5 for 6 with a total profit of $730 In The trade room

Market Commentary November 24, 2009

The markets continued to have some great volume today going into the holiday weekend. This was most likely due to the U.S releasing its Prelim GDP Q/Q figures today as well as their CB Consumer Confidence number. The sufficient level of volume allowed us to take some great trades this morning, and all our orders were actually placed on the Crude Oil this morning, which proved to be a great index to trade! We were able to take a total of 6 trades this morning and went 5 for 6 with a total profit of $730! (That’s a 20% ROI in one day!)

The crude oil continued its tumble from yesterday’s close, selling off even more this morning prior to the U.S equities market opening. Knowing that the market will have to pullback at some point, we were not opposed to taking a long trade this morning. As traders take possible profits from yesterday’s shorts, it could certainly cause the market to rally (Identify Market Sentiment For Day Trading Futures). With a majority of the news events passed us, we waited patiently for a set-up this morning, can finally found a 2-step long that we could enter on at 9:36am EST. Our 2-step pattern set-up perfectly, allowing us to enter the market at a basis of 76.78, which proved to be a great entry price because we were able to take profits with all four of our contracts for +4 ticks (2 contracts) and +2 ticks (2 contracts) for a total of +12 ticks ($120).


With a possible change in the intraday trend this morning, we looked to once again enter the Crude Oil market long ( Crude Oil Futures Day Trading Video). After a brief pullback in price to the short side, we identified yet another 2-step long pattern forming in the market. With our price pattern near completion, we set our buy stop limit to be executed at 76.67. We were filled promptly at 9:46am EST and watched our technical indicators closely to see if price would show us any follow through. Unfortunately the follow through we were looking for occurred in the opposite direction and we were forced to take a full stop loss on our trade, for a total loss of -18 ticks (-$180).



Since our methodologies allow us to be extremely versatile in our trading approach, after taking our one loss of the day, we quickly reevaluated the market situation and began to look for a possible short side entry (Price Patterns Technical Analysis Futures Video). This occurred only a minute after our prior trade, and we were able to enter the market short at 9:47am EST. We had noticed that the market was slowly pulling back and saw a perfect Breaker price pattern to enter the market on. With a basis of 76.53, our change of trade direction seemed to definitely pay off as we were able to scale out of the trade with all three of our profit targets; for +4 ticks (2 contracts), +8 ticks and +4 ticks for a total of +20 ticks ($200).

Our next trade came just prior to the release of the U.S CB Consumer Confidence number; being released at 10:00am EST. The upcoming news though didn’t affect the Crude Oil market that much beforehand, and gave us a great opportunity to enter into the market once again. We seemed to learn our lesson from earlier on in the morning, because we were only taking short trades for the remainder of the morning (Scalping Futures Day Trading Video). At 9:56am EST we noticed that a great Breaker pattern was setting up for us, and so we waited for price action to give us an opportunity to enter the market. We entered the market with a basis of 76.35 and before we knew it, we had scaled completely out of our trade, giving us profits of +6 ticks (2 contracts), +8 ticks and +5 ticks for a total of +25 ticks ($250).


With more news being released at 10:30am EST, we made sure to be extremely picky when considering taking another trade. To our surprise though, the volume continued to give us possible trade set-ups into the late morning hours (3 Key Components To A Day Trading System Video). We finally saw a price pattern we could enter the market on at 11:11am EST. With our Breaker short pattern setting up perfectly, we entered the market at 75.95; price soon sold off even more as large sell orders scrolled across the ticker tape, allowing us to scale out of our trade with two of our three profit targets. This gave us a total profit of +4 ticks (2 contracts) and +1 tick (2 contracts), for a total of +10 ticks ($100).

Soon after we closed our previous short trade, it seemed as though the market was setting up once again for us! With the trend continuing to the downside, more and more sellers were entering the market, giving it great volume late in the morning (Scalping Futures With 1-Contract To Start Video). When we entered our final trade of the morning, it certainly played out much differently than we expected. We once again entered the market with a Breaker pattern to the short side at 11:15am EST, giving us a basis of 75.87. What we didn’t expect though was for the market to sell off so aggressively, giving us ample time to take profits from the market at all of our pre-arranged price targets! This ended up being a great way to end our day, scaling out of the trade with +4 ticks (2 contracts), +8 ticks and +8 ticks, for a total profit of +24 ticks ($240).

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5 trades this morning and ended up 5 for 5 with $630

Market Commentary November 23, 2009

Well the markets this morning were predominately up; everything from financials to currencies and commodities in the U.S had some great gains, most likely due to positive Existing Home Sales in the U.S as well as positive Core Retail Sales in Canada. The only indexes that showed downward pressure were during the Asian trading session, and even that proved to be decimal. With the Dollar selling off once again, it was no surprise that Gold made a new all time high yet again and commodity related currencies were up big today as well. We were able to take some great trades in the markets this morning, especially considering the U.S Thanksgiving holiday at the end of this week, which usually brings lower volume to the markets. With possible lower volume, we made sure to keep our stops tight to prevent any significant losses today and will do so for the remainder of the week. We were able to take 5 trades this morning and ended up 5 for 5 with $630 in profits!

Our first trade came on the Crude Oil market, (Symbol CL). Prior to taking a trade on the Crude Oil this morning, we made sure to wait for the Core Retail Sales to be released in Canada, because Canada is a major producer in many commodities, especially in Crude Oil. The Crude Oil market was up today, along with many other commodities, and once the Canadian Core Retail Sales were released, along with the opening of the outcry pits at 9:00am EST, the buyers in the market didn’t waste any more time, and continued to spend price action higher. Once the added volatility in the market had died down, and price action was moving at a continuous pace, we decided to enter the market in the direction of the overall trend, the trend being our friend, of course ( Crude Oil Futures Day Trading Video). We saw a great opportunity to enter long at 9:07am EST by taking a Breaker pattern at 79.42. As our order was filled, we saw even larger buy orders come across the ticker tape, thus showing us that the majority of market participants wanted to continue this rally. With the help of other buyers in the market, we were able to scale out of our trade at our first profit target of +4 ticks (2 contracts) before closing the order for a profit of +8 ticks ($80).


