Day Trade Emini S&P 500 NASDAQ 100

Market was choppy and range bound before the release of the FOMC minutes at 14:00. It was trading within a narrow range of 8 to 10 points. I bet you know what I did, I took a break, went for a swim in the morning and forgot about the market altogether. It was not worth risking my capital for such choppy conditions. By the time I had lunch and went back to the monitor, it was already 13:00. Seems like market will not bulge until the FOMC minutes release. At 14:00 the news were released,,, fears of future rate hikes,, etc... doesnt really matter, the market was telling me the same thing, it was telling me to short it... I entered the market at 1582 with 1 contract and shorted another 2 at 1579, my profit target was at 1574 which coincided with a previous support level. Stop loss was at 1587. Usually its the FOMC meetings that produces the greatest movements. FOMC minutes although also having an effect, are less potent in terms of market moving power. My trade lasted only 15 minutes... Market zoomed down and I was out with $360 profits... That's enough for me in this choppy market... I decided to call it a day...

Posted by Michael Taylor at 6:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Consumer confidence report released at 10:00 am today did not produce any significant movement. However, one thing's for sure, today started with a gap down and it never looked back. What does this tells us? It is a NOT a good day for Long!

Price remained pretty much range bound for around four hours and when it finally broke out of the range, I was all ready to capture the move. The break came at about 15:30, pretty late into the market. I shorted 1 contract at 1581 and another 2 contracts at 1577.5. My stop loss was at 1585 and my profit target at 1570.5, just half a point above 1570. It's never a good idea to put your profit target at directly 1570, since this represents natural support which price might not even touch. I have learnt to place my profit targets or stop loss slightly above or below supports and resistance. The trade ended in 45 minutes with $490 profits.

Posted by Michael Taylor at 5:16 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

5 minutes

30 minutes

From a 5 minutes chart perspective, we are still in an uptrend, however from a 30 minutes chart perspective, we are simply in a pullback in a downtrend. There has been 2 strong up days previously and today we are finally seeing some weakness. We have to be extra cautious here because the uptrend in our 5 minutes chart might not last as long as we like it to be. The play here should be still to go long. At 10:45 a.m there was a bullish signal, we have a hammer candlestick pattern which has a long shadow and short body. Price then immediately rebounced from the moving averages. I went long 1 contract at 1601.75 and another contract at 1604. My profit target was at 1609 which was at the previous high. At 11:30 a.m, my profit target was hit with $245 profits.

Posted by Michael Taylor at 5:29 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Remember yesterday, I said that the downward trend is still in tact, Hence it makes more sense to go short rather than long. It is alright to trade pullbacks to the moving averages by going long. However, there is greater risk in doing so because the general trend is downwards and price might spike down without any reason. A smarter way to trade in this market condition is to wait for price to hit the moving averages and rebound to the downside. We will enter on the rebounce.

My chance came at 10:45 am when price hit the moving averages and immediately rebounded downwards. I did not enter immediately, I waited for further price confirmation as this can be very well be a whipsaw. With a further price spike downwards, I shorted 1 contract at 1585, and another 2 contracts at 1582, I carefully placed my profit targets at 1566 which is slightly above the low established yesterday. Now it is a waiting game, as a trader, you have to have the patience to wait and let your trades work itself out. At 1:00 pm, my trade hit the target with $1020 in my pockets.

To recap the reasons for shorting :
1 Trend is still downwards as the moving averages are sloping downwards
2 Stochastic cut down from the overbought region ( circle in figure )
3 Price rebounded downwards after touching the moving averages.

Posted by Michael Taylor at 5:21 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

During the first part of the day, I shorted and price immediately bounced back, I lost $50 ( not shown in figure above). I decided that although the general trend is down, price might be correcting itself and it seemed pretty unstable near the 1600 mark. I resisted any temptation to enter the market and waited... ..

