Analysts say speculative oil trading is to blame for gas prices at $4 a gallon. Congress considers regulation and legislation. What happened to market forces of supply and demand?In the 2005 movie Syriana an oil company executive quotes Nobel Prize winning and renowned economist Milton Freedman: “Corruption is government intrusion into market efficiencies in the form of regulations”, he says.
We all know that cost of living in the recent days have gone up everywhere in Asian region. A cost for a tea on the road side shops will cost you 5 bucks, If a go into a decent restaurant for a group meals I needed to fill my wallet with bunch of high end denominations of rupees. Things weren’t same as before during my visit to India just a couple of weeks back. Few months back I was chatting wi
There's a trader who displays his daily returns, spread-trading e-mini futures contracts (see below link). For all who believe financial instrument trading is about making tedious 10-20% a year, think again.Forum LinkThis is what I mean with finding and exploiting statistical edges, market inefficiencies. It's a lonely road, but rewarding. Don't stop learning.
Foreign exchange, or forex market, where fx currency from one country to another country for their monetary transactions. The ratio of foreign currency futures trading accounts for a very small trillions of dollars based on the daily foreign exchange transactions in the market.Whose strategy for the foreign exchange transactions, including currency exchange rate to rise while simultaneously buying or selling a less valuable currency transactions in excess. Foreign exchange futures trading strategy is basically the same. One of the investors to choose between the contract price for a particular suit. Buy or sell a particular currency on a future date.If you are interested in foreign exchange transactions, you probably are, in fact, interested in the foreign exchange futures trading. Many pe
There are four key elements to achieving success as a futures trader:
Self-confidence
Discipline
Ability to handle loss
Profitable trading system
Self-confidence. If you aren’t confident that you can become a successful futures trader, you might as well pack it in now and save yourself a lot of grief. Successful futures traders are bold, aggressive and self-assured. They do not [...]
The successful futures day trader knows that trading is a form of betting. It is a numbers game based on probabilities. The trader's task is to adopt a strategy with favourable odds and execute the strategy as perfectly as possible.To be successful, the trader identifies one or more setups which signal high expectancy trades. The setups are most often related to some kind of chart pattern, or a signal given by one or more technical indicators. I look at some ideas for setups in other articles. For now it is sufficient to understand that a setup should be measurable. It is a clear, unambiguous signal to enter a trade, and each trade should be managed in exactly the same way so that the results of the trade can be accurately determined in a theoretical test situation.The expectancy of a trad
A day trader HAS To to understand the concept of support and resistance. The vast majority of short term institutional traders trade around support and resistance levels clearly seen on their charts. If you do not understand the game, you can never succeed.A chart reveals levels at which the market has previously turned. These levels may be price peaks the market reached before pulling back, or low points reached before the market bounced. The peaks form resistance and low points form support. Support and resistance levels can be found in any time frame.The more frequently price pulls back from a particular price level, the stronger the resistance. The more often price rebounds from a low point, the stronger the support. (Note that support and resistance levels are bands rather than specif
Futures traders come in all flavors but it’s basically a Neapolitan world. You can be a scalper, swing trader or a combination trader. Mindset and methodology generally determine in which sector of the futures trading world you’ll thrive.
Scalpers. Scalpers seek immediate gratification. They look for short-term market movements seeking to shave money off the bid/ask price spread. Holding each position for only a very short period of time (often only minutes) to minimize risk, scalpers make small gains through rapid trading. (more…)
There are certain psychological characteristics that can negatively impact your ability to succeed as a futures trader. Learn to recognize these behaviors in yourself and guard against them.
Cheapskate. Many people are foolishly cheap. They are so anxious to start trading on the futures markets that they ignore the necessity of first acquiring the proper education, tools and software to succeed. These people will lose more money in their first round of trades than they would have spent on the tools that would have allowed them to succeed. You can’t be “penny wise but pound foolish,” as my grandmother would say. Don’t nickel and dime your training budget. If you truly want to succeed as a futures trader, spend the money to learn from the best and acquire the best tools available. Click here to hear what my students have to say and learn more about my Futures Trading Secrets Course.
