Friday, January 27, 2012

Consumer Sentiment Day Trading Crude Oil and Euro Futures


Our day trading strategy for trading the futures markets is a little different on a Friday.  We know there will be small 'windows of opportunity' throughout the day and its up to us to get in early, be selective, and get out early before the market falls asleep after 1130am EST.

Our trading strategy this morning used a very familiar price structure; price wedge and inside the range from yesturday.  This SCREAMS at us 'fade the highs' and 'buy the lows' and we ultimately look for failed breakouts all morning long.

Trades Called in Our Trade Room

The Dollar Index helped confirm this day trading strategy this morning when we noticed our intra-day timeframes were trading in a price wedge, inside the range from thursday, and when the DOLLAR is doing this, on a friday we really need to be careful not to over-trade becuase we can see a sloppy, range-bound day coming a mile ahead of time.

Dollar Index Day Trading Strategy @ 730am
Our day trading strategy for crude oil futures was pretty simple; avoid the middle of the wedge, and wait for price to move higher or lower so we can sell the highs and buy the lows.  Remember, the middle of the wedge also had the 100.00 big round number, and the 12:00am EST Open of the day (for us at least) and we knew that the middle of this wedge would be a definate magnet for price to move towards, especially if you waited for the volume to drop a little end of the morning.





Crude Oil Day Trading Strategy @ 730am
We were 200% correct in this day trading strategy and we used the clues we got at 730am EST with our morning day trading prep to earn some great profit today.  I personally fell victim to over-thinking the news this morning (follow the plan JJ!) and certainly left some money on the table, but in the end our members in the trade room got a chance to learn and earn with me in a classic example of a friday in the markets.


Did you miss the action today?  We will be opening our trade room again on Monday @ 730am EST and we look forward to helping you learn how we trade, make some money, and maybe even have some fun along the way.

Starting next week we will have more up-dates on the Automated Trading Systems we use, this was a busy week with a new support team getting trained, so thanks for the patience regarding the performance reports for the auto-trader (which had an incrdedible week!)

See you Monday!  Follow the plan Stan! :)

day trading strategies weekly review


- A tone of uncertainty overtook global markets this week, as investors contemplated the ambiguous growth outlook for 2012. Trading pivoted around the FOMC rate decision and press conference on Wednesday. The Fed once again moved the goal posts on its "extended period," saying that rates would remain low until late 2014 (recall that it was only last August when the Fed introduced the mid-2013 language). It also tempered its economic forecasts, warning of lower US GDP growth and higher unemployment rates over the next two years. PIMCO's Bill Gross called the FOMC's low rate pledge extension the equivalent to QE 2.5 and suggested that the Fed may be preparing additional easing to boot. Before the Fed move, the IMF lowered its 2012 global GDP forecast (to 3.3% v 4.0% prior) and IMF Chief Christine Lagarde warned that the global economy could be in danger of sliding into a "1930s moment." Data out on Friday showed that US GDP grew 2.8% in Q4, a sharp acceleration from the 1.8% in Q3 and the quickest pace since the second quarter of 2010, although still less than expected, and the quality of the growth was questioned as unsustainable inventory builds were a major contributor to the number. In Europe, negotiations between Greece and its private creditors were much in the news, and it appears that officials have set a final deadline of February 15th to announce a deal, with hopes that final details can be worked out this weekend. For the week the DJIA lost 0.5%, the NASDAQ gained 1.1%, and the S&P 500 was up less than 0.1%.

- Negotiations between the Greek government and its private creditors were a major focus this week. Talks between the two sides have been ongoing for months, and by Friday, the Greek finance minister stated that the final deadline for a deal was February 15th. At the Ecofin meeting on Tuesday, euro zone finance ministers hashed out the debt restructuring terms they could accept. Creditors, represented by the Institute of International Finance's (IIF) made their maximum offer, although the real outstanding issue was whether Greece would apply a collective action clause, which would force creditors to accept a write-down or whether the deal would remain "voluntary." The other major outstanding issue is the coupon on the new debt to be issued, while various legal issues are also seen as potential hurdles to an agreement. The talks stalled several times throughout the week, but optimism about the changes for a deal remained in place heading into the weekend. There is still plenty of skepticism about Greece, deal or no deal. German Chancellor Merkel said that she did not believe the existing multi-billion dollar bailout coupled with austerity measures were working after two years of crisis. Meanwhile S&P's Chambers said that Greece would likely be downgraded to selective default in the first half of 2012, calling the move a matter of "when, not if."

- The FOMC post-rate decision statement determined the fate of the greenback this week. Analysts said that if the committee adopted inflation targeting, EUR/USD could retake the 1.3250 area, while no inflation targeting would provide the EUR/USD with momentum to test the low 1.2800's. The Fed explicitly committed itself to an inflation target with the decision, and EUR/USD was above 1.3200 by Friday. The extension of the extended period to 2014 didn't help the dollar, either, and by week's end the greenback was at one-month lows against the GBP and two-month lows against the CHF. Note also that euro short positions hit their fourth consecutive weekly high
.


See everyone back in our live trade room on Monday @ 730am est.

Russell Day Trading Strategy uses the sellers failing at 930am

We saw the sellers failing on the Russell this morning at 930am est and we use that along with our Inside Day/Outside Day trading strategy to expect the PHOD to be tested.

Russell Day Trading Strategy

euro day trading strategy using our wave trade plan

Our Euro Queen using her Wave Trade Plan exclusively on the US Bonds futures!  Great work Anita!

US Bonds Day Trading Strategy












Russell Day Trading Strategy uses a price wedge and the trading range from thursday to formulate our plan for this morning.  Buy the lows, sell the highs, avoid the middle of the wedge.

Russell Day Trading Plan