me!
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
Price gapped down today and eventually closed the gap.. Did you long or short? The answer should be none.
Firstly, moving averages are flat and slightly slanting down... If you should do anything, you should short.
Secondly, short-term MACD are extremely near to the zero line... This means that there is not enough momemtum.
Thirdly, candlesticks have short bodies --> market is undecided.
Fourthly, think about the risk / reward.. although there is a LONG opportunity indicated by the upturn in stochastics... Is it worth the risk?? There is immediate resistance above...
Do nothing when you are suppose to do nothing!
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
If you look at today's chart you might think that there is a shorting opportunity at the opening.. when prices plunged.. but ask yourself... is there really a signal for you to go short?
Look at the stochastics and short-term MACD and the slope of the moving averages.. It doesnt seem to me that I can short with confidence.. On hindsight it might be the right move, but I cant tell with conviction during actual trading hours..
Price was moving in short candlesticks throughout the day.. It's pointless to trade in such a market.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
]
Hi,
Market finallly ended up higher today after several measures by the FED and the recent fall in energy prices... However, I did not trade today...
If you look at the chart on the whole.. on hindsight, it seems like a good market to go long,, with price increasing on an upward trendline and moving averages sloping up... There are several occasions where stochastics and short-term MACD gave a long signal...
However, candle sticks are moving with shortbodies and Short-term MACD is not really displaying the symmetric shape that I would like it to display... No trade today.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
Market gapped down today only to close the gap and end the day near the opening price... It is a ranging day.. I dislike days like these, risk / reward is bad and the best indication are the short bodies of the candlesticks and long shadows... Moving averages are also flat.. It is extremely dangerous to trade in such conditions..
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
No trade today. Reason
1 Moving averages almost flat
2 Short-term MACD close to zero line.
3 Candlesticks with short bodies.
Market has been in a raning condition for several days already.. There is no reason to risk any money!
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
THe moving averages are flat, Short-term MACD is close to hugging the zero line.. Not the perfect condition for trading... Notice that I have circled in green what appears to be signals for going long... I did not enter the market.. as I couldnt assess the risk/reward. Although stochastics and short-term MACD cut up, moving averages are flat and there doesnt seem to be a trend... too dangerous.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Market is ranging within a 20 point band.. If you look at stochastics alone, you might be tempted to trade.. --> look at the green circles.. But in the broader context, moving averages are flat, candlesticks have long shadows short-term MACD is close to the zero line.. all these suggest that we should stay out of the market.
5 min Nasdaq 100 Emini
Hi,
How's it going? Price gapped down today by 23 points, although it closed the gap, but rebounded down.. If you observed, price action is in a zig-zag manner and the candlesticks are characterized by long shadows.. This is an indication of market uncertainty. Also, the moving averages are almost flat, stochastics moving in a zig-zag manner and Short-term MACD close to the zero line... Such is not the ideal condition for trading... I stayed out of the market entirely conserving my capital... There is no need to take unecessary risks.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
The market's undecided on direction and price just hover up and down.... although on hindsight you would have noticed that there is a slight downtrend, the relevant question is whether you would trade in such conditions? There's no need to play cowboy here...
If you observed, Short-term MACD hardly ever crossed over the zero line.... and price action was choppy...
But if you really have to take a position... you would have to short when stochastics are just cutting down the overbought region.. Otherwise, it's wiser to just stay out of the market.
Fundamentals:
Wall Street retreated Thursday after Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke predicted a "sluggish" economy until later in the year and more mortgage-related losses at banks. The Dow Jones industrial average fell 175 points.
Though the Fed chairman's comments suggested the central bank is still open to further interest rate reductions, the tone was, as expected, somber. Bernanke said the housing and credit crises have weighed on the economy and curbed hiring. If the job market deteriorates, consumer spending, which is crucial for economic growth, will keep dwindling.
The Labor Department said Thursday the number of workers filing unemployment claims fell 9,000 to 348,000 last week. But after the January jobs report that showed the first net jobs loss in more than four years, Wall Street remains worried that businesses are becoming cautious about hiring and that unemployment will compound the debt problems that have been slamming the markets and the greater economy.
After three strong days on Wall Street, investors found scant encouragement in Bernanke's testimony and cashed in their gains.
"He was more bearish on the economy than he was before," said Arthur Hogan, chief market analyst at Jefferies & Co. After this week's better-than-expected report on January retail sales, investors found Bernanke's assessment of the economy particularly disheartening.
"To have the Fed come in and talk about how things could be getting worse, not better, kind of takes the wind out of their sails," Hogan said.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
The market's ranging now... still digesting the FEB cut... But if you are going to trade, I would advise not to go short... Never fight the FEB... especially in the short term..
You might think that there is a good trade from the upturn in Stochastics and price bouncing off the moving averages... But look carefully again... Short-term MACD is not really moving up.. and it's sticking around zero line... I was not prepared to take the risk... Not worth it.. No Trade today.
Fundamentals:
Wall Street scored its second straight big advance Thursday after economic figures suggested the job market is holding up and as lawmakers agreed on measures that could ease concerns about consumer spending. The Dow Jones industrials rose more than 100 points, bringing its two-day gain to more than 400.
While stocks fluctuated throughout the session, trading was decidedly more calm than on Wednesday, when Wall Street executed a stunning turnaround that transformed a sharp sell-off into big gains for stocks. Thursday's rise was notable, however, as investors will often move in a day after a rally or plunge to take profits or scoop up bargains. That the buying largely continued was a positive sign, observers said.
Investors were clearly interested in buying, but despite the size of the advance, there didn't appear to be much conviction to it -- the market is still searching for clues about the economy in hopes of determining whether it will soon pick up or will continue to slow and tip into recession.
In addition, the market wobbled during the session after Fitch Ratings lowered its rating on bond insurer Security Capital Assurance Ltd. Bond insurers have been hurt in the fallout from the mortgage and credit crises, and news of their problems has shaken the market.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
The market is ranging narrowly and trending down at the same time. There was an article I wrote before that exhibit similar behavior. As you probably guessed, I stayed out of the market today...
Would you go long from the stochastics cutting up? ( Look at circle) . When you know that the general trend is down, do you go long? The answer is NO! You don't have to trade if you are unsure. Just stay out of it.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
Market gapped down slightly and never fully recovered... it just trended slowly downwards,, but in a tight range.. look at the trend lines I have drawn and see for yourself how price action is behaving... It's stuck in a narrow Bollinger Band of width 10 points..