Our second trade came shortly after the U.S Equities market opened at 9:30am EST and was taken on the Mini-Russell (Symbol TF). For a good portion of the trading session today, the Mini-Russell rallied strongly, and only began pulling back in the past hour or so of price action. With the opening of the U.S Equities market at 9:30am EST brought with it a great rally in price action on the Mini-Russell. As the buying pressure continued to build, we were quickly given a green light to take a trade based off our Pace of the Tape indicator (E-MINI Futures Day Trading Video). At 9:35am EST our Breaker pattern set-up perfectly for us, and we entered the market to the long side at 597.0. As soon as our order was executed, we continued to watch price action closely, and after seeing it begin to slow down, we quickly made an executive decision to move our stop loss up to our entry price in order to conserve profits and limit losses. This proved to be a smart decision because the market soon pulled back on us, and we were still able to close out at a small profit of +1 tick, for a total of +4 ticks ($40).

Our third trade of the morning came after the U.S Equities market opened, on the Gold futures market (Symbol GC). The Gold market continued its rally today from last week, once again making new all time highs during the Asian trading session. As Gold continued its rally into the U.S trading session we waited patiently for a set-up to occur in the market that we could take advantage of (Gold Futures Day Trading Video). We saw this set-up at 10:05am EST and reacted rather quickly to gain an acceptable entry price. With our 2-step pattern giving us an entry signal, we entered the market long at 1171.8. The market continued to rally, and as more buyers entered the market with us, it allowed us to take some profits at two of our targets, for yet another profitable trade, for +4 ticks (2 contracts) and +1 tick (2 contracts) for a total of +10 ticks ($100).


The fourth trade of the morning came on the Mini-Russell yet again. The mini-Russell had been rallying for most of the morning, but we could tell, based off our technical indicators, that the sellers could quickly gain control of the market soon. With the buy orders on the tape slowly decreasing, and more and more sellers coming into the market, we looked to identify a possible short trade to take. After the market began consolidating around its highs of the day, we knew anything could happen, but also realized that the probability was in the sellers favor (Sideways Market Day Trading Futures). At 11:16am EST we were able to capitalize on more sellers entering the market by using our Breaker short pattern to enter the market at 597.5. Once our order had been executed, volume began to increase to the short side, and the market began selling off rather quickly, allowing us to scale out of our trade at all three of our profit targets; giving us profits of +4 ticks (2 contracts), +8 ticks and +5 ticks for a total of +21 ticks ($210).

The fifth and final trade of the morning came at 11:58am EST, just prior to the U.S lunch hours. Price action, surprisingly, showed us a good level of volume, and so we continued to look for possible trade set-ups. The Crude Oil market rallied for the better part of the morning, but the buyers eventually began to take profits, and as price began selling off, more sellers jumped in the market to push price further down. After seeing this continued sell off in price, we decided to enter the market for one last trade, to the short side, with a Breaker pattern. Our price pattern gave us a range of possible entry prices, and we were filled in the market at 78.95 (Price Patterns Technical Analysis Futures Video). As our order was filled, selling pressure continued and the market sold off quickly, giving us the opportunity to close our trade after taking profits at all three of our targets, at +4 ticks (2 contracts), +8 ticks and +4 ticks for a total of +20 ticks on our last trade ($200).

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4 great trades, going 4 for 4 with a total profit of $1,120!

Market Commentary November 19, 2009

Today we saw great price action in all the markets we traded, allowing us to be very selective in our set-ups and wait for the perfect trade to come to us. This certainly paid off because we were able to take 4 great trades, going 4 for 4 with a total profit of $1,120! That’s a 25% ROI for all of our traders using a $4,000 account!( 3 Key Components To A Day Trading System Video) All of our trades came after the 8:30am EST U.S Unemployment Claims as well as the U.S Equities market opening at 9:30am EST.

We were able to take our first trade of the morning on the Gold market (Symbol GC). As you remember from yesterday, Gold made new all time highs in the futures market, topping out at $1153.4/oz. Throughout most of the morning though, it was clear to see that larger market participants were still closing their positions from yesterday, causing the market to pullback significantly in price. When all was said and done today, the Gold market’s low reached $1130/oz; and bringing with it some great trading opportunities (Identify Market Sentiment For Day Trading Futures). Once the U.S Equities market had begun, and volume had now become sufficient for us to trade on, we began looking for possible price patterns. With added volume in the market, the selling pressure in the Gold market began to build, and price action was predominately to the downside. We saw our first set-up at 9:53am EST; taking a Breaker short pattern at 1135.2. Upon entering the market, we continued to watch our technical indicators to see some follow through in price action, which didn’t take long to occur and we quickly scaled out of our trade at all three of our profit targets, for +4 ticks (2 contracts), +8 ticks, and +15 ticks, for a total of +31 ticks ($310).


Our next trade, which also came on the Gold market, didn’t occur until almost an hour later. We waited patiently for more news events to pass in the U.S, and allowed the spike in market volatility to calm down before entering the market for a second time. Between our trades, the Gold market simply consolidated in anticipation for the U.S news to be released, and as soon as it was, the sellers quickly took over the market once again (Gold Futures Day Trading Video). At 10:50am EST we once again entered the market short, using a Breaker pattern to identify our entry price of 1132.2. Once our order had been executed, more sell orders began scrolling across the ticker tape, pushing the market further down and allowing us to scale out of our trade once again with all three profit targets; +4 ticks (2 contracts), +8 ticks and +16 ticks for a total of +32 ticks ($320)!


After our second trade had been closed, we scanned all of our markets to see which ones were moving the most. We soon realized that the Crude Oil market was producing some great swings in price action, and looked for a possible entry into the market. Similar to the Gold market this morning, a majority of price action was to the downside, and it too seemed to find a short-term bottom around the 11:00am EST hour. With price action in the Crude Oil market forming a clear triple bottom, it was evident to us that the sellers, for the time being, were exhausted (Price Patterns Technical Analysis Futures Video). Once this had been seen, we began looking for a possible long entry. At 11:23am EST that entry came from a Breaker pattern, allowing us to enter the market with a basis of 77.96. As soon as we entered the market, it seemed that all factors of the trade were in our favor, as the market quickly shot up. As price action continued to the long side, it gave us some great profits of +5 ticks (2 contracts), +8 ticks and +4 ticks for our last profit target, for a total of +22 ticks ($220).