Well, it was a long wait... but my chance finally came at 14:30 when price showed signs of breaking downwards, I was hesistant to enter because of the loss in the morning market. I was wary that it might just bounce back from 1600...

However, when it broke 1595 decisively, I knew that it was heading downwards and in a big way. It was breaking out of a channel. I shorted 1 contract at 1595 and later when it pulled back, I shorted another 2 at 1595. As the trade progressed, I shorted 1 more contract at 1582.5. My profit target was at 1570. At around 16:00 EST, my profit target was hit with $1750 in my pockets. Basically price just went down without looking back. This was a simple trade.

Posted by Michael Taylor at 6:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

This is a classic trade, price has been below the moving averages for a long time already and the logical way to trade this kind of market is to short it when it bounces back. It is not advisable to go long as the general trend is still down. For those who go long, you might be lucky if you manage to ride onto a pull back up to the moving averages, but remember, it is still a down trend, you can easily get caught off guard when it moves down in huge spikes. The risk is simply not worth the return....

The trade is simple, at around 10:40 am price started to move down from a pullback, this is a good chance to short as we can place a tight stop loss at above the previous peak at 1603. I shorted 1 contract at 1599 and another 2 at 1594.75 when there was a slight correction. My profit target was 1586 which is around 10 points away from the last point of correction. Within 30 minutes, my profit target was hit with $550 in my pockets.

Posted by Michael Taylor at 4:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Hi,

CPI or Consumer price index is a measure of inflation and if this figure rises, it generally means that consumers have to pay more. This is bearish on the markets. The data released at 8:30 am EST was worse than expected and there was already immediate reaction to the market. The market was heavily shorted and it opened with a gap down.

From Briefing:
Total CPI rose 0.6% in April (consensus 0.5%) ? the biggest rise in three months while the closely watched core rate (ex-food and energy) rose a more than expected 0.3% (consensus 0.2%), countering yesterday's tame inflation read.

It is not advisable to long today, given the CPI index is higher than expected resulting in a downward pressure. Going short is definitely the way to go, however market was erratic before 11:00 am. My chance came when price shot past the low of the day and I entered at 1613 and another contract at 1611when price pulled back, my profit target was at 1604, approximately 10 points away from the start of the break down. The trade went smoothly and my profit target was hit effortlessly with $320 in profits.

Posted by Michael Taylor at 3:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

Price closed at 1700 yesterday and I was expecting either a rebound or break out to the downside today. Well today opened lower and market sentiments seemed negative. Also technically speaking, price is below the moving averages and MACD and the stochastics are all in the oversold region. It makes sense not to go long. The only play is short.

I shorted 1 contract at 1695. I wasn't very confident of how far the break out can go. I didn't pyramid my position. My profit target at 1686 was hit in less than 30 minutes with $180 in my pocket.

I continuted to monitor the market. After my profit target was executed, market went up by a tiny amount before plunging again. I decided to short 1 contract at 1684 and 2 more at 1675. I expected the break out to continue in momentum and placed my target at 1660. However at 1667, it began to bounce back. I was feeling uneasy about this development and got ready to exit. I finally when it hit 1667 I took profits of $660.
The total profit today was $840.

Posted by Michael Taylor at 6:20 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)

The Federal Open Market Committee raised the main U.S. interest rate by a quarter percentage point to 5%. The increase in the federal funds rate was largely expected by economists on Wall Street.

Market plunged by 7 points at 2:15, I managed to short 2 contracts at 1707, However upon reaching 1701, pice immediately bounced back to 1710, my stop loss was at 1712. If it went further, I would have been stopped with a loss of $200. The rebound was pretty abnormal for FOMC annoucement, usually price just shoots in a particular direction. I got uneasy and decided to take my profit fast. I shifted my profit target up from 1696 to 1700, a $160 difference. Within the next 15 minutes, my profit target was hit and I am in by $300.

Posted by Michael Taylor at 5:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)