This is not my favourite market and I decided not to trade it... The risk/reward is not appealing at all...
Is there a signal at the end? Yes, it was a valid signal... but I just wouldn't go long in a downtrend like this... Like I said, the risk/reward is not worth it... NO TRADE TODAY.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
Market gapped down and spent most of its time trying to close the gap... price action was choppy and it just didn't seem to go anywhere...
Price formed a triple bottom and stochastics formed a double bottom at around 14:00... This seems like an exellent chance for entry, but if you observed carefully, you will realize that Short-term MACD is too close to the zero line
Furthermore, there is limited upside potential since all the moving averages presented resistance to price... I decided to forgo the trade in view of the risk/reward potential of this trade..
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
Market gapped down today, closed the gap and spent most of the time below the moving averages... however, price action is jittery and short-term MACD remains close to the zero line.. Such is the condition I have been trained to avoid... There is no trade today...
5 min Nasdaq Emini 100
Hi,
Today market gapped down... it subsequently closed the gap and moved quite alot to the upside... But, there was no signal for me to trade... If you noticed, there is a plausible trading signal, when stochastics moved up, but Short-term MACD was very near the zero-line... cautioning me not to go long...
Subsequently, when price closed the gap, I should have gone long according to the strong price momentum, despite having no signals from either stochastics or short-term MACD, however, the limited upside made me think twice about going long and I stayed on the sidelines..
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
How's it going? I did not trade today. You might have discovered some trading opportunites especially at the turn of the stochastics ( see green cricles in figure)... But my caveat is that moving averages are flat and the Short-term MACD is uncomfortably close to the zero-line. I did not want to risk it. Risk / reward did not seem good enough for me to consider going long... I stayed on the sidelines... I want to encourage traders, especially novice traders to have the courage to stay on the sidelines when you must. There is no rule that states that you must trade everyday.
Fundamentals:
U.S. retail sales rose solidly in September while inflation pressures were largely muted, according to data on Friday that eased recession fears and suggested further interest rates cuts may not be needed. The show of consumer spending power in the face of a slumping housing market and tighter credit conditions gave a lift to stocks prices and to the value of the dollar. Bond prices fell as traders saw the data reducing chances that the Federal Reserve, which lowered borrowing costs in September, would do so again at a meeting at end of the month.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
I hope you did not trade today.. Price action is in a ranging pattern... tightly bounded ..
The top reason for not trading is --> Short-term MACD is too close to the zero line..
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi, Subprime could hit $100B....sound's scary? yeah....But Bernanke's effect on the markets is muted at best..although market gapped up today... it is still ranging... the day ended with a 10point range... Toward's the close price made a final attempt to close the gap.. This is definitely not a market to trade in...
5 min Chart Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
Nasdaq is hitting on a all time high again... If you really have to make a choice. Go Long. DON'T SHORT in such a market.. Did I make a choice? Yes, I did not trade... Why? There were no compelling signals for me to enter the market...
If you look at the chart above, you might be tempted to enter in the orange zone with stochastics turning up... but take a closer look... Short-term MACD is staying close to the zero line.. This is a NO NO is going long.. this screens out the possiblity of entering at all..
In fact the whole day is kept within a tight range of around 15 points... Stay on the sidelines..
Emini Nasdaq 100
Emini S&P 500
Mini Dow
Emini Russell 2000
What does all the daily charts above have in common? Yes, all these futures market seem to signal that a top is coming... Nasdaq Emini is the most bullish chart with the recent run up... The remaining 3 charts appeared as though a double top is forming...
Plus, there is already negative divergence forming with the MACD.. This is especially evident in Dow mini... I urge all traders to be extremely cautious in this period as we see how the market unfolds... The odds are in favor of a steep correction, but I am not ruling out that the market might break new highs again... Markets are designed to confused and confound... Keep an open mind and let's see what happens next.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Daily Chart NQ
Daily Chart ES
Daily Chart Dow
Market is not really moving much... I am troubled by the health of the trend.. although Nasdaq futures broke new highs today, the dow and S&P did not follow ( Look at daily charts above)
I have highlighted a plausible trade on the NQ today... again.. I did not take this trade.. why? because although stochastics is moving up from oversold region Short-term MACD is too near the zero line...
Furthermore, the price action is clearly different from normal days, characterized by short ranging candlesticks.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Daily Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
After the doji daily candle that appeared last friday, market rallied weakly today.. price surged up from the opening... but I didn't enter simply because there wasn't a signal to do so.. If you observe carefully, stochastics is already in the overbought region..
In order to capture this short morning spurt, you have to enter from last friday, when stochastics frist crossed over from oversold region.. ( green circle ).
The rest of the day was characterised by short ranging candles.. If you looked at S&P Emini, Volume is below 20,000 on a 5 min chart. The market is at a turning point.. and players are confused...
One last point to take note is the negative divergence between price and MACD in the daily charts.. The uptrend is getting sick... I will not be surprised to see a correction at some point.
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
The market's getting jittery about oil prices..price is still ranging on...not really in a trending mode..
I was watching the market the whole day with out a single trade.. Why? Because there was no signal for me to enter...
If you look at the charts.. you might feel that with hindsight, I should've gone long... But I would argue that this is infact a dangerous proposistion...
Although there was a downward bias... market is not really trending.. It stayed flat for much of the morning session...
At 12:00 pm, it broke down... why didn't I enter?
1 if you look at stochastics. is it turning down from the overbough region?
2 if you look at Short-term MACD, don't you feel that it is somewhat irregular? Lack of symmetry.
The only positive signal was from Long-term MACD which cut it's signal line... But this is not good enough for me to enter....
Well, I still didn't regret my decision... as you can see for yourself.. what kind of risk I would've put myself into if I forced the trade..
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
How's it going? yes, I know, market conditions have been unpleasant lately... ranging on Friday and today...
If you look at the chart above, you will notice that price is ranged bound in a a 10 point box... consolidating... where will it go after that? I don't know.. traders don't predict the market... traders follow the market...
We have entered a region where market direction is not so clear and a major correction might just around the corner... Sit tight and be patient for the big move..
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
How's it going lately? I would describe the current market at being stable and volatile... market is still ranging... NOT breaking new highs..
At 8:30 am this morning... May PPI figures were out... and apparently.. it went up 0.9%.. which means inflation concerns are up too.. obviously this is not good news.. but we will leave the interpretation to the market..