One of the great traits of our strategies we utilize to make trades is that they promote an almost constant position in the markets. All that is needed is somewhat steady price action, because as price reaches one extreme, we can trade with it, but we can also take the opposite trend and still find profits. This is exactly what happened with our final trade; previously we took the Crude Oil market long, but as soon as the rally found a top, we looked to take it short as well ( Crude Oil Futures Day Trading Video). At 11:33am EST, we found our opportunity to short the market, using a 2-step pattern as our entry technique. Our basis for the short trade was at 78.17, proving to be a great entry because sellers quickly changed the short term trend of the market, allowing us to catch a great runner, for +4 ticks (2 contracts), +8 ticks and +9 ticks, for a total of +27 ticks ($270).

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4 for 4 today, with a total profit of $690!

Market Commentary November 18, 2009

Today we saw decent overall volume in the markets, but still far from optimal. Early on the in the morning we noticed the volume was rather sluggish, and it really took the U.S market opening to get price action up to speed. This didn’t prevent us from trading though, as we exercised discipline and patience, the trades soon came to us. We were able to go 4 for 4 today, with a total profit of $690! Also, remember this +10% return today was all done on a $4,000 account trading account! (Futures Day Trading Account Management Video)

The first trade of the morning came on the Gold futures market (Symbol GC) roughly an hour after it began trading in the open outcry pits at 8:20am EST. Once again, the Gold futures were on its way to making new all time highs early on in the trading day, eventually reaching a top of 1153.4. During this impressive rally, there were periods of minor pullbacks in price, allowing us to take full advantage of them (Identify Market Sentiment For Day Trading Futures). At 9:20am EST, we decided to go against the trend and take the Gold market short on one of these pullbacks. We entered the market based off a 2-step short pattern, and were filled rather quickly at 1149.1. Once the order had been executed, we began to manage it through our ATM strategy as well as keeping a keen eye on our technical indicators. The market quickly sold off, allowing us to lock in profits for at least one price target of +4 ticks (2 contracts), leaving us with a total profit of +8 ticks ($80).

Shortly after our first trade was taken, along with the opening of the U.S Equities market, we found yet another opportunity to trade the Gold market! With the opening of the U.S Equities market at 9:30am EST, also brought more volume, and with it, new all time highs in the Gold futures market. As we continued to watch price action though, it was clear the buyers that took the market to new highs were quickly starting to take profits and sellers were more than willing to help push price back down (Gold Futures Day Trading Video). With this trend reversal occurring, we reacted hastily by entering the market short as well with a 2-step pattern to the short side. Our order was executed at a basis of 9:49am EST, giving us a basis in the market of 1152.3. This turned out to be a great entry price, because more sellers began to join the market, fueling it to the downside and giving us profits at +4 ticks (2 contracts), +8 ticks and +13 ticks, for a total of +29 ticks ($290)!

After closing out our second trade, we had to wait once again for the market to show us another trading opportunity. That opportunity came shortly after the Crude Oil market released its Inventories at 10:30am EST, bringing the market to life once again. For the most part the Crude Oil market consolidated throughout the day at $80/barrel, and has only recently made its push back below $79/barrel (Sideways Market Day Trading Futures). With the news being released at 10:30am EST, it gave the Crude Oil some great volatility and with it, great trading prospects. Not too long after the Inventories were released, we watched as the Crude Oil market climbed higher in price, giving us a chance to enter to the long side as well at 10:35am EST. We took our third trade based off a Breaker pattern long with a basis of 80.11. Our price pattern soon paid off, giving us a quick profit of +4 ticks (2 contracts) and +2 ticks (2 contracts) for a total of +12 ticks ($120).

The fourth and final trade of the morning came closer towards the end of our trading session, as we usually will continue to watch the market until price action tells us otherwise. Our entry price on this trade, oddly enough, was the same as our third trade. As the Crude Oil market continued its fade off the recently made highs, a brief pullback in price gave us a great chance to enter long. At 11:28am EST we entered the market long at 80.11, due to our Breaker pattern coming to fruition. As we watched price action closely with a live order in the market, price quickly pushed upward, with larger buyers scrolling across the ticker tape and allowing us to scalp some profits from the market (Scalping Futures Day Trading Video). We were able to close our final trade of the morning with profits of +4 ticks (2 contracts) and an additional +1 tick (2 contracts) for a total of +10 ticks ($100).

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3/3 In The Live Trading Room Today. $320 In Profit

Market Commentary November 17, 2009

Today our patience really paid off as we waited for this morning’s news to pass in the earlier hours of the U.S trading session (3 Key Components To A Day Trading System Video). All of our trades today came on the Gold futures market (Symbol GC), which at the moment has yet to make new all time highs today, but don’t worry there is still some time left before the market close, so you never know what will happen! Early on in the European trading session, Gold began taking back some of its rally of yesterday, but it did not last long. As volume had begun to diminish, the Gold market was ripe for a trend reversal. With the Gold open outcry pit trading beginning at 8:20am EST, we began to see a swift change in the overall trend, turning toward the long side. As more and more volume entered the market, we were given ample opportunities to take some great trades, and 3 trades were all that was needed today, as we went 2 for 3 with a total profit of $320.

Our first trade on the Gold market came after the U.S released its PPI reading at 9:30am EST, which measures the change in price of finished goods and services sold by producers. After the volatility in the market had come back to its equilibrium, we began to look for possible price patterns to enter the market on (Price Patterns Technical Analysis Futures Video). Planning on entering in the direction of the trend, we finally saw a potential Breaker pattern at 10:15am EST. We quickly entered the market long with a basis of 1136.1; but after seeing a lack of follow through in price action, we decided to close our trade at a scratch, +/- 0 ticks for the trade.
Shortly after our scratch trade in the Gold market, price looked to be finding a short term top, and a possible trend change was soon to occur. We watched the market action closely to decide if we wanted to enter the market short, and didn’t have to wait long, because the sellers soon filled the market pushing price down (Swing-High Swing-Low Technical Analysis Day Trading Futures Video). Wanting to enter the market with volume, we decided to take a Breaker pattern to the short side this time around at 10:38am EST. Our Breaker pattern was filled promptly at a basis of 1134.0 and it was off to the races. We soon saw as not only our first, but also our second and third targets were hit, netting us +4 ticks (2 contracts), +8 ticks and +8 ticks, for a total of +24 ticks on our second trade of the morning ($240).