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You can profit in futures trading when you understand what the spread is and how to make it work for you. An arbitrage technique, the spread is the purchase of one futures contract and the simultaneous sale of a different but related futures contract. The goal of the futures trader is to make money on the change in the price difference between the two contracts. (more…)
If you’re going to be a successful futures trader, you have to learn to take emotion out of the equation. Learn to trade like a robot. There’s no room for emotion in futures trading.
Futures traders learn to trust themselves and their system. If you start letting emotion rule your decisions, fear, anger and greed will undermine your carefully planned and practiced strategies. It is by persistently following your system, by dispassionately relying on what your charts tell you, by religiously following your indicators that you will succeed as a futures trader. (more…)
You’ve heard the maxim: A win is not always a win and a loss is not always a loss. It’s true in many aspects of life and particularly in futures trading. Making a profit does not always indicate a correct trade. Likewise, losing money does not always indicate a wrong trade. What is essential for futures traders to realize is that the inherent rightness or wrongness of your trading method can not be determined by the outcome of any one single trade. Those who incessantly tinker around with their system, trying to fine tune it to perfection after every trade, are doomed. Those who jump from system to system, searching for that elusive perfect system, are doomed. (more…)
I always tell my new clients: “One of the most important things you can do to improve your trading is to develop specific patterns of behavior.”
Tiger Woods doesn’t plop the ball on the ground and flail away. He follows a regimented and very carefully practiced series of steps to give himself the best possibility of success. Following a pattern of behavior time after time has helped to make him the world’s most successful golfer. (more…)
Futures Trading for Mon 12th March11:59pm My charts are still pretty much in a mess but there is still some level of clarity in the PRICE movements. The last 1 1/2 hours have been pretty slow but we could breakout of this current CONSOLIDATION.12:09am LONG Trade setting up.12:51am Turning in for the night...just too slow to do anything constructive.
For this weekend, I've posted the links to 2 e-books that are worth reading...especially for new traders:1) Jesse Livermore- Reminiscences Of A Stock Operator &2) Phantom of the PitsBoth are in PDF format. Enjoy!
Futures Trading Review of last night's S&P E-mini Trades.There will not be any review this weekend (due to the mess created by the roll-over on my charts) but I will try to post some updates later on the Chart Patterns of the stocks featured so far on my other blog, Trading Chart Patterns
Futures Trading for Fri 9th MarchJust got back an hour ago from a friend's food business...No trades tonight as I try to rectify the roll over that has affected my charts. Hopefully, it should be done by next week. Have a good & safe weekend everyone!
Futures Trading Review of last night's S&P E-mini Trades.I didn't have this problem during the last roll over in December but this time round, getting the data up and merging them into one has caused quite a mess. It is rather time consuming just waiting for the data to be updated. The fact that my charting software + data feed does not provide "continuous chart" (#F in Ensign Charting Software), my overall reading of the TREND Chart & Swing Chart does get screwed up. As most have already rolled over to the Jun contract, I will have to wait a few more days to capture new data before having a clearer picture of what is ahead.
Futures Trading for Thurs 8th March11:02pm Slowly & surely, the volume for the Jun contract is swelling, whilst the Mar contract is slowing down. Will not be doing anything as I too, have to roll over the charts for the ES. As I do not have #F (like in Ensign), I have to refresh the data for the new month, into the old mth's contract. Kinda slow for the charts to be up, so will sit it out tonight.