From the opening bell, price surged all the way till 10:00 am... I missed this trade, because my system did not provide an entry signal...Stochastics was already in the overbought region and Short-term MACD looked like it could turn down anytime.... it's easy to tell in hindsight that this might be a possible trade... but it's the consistent decisions that you make during trading that makes you money...
After 10:00 am... although there was a slight pullback.. prices ranged for most of the time... notice that Short-term MACD stayed close to the zero-lines? It's easy to get killed in these markets..
Learning point today: Don't be afraid to miss a trade, because opportunities are never ending in a market.
Fundamentals:
The May PPI was up 0.9%. That isn't the good news. It was boosted by a 4.1% jump in energy prices. The good news is that the core rate was up just 0.2%. That was in line with expectations but follows two 0.0% numbers. The trend is clearly not troublesome. The year-over-year increase in the core rate is a modest 1.6%.
5 minutes Chart - Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
No trade today. Retail sales are up 1.4% in May and this is a good sign of strong consumer confidence.. economy's still expanding... Good news...
Well, the market reflected that news by gapping up this morning... But today, there is no trade... If you look at the highlighted region.. you might think there is a plausible trade... when stochastics turned up and crossed the moving averages..
However, a point to take note is that Short-term MACD remains uncomfortably near the zero line and If you look at Mid-term MACD, it's even closer to the zero line...
There just weren't enough singals for me to be convinced that price was going up... Had to give it a miss... Chances are always around and you can't capture all trades... Better to be safe than sorry..
Fundamentals:
Rate worries are still resonating with investors, but their confidence level rose once the Commerce Department said that retail sales jumped 1.4 percent in May. This rise was the highest in 16 months and doubled what analysts expected. Investors were also pleased about the Federal Reserve's Beige Book report, which said the U.S. economy kept expanding at a moderate pace in the first part of the second quarter. Bond yields, whose advance caused a pullback in stocks last week and again Tuesday, spiked early Wednesday before falling back with release of the new economic data
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
Yesterday new home sales numbers jumped 16.2% today, existing home sales numbers plunged by 2.6%. The former news is good and the latter news is bad.. Which to believe? Neither..
If you remembered, yesterday saw a 1% decline in most indices despite the good news.. And today, the market just kept on ranging and consolidating... the bad news is suppose to cause a further breakdown... But, did that happen? NO! In fact there was a slight uptrend bias in the overall trend today..
Notice how the Short-term MACD stayed close to the zero line and that price action is dirty... As I was watching the market depth and how the prices jumped, I realized that market was extremely volatile.. it's easy to get killed in such a market. you can be whipsawed out of your position ten times over..
Best decision --> Stay OUT!
Fundamentals:
Sales of existing homes fell a larger-than-expected 2.6% in April from March while the median price of a home sold fell for a ninth straight month.
Troubles in the subprime mortgage market acted as a further drag on housing.
The National Association of Realtors reported Friday that sales of existing homes fell last month to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 5.99 million units. That was down 10.7% from a year ago and the slowest sales pace since June 2003.
The median price of a home fell to $220,900, an 0.8% fall from a year ago. It marked the ninth straight decline in the median price.
5 min Nasdaq Emini 100
Hi,
Market has been ranging since yesterday.. minimum price movements with zig-zag price actions and no clear trend although there is an upward bias in the moving averages....
It is better in this case to stay out of the market... Y? jsut take a look at the so-called possible entry points that I circled in orange. Although it is very clear that price bounces whenever it touches the blue moving average,
ask youself: "Can I really justify the risk/ reward?
Am I being too greedy and wishful that the trade will go my way?
What is the probability of success for such a scenario?"
These are questions that have to come second-nature to you. You can see that Short-term MACD has very dirty movements and Mid-term MACD is hovering near zero line which is really indicative that price movements are bad.. and that it is really a ranging day.. Do the right thing, Stay on the sidelines.
I have finally set myself to the task of compiling a tutorial workbook with detailed trade analysis after numerous requests from my readers. Here is it, this workbok gives you step-by-step instruction on how I view different market scenarios, where to enter, where to exit, where to put the stop loss, profit target, etc.....
You will be trained to think in a discplined manner if you follow through all the exercises in the book. With 24 Case Studies and 6 tutorial style detailed examples, you will be thoroughly drilled until trading becomes second-nature. This workbook builds on the knowledge you have learnt from the previous book, elavating your trading to the next level.
Please refer to top page for more info http://www.daytradingdiary.com
----------------------
What you will learn:
Case Studies
From 24 case studies, how to time the first entry, second entry, where to place the stop loss and where to exit the position. Study these case studies in detail to make trading second-nature to you.
How to integrate the use of daily charts into your trading plan. Learn how a long-term view can be useful in helping to identify potential trouble regions such as support and resistance lines.
How to clearly identify entry and exit signals from the various indicators. Learn how to combine the various signals together that gives a more powerful and accurate signal.
How to avoid potentially lethal market that can cause you to lose alot of money. Trading has nothing to do with being brave, learn how to logically dissect market conditions and make a conscious decision not to trade.
How to expect what the trade scenario will be like tomorrow. A mentally prepared trader has a higher chance of being a profitable trader.
Tutorial Workbook
Designed to drill you on real-life trading scenarios. Some scenarios are meant to be tricky, but these are all taken from real-life scenarios.
Sample trade execution with detailed trade analysis to help you understand why the trade is made in that particular manner. Learn to work out mentally why each trade worked so that you can repeat your success.
Learn to analyze the probabilty of the trade, assessing the risk/reward and identify the signals that confirm your trading decision is correct.
I have finally set myself to the task of compiling a tutorial workbook with detailed trade analysis after numerous requests from my readers. Here is it, this workbok gives you step-by-step instruction on how I view different market scenarios, where to enter, where to exit, where to put the stop loss, profit target, etc.....
You will be trained to think in a discplined manner if you follow through all the exercises in the book. With 24 Case Studies and 6 tutorial style detailed examples, you will be thoroughly drilled until trading becomes second-nature. This workbook builds on the knowledge you have learnt from the previous book, elavating your trading to the next level.
Please refer to top page for more info http://www.daytradeemini.com
----------------------
What you will learn:
Case Studies
From 24 case studies, how to time the first entry, second entry, where to place the stop loss and where to exit the position. Study these case studies in detail to make trading second-nature to you.
How to integrate the use of daily charts into your trading plan. Learn how a long-term view can be useful in helping to identify potential trouble regions such as support and resistance lines.
How to clearly identify entry and exit signals from the various indicators. Learn how to combine the various signals together that gives a more powerful and accurate signal.