After our second trade, the market continued its oscillation upward as we continued to look for another trade set-up to take. We had to wait for about an hour or so, but it was worth it because we were able to end our day on a positive note! At 11:35am EST, as the market continued its trend up, we entered long with a Breaker pattern (Gold Futures Day Trading Video). Setting out buy stop limit at 1137.4, we were able to quickly execute our order and almost instantaneously be filled on our first target of +4 ticks (2 contracts). After locking in profits at our first profit target though, the market pulled back ever so slightly, closing our order out at a profit of +8 ticks ($80).
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3 For 4 $320 In Profit

Market Commentary November 16, 2009

It has been another great Monday morning for all of us at the School Of Trade. We saw some great price action this morning, and the market really started to pick up after the U.S released better than expected Retail Sales this morning at 9:30am EST (Identify Market Sentiment For Day Trading Futures). After this news had passed, we decided it was best to be patient and pick our trades carefully with the added volatility in the market. Our patience certainly paid off, as we went 3 for 4 today with $320 in profits!

All of our trades today came in the Crude Oil market (Symbol CL). The Crude Oil market has currently rallied quite significantly today, mostly due to positive U.S Retail sales being released at 9:30am EST. The market has ranged today from a low of roughly 76.60 to a high of 79.24, taking off to the long side once the U.S Equities market opened. After the news had been released, we waited for our perfect set-up to form, and thought we had found it at 10:00am EST ( Crude Oil Futures Day Trading Video). With the trend being up, we decided to enter in its direction, long, with a Breaker pattern. Our order was executed at a basis of 77.92, which at the time was the high-of-day. We initially saw positive price action in our direction, but it wasn’t long before the sellers quickly changed the direction of the market, pulling price back and stopping us out at a loss of -18 ticks ($180).

Soon after our first trade of the day was taken, we once again saw a possible School Of Trade set-up occurring. The market had continued to push forward after our trade, and finally seemed to be creating a top. With the buying pressure becoming lesser and lesser, we decided to look for a possible trend reversal trade to enter the market on (Price Patterns Technical Analysis Futures Video). That trend reversal came a 10:17am EST with a 2-step pattern short. We were able to execute our order with a basis of 78.38 and got a great fill, because the market soon collapsed, allowing us to take profits at +4 ticks (2 contracts), +8 ticks and finally an additional +3 ticks for a total of +21 ticks ($210).

The third trade of the morning, which came shortly after our second trade, was also taken on the Crude Oil market (Symbol CL). With the market continuing to pullback in price from its rally at 9:30am EST, the sellers looked to push price even further downward and we looked for another opportunity to enter the market short (Scalping Futures Day Trading Video). We found this opportunity once the market had finally broken its recent lows, and we entered the market short at 10:34am EST. With our 2-step pattern setting up perfectly, it wasn’t long before more sellers jumped in the market, allowing it to sell off even further than before. Our order being executed at 78.23 proved to be a great entry, because we were able to take some great profits off the table at +4 ticks (2 contracts), +8 ticks and +3 ticks, for another +21 tick winner! ($210).
After our first three trades in the market, we continued to scan all possible opportunities in any market. Our fourth and final trade of the morning came about an hour later and once again on the Crude Oil (Symbol CL).

With the markets taking a break in their volatility prior to U.S news at 11:00am EST, we decided it was best to sit patiently and wait for the market to come to us, instead of forcing a trade (3 Key Components To A Day Trading System Video). After the U.S Business Inventories had been released at 11:00am EST, volume also entered the market with it. The market quickly began to rally once again after the news had been released, and we continued to qualify possible trade set-ups. After a brief pullback in price, we were finally able to identify a possible long set-up with our Breaker pattern. We entered the market long at 11:36am EST with a basis of 79.14; as we executed our order, the market took off to the long side, giving us a great chance to lock in some profits at +4 ticks (2 contracts) for a total of +8 ticks on our last trade of the morning ($80).

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Market Commentary November 13, 2009

Market Commentary November 13, 2009

It was yet another great Friday trading session for the School of Trade! We same some great volatility in the markets and enough in the Crude Oil market alone to satisfy all of our trading needs. We took a total of 6 trades today, all of which were executed in the Crude Oil market! We managed to navigate through all the news events this morning fairly well, the Canadian news especially, due to its great impact on the Crude Oil market (Identify Market Sentiment For Day Trading Futures). With the majority of the news being released at 9:30am EST as well as 10:55am EST, we really had a great window of available trading time. We ended up going 5 for 6, (the sixth trade being a scratch) for a total of $460 in profits!

The first Crude Oil (Symbol CL) trade of the morning came at 9:10am EST. The market in general sold off pretty heavily yesterday, and today we weren’t quite sure what to expect, because the possibility of a pullback in the market was inevitable, and today could have been that day. Looking back in the European trading session, it looked as if today was the day, but the rally was ever so brief, and the sellers once again jumped in the market to push price even further downward. By the time the U.S open outcry pits began trading at 9:00am EST, the market was testing yesterday’s lows around the $76/barrel range. This range provided the market with a strong base for price to bounce off of today, and sellers seemed to find a bottom for the time being around $75.60. As price bounced off yesterday’s lows, we initially looked for a long position in the market, but as we continued to watch our technical indicators, they proved to be correct in telling us sellers were about to change the short term trend (Price Patterns Technical Analysis Futures Video). With more sellers entering the market, we decided to join them at 9:10am EST with a 2-step short pattern. Our order was executed with a basis of 75.93 and price action soon filled out first profit target at +4 ticks (2 contracts) for a total of +8 ticks ($80).

The second trade of the morning came after the U.S Equities market opening at 9:30am EST, as well as the passing of some major Canadian news, their Trade Balance to be exact, which would most certainly have a strong affect on the Crude Oil market. After the added volatility in the market had passed and price action once again returned to its norm, we looked to enter the market yet again (3 Key Components To A Day Trading System Video). We found a great long set-up at 9:45am EST, taking a Breaker pattern with the short term trend at 76.20. With our order being promptly executed, the market didn’t waste much time in filling our first profit target of +4 ticks (2 contracts) for a total of +8 ticks ($80).

