The worst thing that a daytrader can do
Yesterday, a trader I have worked with a bit over the years (let’s call him M) pinged me with this real-money equity curve: (For the record, that's a pretty good…
Using highs and lows
How do we know how that market is doing on any day? If we turn on the news, we will hear something like “the Dow Jones is up 40 points…”,…
What we learned about price levels
This is part 2 of a two part blog. Read the first part here. Quick summary: to test the validity of price levels in markets, we created a test in…
When is a human better than a machine? Using human discretion in quantitative testing.
First, thank you to each of you who participated in the experiment/quiz. We have stopped collecting data, but you can re-take the quiz and see which answers were right or…
Daytrading the S&P 500: Intraday trend structure and setup
Thinking in checklists is useful, especially for shorter-term traders. Every market situation is full of rich and complex nuance. Every moment in the market (or in life) is unique because…
S&P 500 futures activity by time of day
Most people know that stock markets tend to be much more active on the open and close, and are often "dead" in the middle of the day. This is important…
Chartschool: daytrading setups and context
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tMmphbbC4ew&feature=youtu.be
Choosing the best pullbacks
Trading is a game of choices. Over time, we hope to make more good choices than bad. Sometimes, the choices are obvious: control your risk, take disciplined trades, be mindful…
Finding trend days in index futures
I've written on this topic before, but we just had a good example in the market, so it's a great time to revisit. Many intraday traders find that most of…
Catching the wave: ideas for finding trend days
I received a question from Alex, which appears to be a simple question. Digging deeper, it actually drives straight to the essence of intraday trading: If I am wanting to…
Chart of the day: Short term setup in S&P 500 (6/5/15)
Yesterday’s moderately strong downtrend came within higher timeframe consolidation. This is still a market primed for a stronger trend move. Do not fade a break above or below key levels…
Chart of the day: S&P 500 short term setup (6/4/15)
This is still a market seeking a catalyst, though bullish factors continue to accumulate. Look for a strong rally above the 2121-2124 level; do not fade a breakout that holds…
It’s all in a day’s work
I want to share a few observations on trading activity during the trading day. I will focus on the S&P 500 futures here, but may extend this (if there's interest)…
Chart of the Day: S&P 500 short term setup (
Little motion and no new tactical information [yesterday]. Market is still consolidating and still in breakout mode: expect sharp continuation once the consolidation is decisively broken. The edge is still…
Short term trading strategies that work
Over the past week or so, I've written a bit about short term trading strategies on my blog, and I've also done two podcasts (here and here.) Starting tomorrow, I'm…