How to avoid potentially lethal market that can cause you to lose alot of money. Trading has nothing to do with being brave, learn how to logically dissect market conditions and make a conscious decision not to trade.
How to expect what the trade scenario will be like tomorrow. A mentally prepared trader has a higher chance of being a profitable trader.
Tutorial Workbook
Designed to drill you on real-life trading scenarios. Some scenarios are meant to be tricky, but these are all taken from real-life scenarios.
Sample trade execution with detailed trade analysis to help you understand why the trade is made in that particular manner. Learn to work out mentally why each trade worked so that you can repeat your success.
Learn to analyze the probabilty of the trade, assessing the risk/reward and identify the signals that confirm your trading decision is correct.
Emini Nasdaq 100 5 min chart
Hi,
Market gapped up almost 6 points today and the gap just didn't close... price went up and up.. In hindsight, you might be tempted to say, just go long.. that's easy to say, but if you look at he charts,
the price action is choppy and Short-term MACD movements are choppy in a zig-zag manner.. There just wasn't enough signal for me to enter the market.. and I dare say, this is one of the deadliest markets that gets alot of traders killed....
You might be tempted to say that Stochastic has given alot of signals, but this is not accompanied by MACD, the moving averages or price action.. If you look carefully, apart from the gap up of 6 points, price only moved aournd 12 points for the whole day.. I would consider this a ranging day... most of the price movement is taken up by the gap...
Stay out of such a market and save your trading capital for another day!
5 minutes Emini Nasdaq 100 Candlestick
Daily Emini Nasdaq 100 Candlestick
Hi,
I wonder where the market's going.... lots of events unfolding here,,, with oil down to $53.30 a barrel and Alcoa posting good numbers.... The market should be bullish... however,, there isn't much reaction to the news... and we are in a potentially capricious territory as price nears the previous high at 1850... this is a strong resistance region....
The market condition today is best described as ranging... I although there is a surge in price in the morning session, I didn't like what stochastics and MACD were telling me... too much noise... no clear picture... there wasn't enough signal for me to take the plunge in... The afternoon session is ranging ( see boxed )....
If you look at the daily chart, MACD is crossing the signal line upwards.. this is bullish... BUT, if you look at the 5 minutes chart, you will see long-term MACD trying to cut the signal line downwards,,, suggesting bearishness.... Market conundrum.. its best to stay out until market digests all the information... and a clearer picture unfolds...
Fundamentals from Briefing.com
Market Not Accentuating the Positive:
The market reaction to news is a bit worrisome.
The decline in oil prices has been spectacular. Yet, it is providing little support to the broad market. There is no doubt that it will bring profits down in the energy sector, but lower oil prices are unquestionably good for the overall economy. The lack of response to the move is noteworthy. Oil is down $0.70 this morning to $53.30 a barrel.
The reaction to good news on earnings reports is somewhat better. Genentech produced a fine report yesterday, and the stock has traded higher pre-market. Alcoa posted good numbers on Tuesday after the close and was up yesterday. It is still very early, but our sense is that these reports have stirred little optimism about the upcoming reports overall. The focus is more towards the potential negative of guidance for 2007.
The news today includes a surprise hike in UK interest rates. That won't have any impact on the Fed's decisions on rates, but it serves as a reminder that central bankers are as a breed inclined to fire first and ask questions later when it comes to fighting inflation.
The UK move was partly based on tight resource utilization. This morning, new claims for unemployment for the week ended January 5 fell to 299,000 from 325,000 the week before. The data is often distorted in a holiday week, but this serves as a reminder that the Fed remains concerned about the potential inflationary impact of tight labor market conditions.
5 minutes Nasdaq Emini 100
Hi,
How's the first day of trade after christmas? market's not moving at all. I didn't trade today... yeah.. still basking in post christmas mood... but market did break out from a triangle and if the trend continues, we can expect to go long... Anyway,, the break out was too close to market closing time.. so there's really nothing I could do even if I was actively monitoring the markets...
Daily Nasdaq Emini 100 CandleStick Chart
Hi,
If you had played more longs than short from August till now, I bet your account should be ending up in huge profits. The uptrend is very obvious as shown in the chart above. With the market indices at an all time high, the market is in a state of euphoria as well as a state of anticipation... Everbody wishes to see the market rally even more, but catiously anticipate any pullbacks or sharp correction...
Technically speaking, the uptrend is still in tact, this week price ended at the upper band of the Bollinger Band and the upper resistance line.... I am cautious about an impending pullback.. Remember, a pullback is perfectly normal... price doesnt move in a straight line and a pullback is healthy.. Subsequent developments after the pullback will tell us whether the uptrend is ending soon or we can expect new highs.... Please stay on the sidelines for the next week if you are unsure... There is no need to force yourself to trade.
Good Trading,
Michael Taylor
www.DayTradeEmini.com
5 minutes Nasdaq 100 Emini CandleStick
Hi,
How's it going? I hope you didn't trade today. Its a very difficult market today... I instictively knew it from the price action in the first 30 minutes of the market.... I took a break and came back at 14:00.... my hunch was correct, market is still choppy... I didn't trade today and stayed out of the market..
Firstly, you can see for yourself that stochastics is choppy, bouncing up and down rapidly,
Secondlly, you can see that there is no trend for MACD... it'c choppy as well..
Lastly and most importantly,,, you have to judge it from the price action VS the moving averages... The moving averages are more or less flat and price hovers around it...
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100
15 min Emini Nasdaq 100
Hi,
Remember what I said yesterday about ranging markets and that the return is not worth the risk taken? I had suspected that this condition will continue for a couple of days.. Don't ask me why the market is like that. I can't control the market, I simply ride the trend when there is a trend and stay out of trouble when there's no trend. With Iran continuing to enrich uranium and a slew of economic data coming out, we should expect the market to move like crazy... Sadly,,,,,, that's not the case.. and as traders, it's the greatest sin to con yourself into believing there's a trend when there's no trend at all... Learning when not to trade is just as important as learning how to enter and exit...
5 min Emini Nasdaq 100 Candlestick Chart
The answer is simple. We make money by not losing money. Simply stay out of the market! Look at the chart above, Emini is moving in a 12 point range less than half of what it usually moves on a reasonable day. Do you think you will be able to capture any trend in such a market? Even if you manage to capture one leg or two of the trend, you run the risk of being whipsawed out easily and the market bounces up and down. It is wiser to go to starbucks have a cup of latte and read newspapers.