Our third trade on the Crude Oil came shortly after our second, and in the same direction as well; to the long side. With price action hitting the lows of the day once again, the ticker tape told the story for this trade, by rejecting the further selling pressure at the lows, meaning the market could only go one direction, up ( Crude Oil Futures Day Trading Video). At 10:03am EST we entered the market long with a Breaker price pattern. After price had broken our trigger line, we entered the market at a basis of 75.88 and were able to get filled, what seemed like almost instantly, for +8 ticks (1 contract) and another +2 ticks (3 contracts) for a total of +14 ticks ($140)!

The fourth trade on the Crude Oil (Symbol CL) came roughly a half hour later, once the market decided on an overall direction to move in, instead of just consolidating at its daily lows (Swing-High Swing-Low Technical Analysis Day Trading Futures Video). With the buyer pressure ever building in the market off the lows, it was only a matter of time before the market would try and take back some of its sell off for the day. When the buyers looked to finally be pushing price back up, we looked to enter the market with the trend as well. At 10:43am EST we were finally able to see a School of Trade price pattern to enter the market long, with the Breaker. We entered the market at a price of 76.21 and were able to scalp off some quick profits of +4 ticks (2 contracts) for a total of +8 ticks ($80).

The fifth trade of the day was placed only minutes after our previous one. The buyers had quite a rally since our previous trade, and from the looks of the price action, were beginning to take profits (Scalping Futures Day Trading Video). With a clear double top in price forming, we quickly looked to exploit this short term pullback, and entered the market short at 10:47am EST with a 2-step pattern. Our order was executed at a basis of 76.13 and we were able to pick up +4 ticks (2 contracts) rather quickly for a total of +8 ticks ($80).

The sixth and final trade of the morning was taken closer to the U.S lunch hours and the market’s price action looked to be slowing down ever so slightly (Sideways Market Day Trading Futures). More volume though seemed to enter the market briefly into the 11:00am EST hour, sending the market lower, and giving us one last opportunity to short the market. We decided to enter in the direction of the trend, which was short, with a Breaker pattern at 11:12am EST. With the order being filled at 76.25, we carefully monitored price to see if there was going to be any real follow through to the short side. Unfortunately, price action slowed even further, and we knew it was time to get out of the trade before we risked taking a loss. So, we decided to close our order early and take a scratch trade +/- 0 ticks.

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Thanks To Our Proper Trade Management, We Ended Up On Top.

Market Commentary November 12, 2009

The School of Trade had yet another day of profitable trading! Granted, the profits we not what we were used to see, unfortunately, but you can’t make 10-20% returns every day! Most of the markets today ended up down, and even with a better than expected Unemployment Claim in the U.S, it wasn’t enough to keep traders from selling the market shortly afterwards. We took a total of 3 trades today and went 1 for 3; thanks to our proper trade management, we ended up with a profit today of $50 (Futures Day Trading Account Management Video).

The first trade of the morning was taken on the Crude Oil market (Symbol CL). The Crude Oil market’s overall trend this morning was down, with brief periods of pullbacks. Since the start of electronic trading in the European trading session, market participants decided to sell Crude off rather strongly until more volume entered the market with the opening of the U.S markets. At 9:00am EST, with the start of open outcry pit trading, as well as anticipation for the U.S. Unemployment Claims being released at 9:30am EST, the market began to consolidate at its lows for the time being. With claims coming out better than expected, the Crude Oil market began to take back some of its sell off this morning, and the buyers seemed to be taking control of the market ( Crude Oil Futures Day Trading Video). With buyers in the short term control of price, we began looking for possible entries to the long side. At 9:48am EST we got exactly that, when a Breaker pattern to the long side set-up for us. We entered the market with a basis of 78.52, but unfortunately price action did not go our way on this trade, and with a brief pullback in price, we were stopped out for a loss of -18 ticks (-$180). The decision to take the trade initially was a good one, our price pattern set-up great, but unfortunately we didn’t get the best overall result, which will happen to all trades from time to time.

Our second trade of the morning came on the Gold market (Symbol GC). The Gold futures once again made new all time highs today, early on in the European trading session, reaching a high of 1123.4. This high didn’t last long, and buyers soon took profits as sellers entered the market, pushing price back down into the 1110’s. After making the new highs, with the exception of the U.S Unemployment Claims rallying the market briefly, the overall trend was down. To take advantage of the added volatility in the market after the Unemployment Claims were released, we looked to enter the market with the short term trend, which was long once again (Gold Futures Day Trading Video). At 10:01am EST we finally got our chance to take the Gold market long, with a Breaker pattern. Our stop limit order was executed with a basis of 1116.4, and we soon watched as larger buy orders came streaming across the ticker tape, allowing us to take profits at all three targets of +4 ticks (2 contracts) +8 ticks and +7 ticks for a total of +23 ticks, putting us back in the profit for the day ($230)!

The third and final trade of our morning came on the Crude Oil market (Symbol CL) and only minutes after our second trade on the Gold market (Scalping Futures Day Trading Video). With the Crude Oil Inventories being released at 12:00pm EST, we were cautious about taking another trade off the Crude Oil market and we made sure to watch price action closely in order to keep our profits for the day. At 10:06am EST we saw a great set-up on the Crude Oil with a Breaker pattern to the short side. The stop limit order was executed automatically at 78.46, and we watched as price action began to continue to the short side. Before entering the trade, we knew due to the time of day and price action that it was a higher risk set-up, and so we made sure to keep a tight stop on our trade. Fortunately and unfortunately we closed our order at our entry price, due to price action, and although we didn’t make any profit on the trade, we still maintained our profits for the day, and once again added more profits to our trade account, albeit a small amount.


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Trading Veterans Day

Market Commentary November 11, 2009

Another profitable day for the School of Trade, and on a Holiday of all days! Before we start our commentary, we at the School of Trade just want to say thank you to all veteran’s out there for protecting this great nation of ours! Due to today’s holiday, the volume in the market wasn’t the greatest, but we certainly made the best of it. We were able to scalp off two trades today, going 1 for 2, which equates to a 50% winning ratio, 1 win, 1 loss, and we still made 19 ticks! Our one loss of the day was closed early due to price action and our ability to also have mental stop losses for higher risk trades allowed us to know when to exit early, resulting in a smaller loss than it could have been; which kept us in the green! (Futures Day Trading Account Management Video) With yesterday’s profits reaching $710, today wasn’t too bad considering the holiday, and we walked away with another $190!

