Well, January is over and I couldn’t be happier with what we’ve seen so far in 2010. The first two weeks in January started off a little slow. I guess it was the market trying to figure out if it wanted to break the highs up around 1,150 on the S&P 500. Anyway, since then we’ve seen some INCREDIBLE opportunity! This market reminds me of late 2008 when everyone was screaming bloody murder and we were cleaning up. January 22nd started the first bearish movement we’ve seen since early 2009. Could the top be in? I don’t give a shit… All I know is the market falls a lot faster than it rises, and that’s proven to be true over the past two days.
Take note of the spike in the VIX and the increased ATR of the S&P 500 Emini daily chart… more volume & volatility means more opportunity for us traders!
Is options exiration week driving you crazy? It doesn’t need to… This week I’ve gotten calls from stock and futures traders telling me stories about how the market has given them a beating this week. It takes a little practice, but once you understand the differences in the market dynamics, it’s actually kind of fun to trade!
Here’s what I’ve discovered about options exirations week:
1. The volume and volatility is hit or miss. Sometimes the morning session will be slow, then pick up in the afternoon. This is different, where usually we’ll see nice volume and volatility in the morning, then slow down in the afternoon.
2. The market will sometimes “thin out” for short periods of time, which can spike the market in one direction (basically clear a bunch of stops), then head back in the original direction. This actually happened to us on our first trade of the day today.
3. There can be great movement when the emotion and opinions flood the market. This afternoon, we had some incredible opportunity. We were 3 for 3 in the PM session with a minimum of a 4-5 point potential.
Jim started trading E-minis about 6 months ago. With no prior trading experience, and over 6 months of shopping for a trading system, he decided to join the Emini Academy and start trading the MAP Trading Strategy.
I thought it would be beneficial for other traders who hear Jim’s story and allow him to give some advice to those looking to earn a nice income through day trading… Enjoy this 30 minute interview!
Ok, I’ll admit it. I’m a bit of a geek. I love gadgets and gizmos, and my favorite device this month is the Amazon Kindle. When I first heard about it I was really intrigued at the idea of having a light, portable “reading device”. Here are the top 3 things I absolutely love about the Kindle:
1. It reads just like paper- I used to spend countless hours reading PDF’s and Ebooks on my desktop and laptop. After 10 minutes of reading, the glare of the monitor would bring on piercing pains in my eyes. It also made me very tired. The Kindle doesn’t use any back-light, and looks just like paper. Say “bye bye” to squinty-eyed monitor reading!
2. It can hold about 1,500 books. This is a big one for me… since I travel quite a bit, it’s nice not to have to carry around thick ass books everywhere I go. Weighing in at 10.2 ounces, the Kindle makes it extremely easy to carry your entire library in the palm of your hand!
3. Most books only cost $9.99. Before I bought my kindle, I estimate that I spent around $500 a year on books. No mas! Thanks to the Kindle, I’m going to save about 50% on my books.
Super-bonus benefit- I almost forgot to mention that you can download books, newspapers, blogs and magazines in about 30 seconds. No more driving to Barnes & Noble and waiting in lines to get your next read. Oh, and if you want to preview a book before paying for it, you can download the first chapter for free!
In my opinion, the Amazon Kindle is the best thing since Wordpress. And, at $259, it’s become very affordable. I’d love to hear from you if you own a Kindle… how do you like it compared to regular paperback? Likes and dislikes?
What a surprisingly great trading day today… wasn’t expecting this kind of volume and volatility the Friday before Christmas week. Anyway, it was a great pre-birthday present from the market: 3 trades for 3.75 points. Now it’s time for me to stop procrastinating and go buy some Christmas gifts. Check out the video…
This year has been incredible for trading… we’ve seen the average daily volume on the S&P 500 Emini sustained above 2M contracts for most of the year, and the volatility has stayed decent. It’s not anywhere as crazy as 2008, but I think that’s ok… it’s actually kinda nice having a little bit of a “slower” market to trade.
Since Thanksgiving, we’ve seen a little decline int he volume on the ES. In this video I show how the volume is around 1.5M contracts and how we can adjust our strategies to preserve our capital and continue to pull points out of the market every day.
Feel free to post any comments or questions in this post!
Hey folks… We’re back from Costa Rica and we had a blast! Not only did I accomplish my top-secret mission, but we got to do a bunch of cool stuff in the meantime.
I can’t think of anything cooler than day trading on the side of a volcano, then surfing in the Pacific the next day… that’s definitely the life for me! And we’re already planning an extended stay back down there. I always joke about trading from a tiki-hut in paradise… well, it’s come true.
Here’s a quick video with some pictures… and life lessons.
Have you ever had a lack of discipline in your trading? Jumped in a trade to early, late, or taken a bad trade altogether? I’ve always been a huge fan of “forgetting about the money” and focusing solely on your strategy. In other words, don’t worry about how much money you’re up or down, just stay focus on your setups and analysis. Then, I got to thinking… what if you did the exact opposite? And this might not be the best thing for all traders, but I think it could help a few…
Hey traders, I’m proud to announce the Emini Academy’s “MAP Trading Strategy” now works with NinjaTrader! Their user-friendly order entry matrix and charting makes it a great tool for professional emini traders. So now all Emini Academy traders will have the choice between TradeStation and NinjaTrader…
Here are a couple benefits I really like about NinjaTrader:
1) Super-user-friendly matrix- The NinjaTrader matrix (or dom) is a great tool to quickly and efficiently execute orders. Unlike TradeStation, you don’t have to worry about “ghost orders” when closing part of a position or reversing.
2) Chart trading- You can actually place trades from your chart, and manage stops/profit targets from a visual line on your chart. Watch the trading video below to see this in action.
3) Market replay- Have you ever wanted to go back and “re-trade” an area or an entire day? Now you can! Previously we were using Camtasia to record the market and go back to watch areas or “re-trade” a setup. But with Ninja you can actually use the matrix and chart trader to execute historical charts like it’s real-time. Oh, and the fast-forward feature is really nice… if you’re a slow period in the market you can fast forward up to 500x market speed to move to a tradeable area. Talk about cutting down your learning curve!
4) Zen-fire data feed- It’s no secret that TradeStation’s data feed is a dinosaur compared to the Zen Fire feed. If you’re trading “tick charts”, then Zen Fire gives you the most accurate information coming from the exchange.
A few of our students have asked if they should make the switch to NinjaTrader or just stay with TradeStation. If you like TradeStation and have no desire to learn another platform then by all means, stay with TradeStation. But if you want to take advantage of the benefits listed below, why not give it a shot? You can actually get NinjaTrader for free! Granted, the free version is missing a couple features like automatic stops, but it’s great for testing out the feed.
is the best thing since Wordpress. And, at $259, it’s become very affordable. I’d love to hear from you if you own a Kindle… how do you like it compared to regular paperback? Likes and dislikes?