Futures Trading Review of last night's S&P E-mini Trades.With all its might, the ES just couldn't sustain its push past the 1400.00 mark. Round figures as such always present themselves as stiff resistance to up moves. Unfortunately, for all its effort, the ES only managed to close unchanged at the end of the trading session. With PRICE still very much in a uptrend and no PRIME Failure of Resistance in sight, be prepared for another charge at 1400.00 tonight - Mainly because we are now in PRIME Support on the TREND Chart and it is the obvious place for PRICE to recharge & head back up to challenge last night's session high of 1402.50
Futures Trading for Wed 7th March11:23pm After last night's big move, it is only natural that PRICE is consolidating. Best to stay sidelined until a clear picture develops.(A cautionary note here: WE ARE NOW IN PRIME, ON THE SWING CHART, thus creating a PRIME Lower High. But however, PRICE has not failed going up, as yet. So be prepared that PRICE could still continue its up move from yesterday)12:46am Turning in for the night...Not too keen on the PRICE movements so it's best to sit on my hands.
Futures Trading Review of last night's S&P E-mini Trades. Bulls came back with a vengence last night. From the Globex low of 1368.75, we hit an intraday high of 1399.50 on the ES. A whopping spread of over 30 points. The 3 x Divergent bottom I pointed out on the Swing Chart did help to create this "sling shot" effect. However, I wouldn't be too "bullish" at this point in time because if you can recall in one of my posts last week, I had mentioned that the sell-off had created some damage on the Swing Charts. The sell-off was so deep that it had inadvertently created Leg 1 of Bull Break on the Swing Charts - Something which previous pullbacks had not done for quite a long time back. And obviously, this move back sees us approaching PRIME territory, on the Swing Charts, to create Leg 2. Will we see the end of the current Bull Market? Only time will tell...
Futures Trading Review of last night's S&P E-mini Trades. Last night, the ES continued its Trend of Lower PRIME Highs & Lower PRIME Lows. Before signing off last night, there seemed to be a possible chance of a PRIME Low to at least bring us back up to challenge last PRIME Resistance but alas, it was not to be. 1) We have a 2 X Divergence Bottom on the TREND Chart & 2) a possible 3 x Divergence Bottom setting up on the Swing Chart. With a 10pt upswing in Globex just after the close of the normal session, we could see a decent upmove again tonight, if we get a PPF of sorts (pullback to challenge the lows), in Minor or PRIME, in place.
Futures Trading for Mon 5th March10.32pm PRIME PPF. With TREND Chart pointing up, do we have a confirmed bottom in sight? Let's observe first...10:35pm LONG 1378.00 / STOP 1377.00 - First target, 1380.7510:37pm Next target, 1387.75 (with pull backs, of course)10:45pm Will hold on to the LONG. A few fake-outs to get out, so far...10:47pm Beginning to regret the decision...hmmm. Nah. must stick to the plan.10:49pm Oops...TREND Chart has started to turn down. Could very well be the end of this upmove altogether. Will get out if PRICE starts to fail at 1382.0010:51pm Fake out there...10:52pm 1381.50 / +3.50pts. Decided to preserve profit first.10:55pm Well, well, well...Guess I did trade to my plan.10:58pm The target of 1387.75 mentioned earlier at 10:37pm looks very much intact...11:00pm Missed 1387.75 by 0.50pts.11:13pm Wow...quite a trending day.11:15pm On the SWING Chart, we have a 2xDivergent Bottom at 1371.0012:52am Sorry but have been watching telly since the last trade. Am turning
Futures Trading Globex Session at 8.52pm, 5th March 2007 (S'pore Time)08:53pm Going LONG at 1375.00 / STOP 1373.7508:57pm First target for this LONG is 1376.25. If cleared, next target would be 1378.2508:59pm Moving STOP to 1374.5009:02pm First target of 1376.25 hit. Moving STOP to 1374.7509:19pm Out at 1376.25 / +1.25pts10:00pm Missed the juiciest part of that move...you win some, you lose some - BUT DON'T LOSE TOO MUCH !