Our first trade of the morning came on the Crude Oil market (Symbol CL). The price action was relatively smooth, considering the holiday, and we were still able to identify some great set-ups. The price of oil began to rally early on in the morning, reaching a high into the $80/barrel price range before pulling back. The pullback didn’t last long though, and continued its trend higher into the 10:00am EST hour. This is when we began to watch our ticker tape very closely, to see how the buyers/sellers reacted around the highs of the day, and not to our surprise, the sellers stepped in swiftly to send prices lower once again. This created a great inverse head and shoulders pattern and we began to look for a possible short trade (Price Patterns Technical Analysis Futures Video). At 10:46am EST we finally were able to find our set-up with a Breaker short pattern and entered the market with a basis of 79.49. Once our order had been executed, it wasn’t long before the market began to sell off rather quickly, allowing us to take profits at all three ATM targets of +6 ticks (2 contracts) +8 ticks and +7 ticks, for a total of +27 ticks on our first trade of the morning ($270).

Our second and final trade of the morning came on the Gold market (Symbol GC). Gold didn’t make new all time highs yesterday, but it sure did today! The early price action in the European futures trading hours sent the market higher as buyers pushed it to an intra-day high of 1119.0. Shortly after making this all-time high in price though, the market quickly pulled back into the 1115 range. This is when we looked to capitalize on price action in the Gold market (Gold Futures Day Trading Video). The pullback continued later into the morning, and the trend began to change to the short side. While watching our technical indicators, we began to notice a possible shift in momentum between the sellers and buyers, and watched price action closely to try and confirm this. After price gave us a swing high above our trigger line, we placed our pending order in the market long, for a 2-step pattern. Our trade was executed at 11:14am EST with a basis of 1113.1. As soon as our order was executed though, price action began to slow down, and the trade quickly turned into a rather higher risk set-up. After seeing this, we quickly used a mental stop loss to exit the market, and cut our losses, closing out for a small loss of -8 ticks ($80).

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5/5 $720 In Total Profit, In The Live Trade Room

Market Commentary November 10, 2009

Well it was another great day of trading for all of us at the School of Trade! There weren’t too many news events to worry about in the markets today, really with the exception of only a few members of the FOMC committee speaking around 10:00 and 11:00am EST. We really didn’t see too much disruption in the price action of the markets we traded; who knows, maybe traders are finally starting to ignore these guys! Either way, it didn’t stop us from having a great day in the markets, going 5 for 5 with a total profit of $720, and all being done with a trade account as little as $4,000! (That’s almost a 20% return on your account today).

Our first trade of the morning came earlier than usual, and was a refreshing way to start our trading off with some consistent profits on the Gold market (Symbol GC). As I am writing this, the Gold market has not made new all time highs today; I know a shocker right! But don’t worry there were still some great swings in the market this morning for us to take some trades. The gold market has kept a rather strong base today right around the $1100/oz range, and by the end of trading it will be easy to see that strong buyers came across the tape to keep the market up most of the day (Identify Market Sentiment For Day Trading Futures). Earlier this morning though, after breaking new highs for the day, it was clear for us to see, while reading the ticker tape, that the buyers would not hold the market up for long, and so we watched closely to spot a potential School of Trade set-up. We didn’t have to wait too long either, as the gold market was seemingly hitting a new high, the buying pressure on our P.O.T indicator began to slow, and we entered the market with a trend reversal trade called the 2-Step, to the short side. Our order was executed at 8:30am EST with a basis of 1103.2; which was a great entry price to have because soon after the market took off to the down side, giving us the ability to take profits at +4 ticks (2 contracts) +8 ticks and our final contract getting us an additional +8 ticks, for a total of +24 ticks ($240)

Our next trade did not occur until a few hours later, due to the U.S markets opening up and the FOMC decided to speak, we waited patiently for the right opportunity to show itself in the market. As we began to scan the markets for a possible set-up, we found one in the Crude Oil (Symbol CL). At 10:20am EST we were finally given a set-up to take, with a Breaker pattern long, this was a little higher risk for us than usual, but with the ticker tape showing us buyers were entering the market strongly, we decided to enter ( Crude Oil Futures Day Trading Video). Our order was executed at 80.31 and we were able to scalp off a few ticks before the market pulled back on us, giving us profits of +4 ticks (2 contracts) for a total of +8 ticks ($80).

At this time in the morning, the markets really began to move, giving us some great trading opportunities. Our next trade also came on the Crude Oil (Symbol CL). The market had begun to find a top shortly after our previous trade and the sellers were waiting patiently to reverse the market. We began to notice this change in momentum from reading the ticker tape as well as our Pace of the Tape indicator and decided to join the sellers by entering the market with a 2-step short order (Price Patterns Technical Analysis Futures Video). At 10:31am EST our trade was executed with a basis of 80.40 to the short side; without even giving us time to react, the market quickly dropped and filled our first target of +4 ticks (2 contracts) before pulling back slightly and closing our order out for a total profit of +8 ticks ($80).

The fourth trade of the morning, and also on the Crude Oil, came only minutes after our previous trade and once again to the short side (Scalping Futures Day Trading Video). After our third trade had been executed, the Crude Oil market had continued its downward trend, and so we instinctively looked to enter the market with that trend. With selling pressure still flowing into the market, we placed a short order to be executed at 80.22. With our sell order being executed at 10:38am EST, the market continued its sell off, allowing us to lock in profits for our trade account at +4 ticks (2 contracts) for a total of +8 ticks ($80).

The fifth and final trade of our morning came on the Gold market (Symbol GC). Since our first trade on the Gold market, price action had been pushed up even further, making new daily highs into the U.S market openings (Gold Futures Day Trading Video). The buyers continued this trend later into the morning, but we soon noticed that more sellers were taking positions and more buyers were taking profits. Seeing this change in momentum, we began looking to identify a possible short trade. At 10:50am EST we finally were able to execute our order to the down side with a Breaker price pattern. With our trade being executed at a basis of 1106.0, we caught the sell off at the perfect time, because sellers soon flooded the market, giving us the ability to take profits at all three of our targets for +4 ticks (2 contracts) +8 ticks and another +8 ticks, giving us a total of +24 ticks on our final trade of the day ($240).