5 min Nasdaq 100 CandleStick Chart
If you trade on Friday, good luck to you. This is exactly the time when you should stay on the sidelines. Let me explain why. Firstly, price is moving within a narrow range, from 1460 to 1468. Obviously one strategy would be to buy whenever it hits the lower resistance level of 1460, but let me ask you another question. Is the risk/ reward ratio good enough for you to do that? If you look at the short term MACD, it is hovering close to the zero line, suggesting that the moving averages are close to one another. The mid term MACD has a gentle slope upwards which is typical of a ranging market. Normally we need a symmetrical slope on hte upside for a reasonable amount of trend.
5 minute CandleStick Chart
Dear Trader,
I have today is a bad day for trading. I was up at 9:30, watching the market, although I can detect a downward bias, the market wasn't really moving much. Price movement is sluggish and I came to a conclusion that there isn't going to be much market movement today. Well, if you really have to be in the market, it'd better be a short. The past few days were shorting days and the downward bias is still evident in today's price action. However, if you asked me, I'd say "Let's live to fight another day, the market is full of opportunities, we need not trade when we don't have to." Learning how to stay on the sidelines is as important as learning how to pull the trigger. As you can see from the chart above, the range for the whole day is a mere 17 points, although if you had shorted, you would have won, the risk is too great.... And even if you won, you can't be convinced that you won by skill and not by luck.
Hi,
Oil prices jumped nearly to US $70 per barrel and logically this should weigh on market sentiments. That's the market analysis I got from CNBC, and other internet sources. Well, fundamentals do move markets; But, it's a question of when. Market needs time to digest the information and sometimes it takes days, weeks or even months before market adjusts. What this means for day traders like us, is, we should never let fundamentals cloud our judgement. It is better to be in tune with the market, trading the trend, rather than base your trading on some preconceived notion that markets must react in a certain way due to a certain news. While this might work for investing, it does not work for trading. I would describe trading on a preconceived notion as suicidal action.
Market is pretty flat today with no obvious trend, I couldnt feel where the market is going and even the MACD are showing no symmetry at all. Stochastics however is giving a relatively good signal, but I am still too uncomfortable with price action to enter a trade.
For a full discussion about when to use Stochastics and when to use MACD, please refer to Day Trade Emini for Regular Profits
15 minutes chart --> Click to enlarge :
From hindsight, MACD has mapped out the most profitable days to be Tuesday and Thursday. The slope of the MA generally coincides with price action. When it is upward sloping, price is in a uptrend, and when it is downward sloping, price is in a downtrend. However, I warn against using the 15 minutes chart for real-time trading, 15 minutes is considered a tremendous lag in day trading. We should only use the 15 minutes chart for confirmation of the generation direction only. You should also learn to identify and avoid flat market conditions. Do risk your money if you can tell where the market is going.
5 minutes candlestick chart
Hi,
I didn't trade today. You'd be wondering why, when the market seems like an easy kill. The market has been flat for the past two days and I wasn't in a hurry to plunge in. From hindsight, it just seems that the market is going up, during actual trading, it is much more complicated than that. I didn't want to risk any money until I am pretty sure of market direction. Market ended the day up and finally broke away from consolidation. Market has an uptrend bias now and you bet I'd be going in for a kill tomorrow!
Hi,
How's your trading lately? If you have been trading, I would guess that results are not that fantastic. The market is very indecisive now. I have been extra cautious about getting into the market lately. Remember, there are 3 courses of action that you can take in the market at any one time -- LONG, SHORT, OR SIMPLY DO NOTHING. Sometimes, DOING NOTHING is the BEST COURSE OF ACTION.
You can see for yourself that the moving averages are almost flat, MACD is not even moving far enough away from the zero lines, price action is pathetic and slow, you will be able to feel it if you are in the market, watching every market move.
After the hardware set up all that remains is installing the appropriate softwares and you are ready to go. Although it is not a must, it is advisable to invest in antivirus softwares and firewall softwares such as Norton or Mcafee. The last thing you want to worry about is whether your system is infected or not.
Real time Data Provider
Day trading imposes stringent conditions on data providing services. Although there are a lot of free delayed quotes on the internet, a real time data provider is necessary. Usually the data will come together with software to display the data as candle sticks in real time. Some brokers provide real time data but lack the necessary software to display the data in a meaningful format.
Qcharts off good real time stock data with a state of the art charting software that you can run from your computer.
Novice traders should strart from the Qcharts subscription which costs $95/month. Besides this, you will also be required to subscribe to data from real time exchanges, for example, if you chose AMEX ($2/mth), NYSE ($2/mth),NASDAQ ($2/mth) and CME EMINI ($15/mth). This will constitute a total cost of $116/mth to Qcharts.
Interactive Brokers
There are many brokers out there in the market. Interactive Brokers which offers one of the cheapest commissions from trading Emini. ( $2.40 per trade) also offers good support and I have never failed to get a response from their help desk.
You will also be required to choose which market data to subscribe. For trading Emini, subscribe to “ US Securities and Commodities Bundle Non-professional - Level I ” which is free. However a charge of $10 will be imposed if the monthly commissions is below $30.
$2000 is the minimum required to open an account. However, a starting minimum of $5000 would be desirable, since IB restricts you from trading once your equity falls below $2000. IB provides several trading platforms including web based and downloadable software versions. The software version is more stable. One caveat here is that you need to install a Java plugin before you can run the software.
5 Minutes Candlestick Chart
Unemployement report figures are released at 8:30 am today. Payrolls were up a strong 243,000 in February. January was revised to a 170,000 gain from an originally reported 193,000 increase. The net change overall is slightly ahead of expectations of a 200,000 to 210,000 increase in payrolls. Hourly earnings were up 0.3%.
Generally, the data is positive and usually we can expect an immediate market reaction during the release of the data. However, the data went unnoticed and market remained flat. I remained extremely cautious and stayed out of the market. There was a major spike up at 10:00 a.m but I decided not to go in for 2 reasons.
Although we can MACD boucing back from negative region, stochastics is not in the oversold region ( instead it is in the overbought region --> see red box). This is conflicting evidence and suggests the market can behave in unpredictable ways. Secondly, moving averages are almost flat and the 15 minutes chart (below) shows that the previous day had been a downtrending. It would be wiser to go short than long. I decided to wait for price to hit the moving averages and go short when it rebounds.
It turned out that the upward spike lasted for 20 points and I missed the opportunity to go long. Such situations occur frequently, but as a trader you should not regret or blame yourself for not taking the plunge. Trust your own judgement. At the point in time, I believed staying out of the market is the appropiate course of action and I sticked to it. NO REGRETS.