Futures Trading Globex Session at 7.45am, 5th March 2007 (S'pore Time)PRICE has just made a LOWER PRIME LOW on the TREND Chart at 1380.00 (against last PRIME Low of 1380.75). The moment we are able to get a Minor or PRIME Confirmation of this current PRICE LOW, we will see PRICE heading back up to challenge last PRIME RESISTANCE at 1411.50. And in order for the current BEAR TREND to continue, PRICE must fail at 1411.50, & then head back down to challenge last PRIME Support (PRICE bottom not known yet) to give us a LOWER PRIME LOW. BEAR TREND equates to 1) Lower Low, followed by2) Lower High, followed by3) Lower Low, again...
Futures Trading Review of last night's S&P E-mini Trades. If you refer to yesterday's review, I had mentioned the possibility of the upmove been done. ES PRICE did show us that it was done because in the Globex session, ES PRICE only managed a high of 1410.00 (I had mentioned to first look out for 1411.75 as the first Resistance level). From then on, it was downhill all the way, with the strongest pull back managing to only print 1405.25. On the TREND Chart, we are still Bearish, as the night before's PRIME High of 1411.75 was a LOWER HIGH. Going into next week's trading, it'll be interesting to see if we do print a LOWER LOW, against the last PRIME Low of 1380.75 - Going into the close of last night's session, we are still heading down. Will have to see if a PPF of Support(Minor or PRIME) occurs next week...Enjoy your weekend !
Futures Trading Review of last night's S&P E-mini Trades. The ES suffered another bout of sell-offs prior to the opening bell, but managed to find a bottom at 1380.75 with a PRIME PPF at 1381.75. That was the signal for a LONG and up they did go ! I had happily taken out my LONG with a very decent profit of 6.25pts, only to see PRICE run for another 10pts within 2 minutes of taking profit ! Such was the ferocity of the up move...Throughout the session, PRICE kept making higher oscillation highs & higher oscillation lows, on the TREND Chart. Going into the close, we made a Minor & PRIME PPF of Resistance. In other words, we could very well be done with this upmove. Keep a look out for 1411.50 because if we clear this resistance, we will continue to go up to challenge 1418.75 1) If we then fail at this level (1418.75), then the Bear Trend will still be intact. 2) But if we break this PRIME Resistance, then Leg 1 of BEAR BREAK would be created.
Futures Trading for Thur 1st March10:12pm My, my...PRICEs have gone south.10:26pm Leg 1 of Back Door Bear Break has just been INVALIDATED ! We just created a lower PRIME Low (against last PRIME Support Low at 1390.50)10:49pm We are consolidating...possible bottom, or another leg down?10:53pm LONG 1385.25 / STOP 1384.25. The movement in PRICE, the last 2 days have been pretty "wild"...The numbers in queue have also dipped. But the overall volume is crazy! It's about to pass 1 Million Contracts of ES done...10:56pm This current upmove must clear 1389.0010:57pm Before I can even post my comments, PRICE has already hit 1389.00 !10:59pm Out at 1391.50 / +6.25pts.11:01pm Man, see what I mean ??? I missed 6 pts just in a couple of seconds...!11:02pm Sorry, my mistake...IT'S 10 PTS NOW, THAT I'VE MISSED IN LESS THAN 2 MINUTES ! This is getting ridiculous !11:05pm Although I've benefitted from the current PRICE movements of the ES, yesterday & today, I'm still not very comfortable it.
Futures Trading Review of last night's S&P E-mini Trades. The ES was able to recoup only some of the losses incurred the night before. However, one good thing happened last night, in that Leg 1 of Back Door Bear Break was created, with the session's high 1418.75. Going into the close, we had some consolidation and during Globex, 1406.oo (Leg 2) was taken out - this level was mentioned last night. It is possible that Leg 2 is completing soon...We need to see a Breach of Resistance, followed by a PPF for PRICE to head back up to challenge last PRIME Resistance of 1418.75, to give us a Higher PRIME High, and completing the 3 Legs of the Bear Break. And Globex session may just give us that low. Let's see...