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Live Trade Room Takes $240 In Profit This Mourning

Market Commentary November 9, 2009

Well it was another Monday morning trading session for the School of Trade, which means we saw lower volume overall, but we still closed our day profitable! We didn’t really have too much U.S News today; instead we were watching for the German Industrial Production numbers at 7:00am EST as well as the 9:15am EST Canadian Housing Starts, which could affect the Crude Oil prices due to its high correlation with the commodities. We took a total of 5 trades this morning, 3 of which were profitable, and due to our strict money management, we were able to end our day with profits of $240!

The first trade of the day for the School of trade came on the Crude Oil (Symbol CL). Today’s price action on the Crude Oil certainly looked like a profit taking of all the shorts on Friday as well as more buyers entering the market, once again pushing price to $80/barrel (Crude Oil Futures Day Trading Video). Even in the early morning trading hours, the Crude Oil market was in a steady uptrend. With only a brief pullback prior to the start of the Open Outcry pits trading at 8:30am EST, more volume entered the market, allowing price action to once again continue its rise. With the overall longer term trend being long for the day as well as the relatively short term trend being to the long side, we instinctively looked to take a position in the market long. We finally saw a quality School of Trade set-up at 9:06am EST with a Breaker pattern to the long side. Our order was executed and filled instantly at 78.86 and it wasn’t long before we saw our first profit target of +4 ticks (2 contracts) being executed, for a total profit of +8 ticks on our first trade of the morning.

Our second trade of the morning came shortly after the U.S Equities market opened at 9:30am EST and also on the Crude Oil market (Symbol CL). After seeing the market rally for a good portion of the morning, we knew it would eventually have to pullback, thus seeing a bit of consolidation in the market after the U.S equities open, we began to watch for trade set-ups to the short side (Sideways Market Day Trading Futures). At 9:36am EST we watched as another Breaker pattern set-up for us, this time though we entered the market as sellers. Our order was executed promptly at 78.87, and once entering the market, unfortunately we were quickly stopped out of our trade, for a total loss of -18 ticks. Unfortunately, no one wins every trade, and sometimes the market just doesn’t go in your favor, thus is trading, and to become successful at trading, you must learn to deal with rare events such as this one.

The third trade of the morning came on the Gold market (Symbol GC). The Gold market once again made new all time highs today, reaching a peak of 1111.8 in the futures market so far today. We saw some decent volume in the market this morning, but price action really kept to a tight overall range in the $1100/oz range, and is currently is looking to break back into the $1090/oz before the close of the day (Gold Futures Day Trading Video). We finally noticed some volume start to pick up once all the U.S markets were open and volume was is full flight. Shortly after the Gold market had made its new high for the day, the market quickly began to pullback as more buyers took profits and sellers entered the market to push price back down. With the short term trend being down, we decided to look for a chance to sell the market, and got our opportunity at 10:10am EST with a Breaker pattern. Without hesitation, we entered the market at a basis of 1106.1 and watched our technical indicators to ensure the best outcome for our trade. After seeing price action start to slow down, and not executing even at our first profit target, we decided it was best to be flat in the market right now, and close our trade early for a scratch +/- 0 ticks.

Our fourth trade of the day came shortly after our third, and gave us the opportunity to scalp some profits from the British Pound market (Symbol 6B) (Scalping Futures Day Trading Video). The British Pound futures had some great price action this morning, and gave us the opportunity to add some great profits to our trade account today! The European trading session had taken the market higher in price with added volume in the market, but the rally soon started to subside as the European lunch hours entered the market around 4:00am EST. With the return of volume from the European lunch and the beginning of the U.S equities market, price action soon began to take back its previous rally that had occurred in the earlier hours, and sellers began to once again push prices back down. With the trend being our friend to the short side, we began looking for possible quality trade set-ups to sell into. At 10:12am EST we were given our chance, with a great Breaker set-up. We entered the market at 1.6762 and were happily surprised when the market dropped so soon, allowing us to take profits at +4 ticks (4 contracts) +8 ticks (2 contracts) and another +5 ticks (2 contracts) for our final contracts, closing our at +42 ticks! ($262.5)

The fifth and final trade of our morning came yet again on the Crude Oil market (Symbol CL). After seeing the Crude Oil market consolidate shortly after the U.S equities open, volume finally entered the market once around 11:00am EST. With the increased volatility, price action began showing us some possible entries to the long side, and it wasn’t until 11:02am EST that we were able to capitalize on them Scalping Futures With 1-Contract To Start Video). We entered the market long off a Breaker pattern, and with a basis of 79.50 we were able to pick up a quick +4 ticks (2 contracts) for a total of +8 ticks ($80).

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6/6 In Trades Today, Just Shy Of $1000

Market Commentary November 6, 2009

Well another Friday has come and gone, and with it brought yet another profitable day for the School of Trade! We had a good amount of news evens come out throughout the trading day, from the Non-Farm Employment Change and Unemployment Rate for the U.S at 9:30am EST to Canadian news and European news as well earlier in the morning. With all this added volatility, it certainly had us being extra cautious when taking trade, but didn’t stop us from making money! We were able to take six trades today and went 6 for six with a total profit of $932. The beauty of our style of trading is that all you need is a $4,000 dollar account! Because, for example today we took trades on the Euro futures, which has a $500 margin/contract and the Crude Oil, which only costs $1000 in margin/contract. This also provides you with a nice 1.5:1 RISK/REWARD RATIO! (Futures Day Trading Account Management Video)

Our first few trades of the day came on the Crude Oil market (Symbol CL). The Crude Oil market basically trended down the entire day, with brief periods of pullbacks. Initially in the early morning hours the Crude Oil market sold off quite strongly, due to the Canadian Employment Change and Unemployment Rate, which came out at 8:00am EST. Once those negative numbers had passed, we began to look for our first possible trade, given the added volume in the market at that time (Identify Market Sentiment For Day Trading Futures). We didn’t have to wait too long, because with the open outcry pit trading beginning at 9:00am EST, more volume was beginning to enter the market. At 8:54am EST we established that our classic breaker pattern had set-up in the market and we entered the market long with a basis of 77.59. As our stop limit order was executed, we saw more buyers enter the market, via the ticker tape, and were able to lock in profits at +4 ticks (2 contracts) and +8 ticks, for a total of +16 ticks ($160).