Price action 11:00 was range bound and did not provided a signal for me to short. I decided to take a break and call it a day. Market is moving in unpredictable ways and price is still range bound.
15 Minutes Candlestick Chart
5 Minutes Candlestick Chart
Unemployement report figures are released at 8:30 am today. Payrolls were up a strong 243,000 in February. January was revised to a 170,000 gain from an originally reported 193,000 increase. The net change overall is slightly ahead of expectations of a 200,000 to 210,000 increase in payrolls. Hourly earnings were up 0.3%.
Generally, the data is positive and usually we can expect an immediate market reaction during the release of the data. However, the data went unnoticed and market remained flat. I remained extremely cautious and stayed out of the market. There was a major spike up at 10:00 a.m but I decided not to go in for 2 reasons.
Although we can MACD boucing back from negative region, stochastics is not in the oversold region ( instead it is in the overbought region --> see red box). This is conflicting evidence and suggests the market can behave in unpredictable ways. Secondly, moving averages are almost flat and the 15 minutes chart (below) shows that the previous day had been a downtrending. It would be wiser to go short than long. I decided to wait for price to hit the moving averages and go short when it rebounds.
It turned out that the upward spike lasted for 20 points and I missed the opportunity to go long. Such situations occur frequently, but as a trader you should not regret or blame yourself for not taking the plunge. Trust your own judgement. At the point in time, I believed staying out of the market is the appropiate course of action and I sticked to it. NO REGRETS.
Price action 11:00 was range bound and did not provided a signal for me to short. I decided to take a break and call it a day. Market is moving in unpredictable ways and price is still range bound.
15 Minutes Candlestick Chart
Hi, the market has not be performing very well lately. I did not even trade today. Staying out of the market when there is no trade is as important as knowing when to enter the market. A non-trending market can cause you to lose big time, cancelling whatever profits you might have from previous trades.
Today's market opened with a gap down. Remember what I told you about gaps? there is no guarantee that the gap will close within the day and this is a typical example of what happened. During the later part of the market at around 1500, you can see a double bottom forming, However, I did not enter as the market still appeared to be in a trendless mode and I wasn't willing to risk my money for that little profit possible.
The minimum needed to open an account for trading the Emini Futures ( S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 ) is $2000. This amount is imposed by the brokerage.
However, this amount would only allow you to trade 1 lot. In my experience, trading one lot makes sense when you are a novice trader, experimenting with new methods. However, it is simply not cost effective to trade just one lot. Usually you would want to load the boat when you are winning ( buy or sell more lots when the market is moving in your favor). I would recommend a minimum of $5000 trading capital to start with.
Hi,
A very common question I encounter is what are the symbols for the emini futures?
The symbols changes every quarterly. You can find the details in this article : Emini S&P 500 symbols
Having a stable computer system is crucial to your trading success. Imagine what would happen if your computer hangs in the middle of a trade. What happens if you suddenly get disconnected from the internet? Accidents do occur and these scenarios are very possible, I have encountered an internet disconnection while trading. Such scenarios are potentially lethal to your trading especially when the market can move against you in a couple of minutes in the case of day trading.
Besides making sure that our equipment is up-to-date and reliable, care must also be given to the planning of a backup system. For example, I have 2 internet connections just in case one fails and I always have my laptop on standby should my PC hang in the middle of a trade. This section covers the necessary precautions and minimum set up you need to start trading. It is important to remind ourselves that making money through trading is our ultimate aim. It is easy to fall into the trap of delaying setting up your trading system because you want to fine tune your computer system. Have the basic reliable set up and get ready to go!
Although there are no hard and fast rules to your hardware configuration, I recommend the following minimum configuration.
CPU : at least 1GHz
Memory RAM : at least 512MB ( charting software is memory intensive)
Monitors at least two 17 inch XVGA monitors (resolution of 1280 X 1024)
Graphics Card Any graphics card capable to support 2 monitors, usually one monitor will be connected via analog cable and the other monitor connected via digital cable. Hence it is important that one of your monitors support digital output.
Internet Connection Cable or ADSL, try not to connect trough wireless since wireless connections are prone to instability.
A minimum of 2 high quality monitors is needed in order to display all the charts and order management screens. If you only have one screen, you might ALT-TAB in windows to switch between the different applications, however, there is not really much reaction time when the market is moving and I strongly recommend have at least 2 monitors to display all the necessary charts and applications.
5 Minutes Candlestick Chart
Unemployement report figures are released at 8:30 am today. Payrolls were up a strong 243,000 in February. January was revised to a 170,000 gain from an originally reported 193,000 increase. The net change overall is slightly ahead of expectations of a 200,000 to 210,000 increase in payrolls. Hourly earnings were up 0.3%.
Generally, the data is positive and usually we can expect an immediate market reaction during the release of the data. However, the data went unnoticed and market remained flat. I remained extremely cautious and stayed out of the market. There was a major spike up at 10:00 a.m but I decided not to go in for 2 reasons.
Although we can MACD boucing back from negative region, stochastics is not in the oversold region ( instead it is in the overbought region --> see red box). This is conflicting evidence and suggests the market can behave in unpredictable ways. Secondly, moving averages are almost flat and the 15 minutes chart (below) shows that the previous day had been a downtrending. It would be wiser to go short than long. I decided to wait for price to hit the moving averages and go short when it rebounds.
It turned out that the upward spike lasted for 20 points and I missed the opportunity to go long. Such situations occur frequently, but as a trader you should not regret or blame yourself for not taking the plunge. Trust your own judgement. At the point in time, I believed staying out of the market is the appropiate course of action and I sticked to it. NO REGRETS.
Price action 11:00 was range bound and did not provided a signal for me to short. I decided to take a break and call it a day. Market is moving in unpredictable ways and price is still range bound.
15 Minutes Candlestick Chart
In the above figure, the pink box closes two candlesticks with long bodies compared to the candles in the blue box. A larger body indicates momentum and more movement compared to a smaller body which indicates consolidation and little movement. This applies to both rising candle and falling candles. If we are already in a long position, we would want the candles to form large bodies and move up with momentum. If subsequent candlesticks have small bodies, this might indicate that the market is coming to a standstill and it might be advisable to exit your position or you can decide to wait for further movement. Another usage is when a candlestick pierces a support or resistance line, a pierce by a candlestick with a longer body is more decisive than a pierce by a candlestick with a smaller body. ( Figure below)
Technical analysis focuses on the behavioral swings in prices and attempts to predict future price direction through indicators. There are several well know patterns in TA which forms time and again from mass psychology of the market. Patterns are usually associated with a particular market scenario and it pays to observe and capitalize on them.