10:47pm If PRICE breaks through 1454.75, then it is likely that Leg 1 of Bull Break is still not done.11:26pm There she goes ! As suspected earlier...Leg 1 of Bull Break was clearly still not done.11:43pm Potential 2X divergent bottom on the TREND Chart - Just a warning for SHORTs to be cautious here.11:57pm Possible LONG signal setting up here.11:59pm LONG 1451.50 / STOP 1450.7512:03am Target for this LONG should be at least to challenge last PRIME Resistance at 1454.25 - unless of course, it starts to fail Resistance here first...12:09am Out at 1451.25 / -0.25pts. PRICE failing here again...12:11am Or have I been hoodwinked, again?12:12am Anyway, I'm quite done for the night. Eye-lids are starting to get real heavy. G'nite all. 1 Trade. 1 Loser.
Futures Trading for Mon 26th Feb. 10:50pm Leg 1 of Bull Break is finally done, now that we are in PRIME, on the TREND Chart. We are now in the midst of Leg 2 and the question is, are we done, for Leg 2?11:24pm Possible LONG setting up.11:25pm LONG 1457.00 / STOP 1456.0011:28pm Stopped at 1456.00 / -1.00pt. Got hoodwinked there...11:31pm Will be changing to SHORTs with the next pullback.01:49am Leg 3 of Bull Break. 3 Legs Complete. NEW TREND - BEAR01:53am Logging 0ff. 1 Trade. 1 Loser.
Have just posted the Daily Chart of Home Depot (HD) over at my Trading Chart Patterns Blog. Swing by to have a look. Click here.Had also posted this Chart Pattern (attached image) of General Electric (GE) last Friday. For those who missed it, here it is. Looks pretty bearish, to me...
Futures Trading Review of last night's S&P E-mini Trades. Here are the 3 Legs of the Bull Break:End of Leg 1: 1450.50 (Lower PRIME Low)End of Leg 2: 1459.75 (Lower PRIME High)End of Leg 3: 1447.75 (Lower PRIME Low, again) (yet to be confirmed, as PRICE has not hit PRIME Resistance yet, to confirm the end of this Leg)
There is a huge drop in the ES but really do not know what is the cause of it.Futures Trading for Tues 27th Feb.10:18pm Leg 3 of Bull Break is still not done.11:00pm LEG 1 OF BULL BREAK ON THE LONGER TERM CHART11:01pm Will not be looking at the market much tonight...just got back from a National Inter-Club squash match & I am tired! Probably be observing the market action by the sidelines.11:46pm The Leg 1 of Bull Break on the Swing Chart (Longer Term Chart) does not bode well for the Bull Trend. This is the first Leg 1 (on the Swing Chart) after more than 6 mths - possibly even longer as I do not have the data for the Swing Chart heading so far back...
Futures Trading Review of last night's S&P E-mini Trades. The 9% sell-off in the Chinese markets triggered pandemonium over in the US markets. The ES dropped more than 55 pts at one point. On the TREND Chart, Leg 3 of the Bull Break ended at yesterday's session low of 1388.75. The Bear Trend is in place. We then created a Lower PRIME High at 1413.00. Going into the close, PRICE is still heading down. We may get a slight reprieve from the downmove, if we are able to get a Minor PPF of Support (1390.50). However, if this level breaks, then look out below!Futures Trading for Tues 27th Feb10:48pm We are heading down again folks...11:00pm SHORT 1405.50 / STOP 1406.5011:01pm Man, the PRICE movement is really fast...pretty scary.11:02pm Within one minute from my SHORT, PRICE went down +3 pts and back up, closed to where I shorted!11:05pm Moving STOP to 1405.7511:06pm This is one wild ride.11:09pm I was just 0.25pts away from being stopped out !11:12pm Out at 1404.00 / +1.50pts. This is stre
Do you have investments now? or do you already have plans about investing?It is very important that we should know the different angle in this kind of filed so that we can be successful in the future.I have been hearing a lot of things about this whenever my dad and ...