There are several means of price representation, we can represent it in the form of a line chart which plots the price versus time or as a bar chart or candlestick chart. I will discuss only candlestick charts as this is one of the simplest yet effective representation of price.
There are two types of candlesticks as shown in the figure above. There is a time parameter to candlesticks. You will need to specify the time duration of the candlestick, for example, 1 min, 5min, 60min, 1day, etc. Candlestick condenses the open high low and close prices of the specified time duration into a single diagram. For example, if you specify the duration to be 5minutes, the high low open and closing prices during that 5mins will be displayed as a candlestick. Candlesticks are further divided into two types : rising candle and falling candle. Rising candles and falling candles have different color codes to make them more visually distinct. The closing price for a rising candle is higher than the closing price. Likewise, the opening price for a falling candle is higher than the closing price. The rectangular box in forms the “body” of the candlestick and lines extending beyond the body are called “shadows”. The upper shadow represents the high and the lower shadow represents the low for both the rising and falling candlesticks.
5 minute Candlestick Chart
Hi,
The market is in an undecisive mood again. Although the moving averages are sloping slightly upwards, there is no real trend. In order to confirm this, look at the 15 minutes chart below. You will notice that price is range-bound in a horizontal channel. It might appear that price might breakout the channel once it hits the boundaries. But, really, it is just moving in an erractic fashion without any clear direction. Another tell-tale sign that price is not trending is to look at the stochastics and MACD. You will realize that they have poor symmetry, reflecting the irratic price movements.
15 minute Candlestick chart
Types of Orders
Placing orders is an art in itself. Beginners often do not know when to use market orders and limit orders. Different orders are used in different market conditions. But the limit order is the one that is most versatile. Understanding a limit order is essential to your trading success. I will only discuss the case for buying, the reasoning and mechanism is the same for shorting.
Market Order
In a market order, you are basically giving instructions to your broker to buy at the prevailing price. You cannot set what price you want to buy. Market orders might be prone to slippage in fast moving markets. For example, if you give a market order to buy 10 lots, 3 lots might be filled at $10, another 3 lots at $10.50 and the remaining 4 lots at $11.00. We usually use a market order when we need to get in or out of a market fast, such as when the market suddenly moves against you drastically.
Limit Order
A limit order is different from a market order in that you can specify the price at which you want to buy. For example, if you specify you want to buy 2 lots at $10, you will not get a fill at prices above $10. Hence a possible scenario is you get both 2 lots at $10, or 1 lot each at $10 and $9.50. The beauty for the limit order is that you will not get a fill unless the price is better than what you specified.
Stop Order
A stop order is better known as a stop loss order . In day trading stop loss is essential to your survivor. Some traders do not set a stop loss because they are monitoring their trades real-time. They feel that they can step in fast enough to close the position when the situation goes against them. However, in fast moving markets, you can very well lose $200 or more on a single contract in a matter of minutes. Setting a stop loss order removes the psychological hesitation to exit a position. From my experience, this is an absolute requirement, please master it and use it to your advantage.
Assume you are currently long at $10 and you set the stop loss at $8, you are giving instructions to your broker to sell at market price when the price falls down to $8. When the price is above $8, the stop loss order lays dormant, it will turn into a market order only when the price hits $8 to save you from further losses. Note that a stop loss order is always used to exit a position. Hence if you are long, the stop loss order will give instructions to sell. If you are short, the stop loss order will give instructions to buy.
Stop Limit Order
A stop limit order is similar to a stop loss order, except that it will turn into a limit order at the predetermined price. For example, assume you are long at $10 and you set a stop limit order to sell at $8, when price falls to $8, the order will become a limit order at $8. Recall that limit order will assure you of a fill better than the price you specified. Hence, a limit order at $8 means that you get a fill at $8 and above.
Michael Taylor is a professional trader and webmaster of www.daytradeemini.com He regular updates his trading blog at www.daytradeemini.com/blog with educational articles and trading records.
Paper trading refers to trading with virtual money, you do not use real money. You jot down in your notebook when you bought at what price and why. When you sell, you record in your notebook again why you sold and calculate the profit or loss associated with the trade.
If you cannot make money by paper trading, you can forget about making money in real trading. Always test a new trading idea with paper trading first before using real money. Also start with paper trading after a long period of break, to help you get back in touch with trading.
Although there is very little difference between paper trading and real trading in Emini, real trading is subjected to slippage and psychological factors come into play when you are using real money. Do not underestimate the impact of psychological factors on your trading. After you have a reasonable method and money management techniques, it is the psychological factors which will determine whether you make a profit or loss.
Some traders have created software to paper trade. You push the buttons like you are doing real trading but only virtual money is involved and no real cash is used. The system will record down the time, price, symbol and the position opened or closed. This saves you the trouble of keeping a paper record.
Fundamental Analysis
Fundamental analysis is a methodology for analysis of a company as a viable stock that you want to hold for long term. Fundamental analysis is more widespread in the world of investing since you are going to hold your companies for 10 to 20 years, you do not wish that your companies go bankrupt the next day. Some of the common ratios used are P/E ratios (price earnings ratios) which measures the relative price of the stock to the earnings of the company, the EPS (earnings per share), the debt equity ratio and tons of other ratios.
Although I have spent considerable time studying such ratios I discovered that you do not really need such information to be successful in day trading. I repeat, fundamental analysis plays a marginal role in day trading. In fact, most of the time, I don't follow it at all. If you still have reservations about ignoring fundamental analysis, I recommend trading ETFs (exchange traded funds) such as QQQQ which mirrors the movement of the NASDAQ 100. In essence, you are actually trading the index like a normal stock. Indexes usually have a huge number of stocks in them, making them less susceptible to company specific news. However if you are paranoid, then you might still want to follow the news of the major companies in the index.
here is no lack of information and no end to analysis. Knowing the fundamentals might seem cool when you discuss company so and so over a cocktail party, but it will not help you rip money off Wall Street in day trading. Being able to remove fundamental analysis from the decision making process is also one of the reasons why I recommend trading Emini index futures.
There is a distinct difference between day trading and investing. The main difference is the time frame and methodology used. Investing requires a much longer time frame than trading, from months to years to decades. Usually you want to select a good company that will not go bankrupt the next day you purchase it. You will also want to analyze the fundamentals of the companies, make sure it is in good financial health and has a competitive advantage relative to other companies in the industry.
Trading takes a different approach to making money. The time frame considered is short from a few minutes to hours to days, weeks or maybe a month. Specifically, day trading refers to strictly trading within the day. This means that you do not hold positions overnight. For example, if you buy at 10:00 (EST), you have to sell before 16:15(EST) when the market closes.
There are no rules against holding overnight but risk is minimized if trading is strictly restricted to within the day. The market often moves in reaction to news when exchanges are closed. Stocks usually do not have much liquidity and trade on light volume after market hours. Imagine what would happen to your long position when there is a sudden hurricane strike when market is closed. The market will drop but you might not be able to sell at a reasonable price due to low volume. I sleep better at night when I know have no open positions overnight. Whatever losses and winnings are strictly during market hours when there is enough volume to trade. How the market moves after the closing bell does not affect me and I start the next day with a new state of mind.
Hi,
Most of you must be wondering what happened to me the last few days. I was down with fever and decided to take a one week break. Well, apparently, I missed out on some of the market action, especially on Friday when Nasdaq and Dow declined heavily. Oil prices increased again and there was tension in IRAQ and threats issued by USAMA BIN LADEN.... these are what analysts reports say, but remember, if you are monitoring the market and it starts trending in a particular direction, whether up or down very strongly, you can be quite sure that there are some fundamentals behind the movement. But, DON'T spend time trying to find out what made the markets move. Seize this window of opportunity before it ends. You can always find out the reason; after you have made the profit!
You can say that the opportunity cost of me being sick at this untimely week is at least $2000. Hey, but what's money if you don't have the health to enjoy it? And, day trading is suppose to give me the freedom to do what I want and when I want it, not impose restrictions on me taking medical leave.. Novice traders ---> remember this golden rule: Opportunity is always there, the market will still be there waiting for you tomorrow. It doesn't bother me to lose that opportunity to earn $2000 from the Emini Futures. What matters is that I have fully recovered from fever and all ready to go!
Have you heard of day traders? These are people who reap profits from Wall Street day in day out. They do nothing but trade, they answer to no one but themselves. Day trading is their livelihood, their bread and butter. Day trading is profit driven. If you have aims other than making money from the markets, you have probably come to the wrong site. This is not a site for gamblers who seek short term thrills in the markets, nor is it meant to be a theorectical exposition on day trading for academic researchers.
Why day trade? Is it worth the effort? Day trading offers the road to financial freedom. The day trader is independent. He is free from the office routine, not restraint by time or place, he works when and where he fancies. This is the power of day trading!
What does it takes? You don't need to be extremely smart to be successful in day trading. The most successful day traders are those who have the iron-resolve and solid discipline. Intelligence is certainly welcomed, but is not an essential criterion for success. I was never the top in my class and always scrapped through my exams. SO WHAT? I am making big bucks by just trading a few hours per day.
Don't get me wrong, I am not profitable from day one. This site does not offer another get rich fast campaign. It took me almost four years of daily trading to reach where I am now. Constantly revising and researching on various methods finally paid off. It is hard work and you are not going to get any richer just by just reading and not practicing. Can you drive a car just by reading the manual? You have to practice what you learn. I hope you can learn something from this site to jumpstart your trading.
Future contracts originate from commodity trading. A future contract is an obligation to buy/sell a certain quantity of commodity at a specific date for a specific price determined at the outset of the contract. Future contracts are frequently used for hedging risks and also for speculation.
For example, with the recent hike in oil prices, an airline company which uses a lot of fuel might want to hedge it's exposure to oil prices through the purchase of oil futures. If the price of oil is $60 now and is expected to go up to $70 within 3 months, the airline would hedge its exposure by purchasing the 3 month future contracts so long as the agreed price is less than $70.
Oil prices now $60
Expected oil price in 3 mth's time (by airline) $70
Price of 3 mth oil contract (by oil producer) $68
Actual price 3 mths later $65
Let's assume the airline can find an oil producer willing to sell oil 3 month later for $68, the company would enter a futures agreement with this oil producer for delivery of a certain quantity of oil in 3 month's time. If the price of oil falls to $65, the airline still has to purchase at the agreed price of $68. But what propelled the airline to enter the futures contract in the first place is its expectations of future oil prices going up to $70 in 3 months and buying at a price below $70 (3 months later) seemed reasonable to the company.
Index futures are cash settled, there is no physical delivery of commodity as in the case of wheat, corn, etc. Although index futures can also be held for the long term, the time span we are concentrating on is a day. We are using the index futures as a vehicle for speculation and not for hedging as in the case of the airline company.
Why day trade?
Because it is a viable source of income and a very profitable one.
Because no matter whether you are in America, Asia, Japan or Europe, anywhere in the world.... you can trade.
Because you can trade when you want. Work when you want and enjoy the freedom that company employees only dream of.
Why trade the Emini?
Because it requires only $2000 to open an account to start trading.
Because you can tray 24 hr through CME's globex system
Because even beginners can start profiting from day trading Emini in as little as 2 weeks.
Where can I get more information?
Get your free Emini start up kit here http://www.daytradeemini.com/
ABSOLUTELY NO OBLIGATIONS. You can OPT-OUT anytime.
This is a very common question among beginners. Well, it depends on which emini contract you are talking about.
Before we go on, a distinction has to be made between tick and point. A tick is the minimum level the index can change. This is usually set at less than a point.
For example, for e-mini S&P 500, a tick equals 0.25 points. This is to say that the next level the e-mini S&P 500 can go from 1200 is 1200.25. A one point move from 1200 to 1201 will consist of 4 ticks.
For the e-mini S&P 500, each tick equals $12.5 dollars. One tick is set to be 0.25 points. Hence 1 point of e-mini S&P 500 equals $50 dollars ( 4 x 2.5).
For the e-mini NASDAQ 100, each tick equals $10 dollars. One tick is set to be 0.5 points. Hence 1 point of e-mini NASDAQ 100 equals $20 dollars ( 2 x $10).
Both the S&P 500 and Nasdaq 100 emini futures contracts have expiry months in March, June, September and December which are denoted by the letters "H", "M", "U","Z"respectively. Hence NQ05Z will represent the NASDAQ 100 emini contract with expiry month in December 2005. Similarly, ES06H will be the symbol for an S&P 500 emini contract with expiry month in March 2006.
| March | H |
| June | M |
| September | U |
| December | Z |
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