Our second trade of the morning, which also came on the Crude Oil, was taken shortly after the open outcry pits began to pick up in volume at 9:00am EST. With the added volume in the market, we noticed that price action was beginning to find a brief top for the moment being, and we quickly looked to take the market short with our trend reversal trade, the 2-step (Price Patterns Technical Analysis Futures Video). At 9:18am EST we entered the market short with a basis of 77.77; the selling pressure didn’t last long, but we were still able to scalp off +4 ticks (2 contracts) before closing our trade out at a profit of +8 ticks ($80).

The third trade of the morning came shortly after the second, and once again on the Crude Oil (Symbol CL). After the U.S news had been released and the volatility had died down some, we looked to enter the market once again, but this time with the trend, which was to the long side. With the U.S Unemployment rate coming out, the Crude Oil market began a strong rally, at which point we decided to jump on the trend and scalp a few ticks from it ( Crude Oil Futures Day Trading Video). At 9:38am EST we entered the market long with a breaker pattern and a basis of 78.41. As the market continued its rally, we were able to take profits at our first profit target of +4 ticks (2 contracts) for a total of +8 ticks before closing the trade ($80).

The fourth trade of the day came on the Euro futures, (Symbol 6E). The euro market had kept itself in a rather tight range in the early hours, but as more volume entered the markets, its range began to expand, but still produced a rather choppy market overall. With most of the news events being released for the day, the volume was showing a steady increase in the Euro market and we noticed that more buyers were beginning to enter the market, as our Pace of the Tape indicator flashed green for the go ahead (Euro Currency Futures Day Trading Video). At 9:41am EST we finally entered the Euro market long, with a breaker pattern. Our stop limit order was executed at 1.4890 and we quickly watched as the Euro trended higher, triggering all of our profit targets at +4 ticks (2 contracts) +8 ticks and an additional +9 ticks for our final contract, giving us a total profit of +25 ticks ($312).

Our fifth trade of the day had us returning to the Crude Oil market one last time. It wasn’t long after our last trade on the Crude Oil market, that it began to quickly reverse in its uptrend, and began its sell off for a majority of the remaining trading day. With the overall trend to the downside, we began looking for possible trade set-ups. We finally saw a perfect breaker pattern to the short side at 10:26am EST. We entered the market at 77.70 and watched price action closely to see if more sellers would enter the market (Scalping Futures Day Trading Video). As the larger sell orders came across the ticker tape, we were able to take profits at +4 ticks (2 contracts) +8 ticks and another +3 ticks for our final contract, giving us a total profit of +19 ticks (190).

The final trade of the day came on the Gold market (Symbol GC). With the gold market continuing to make new all time highs seemingly each day, today was no different. The U.S news events seemed to give the market the extra volume to set yet another all time high for the price as it rallied past 1100/ounce post U.S equities open at 9:30am EST (Gold Futures Day Trading Video). Once the market had set the new highs for the day shortly after the U.S Equities open at 9:30am EST, the buyers quickly began taking profits and more sellers began to pull price back into the 1090’s. At 10:31am EST we finally saw a great set-up to take with the short term trend, our breaker pattern. We entered the Gold market short with a basis of 1093.0 and quickly saw sellers push price further down, triggering our first profit target of +4 ticks (2 contracts) before closing our order for a total of +8 ticks ($80).

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Slow Day In The Live Trade Room Today

Market Commentary November 5, 2009

Most of the markets around the world rallied today, especially when the U.S equities market opened at 9:30am EST. There was great price action in most of the markets, but with a wide array of news events, trading those markets was more difficult than we thought it would be (Identify Market Sentiment For Day Trading Futures). We were still able to scalp some profits from the markets though, going 1 for 2 with a total profit of $80 on the Mini-Russell market.

Our first trade of the morning came on the Mini-Russell market (Symbol TF). The Mini-Russell didn’t show much volatility in terms of price action until the opening of the U.S Equities market at 9:30am EST, and price continued to consolidate into the 560’s range (E-MINI Futures Day Trading Video). With the opening of the U.S markets, volume slowly entered with it, and all the major indexes in the U.S began to make a strong rally. With major news coming out from Europe and the U.S at 9:30am EST we waited patiently for the market to give us a trade set-up. At 10:02am EST our opportunity finally came with a perfect 2-step short pattern. We entered the market at a basis of 573.1, and were able to lock in profits on our first target of +4 ticks (2 contracts) before closing the order, for a total profit of +8 ticks ($80).

After our first trade of the day, we began to scan the markets for another possible trade set-up. It wasn’t long though before we were watching the Mini-Russell once again (Symbol TF). The price action had begun to consolidate after our first trade, but after a small break-out to the long side, we began to look for a possible reversal in the trend. The short term reversal occurred at 10:24am EST, in the pattern of a 2-step, which we were able to capitalize on once again. We entered the market at a basis of 572.7, and had our first profit target set at +4 ticks from our entry price. After seeing price action test our first target three times, we decided to lock in any profits we could by moving our stop up to our entry price, but unfortunately price action moved against us and we were stopped out at entry; nothing gained or lost on this trade, but proper money management once again saved us money (Futures Day Trading Account Management Video)!

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Over $400 In Profit Today In The Live Trade Room

Market Commentary November 3, 2009

Another great day of profits for the School of Trade and all its members! We once again saw some sluggish volume early on in the morning session, but once the U.S traders began entering the market, the volume began to steadily increase (Identify Market Sentiment For Day Trading Futures). We only took two trades today, but that is all we needed to take, we went 2 for 2 with a total profit of $440.00.

Our first trade of the morning came on the Crude Oil market, (Symbol CL). The Crude Oil market sold off in the early morning hours, and then proceeded to make a rough looking head and shoulders pattern before breaking the neckline into the 11:00am EST hour to continue towards the highs of the day (Price Patterns Technical Analysis Futures Video). We didn’t see much volume in the market pre 9:00am EST, and the price action was beginning to make a $2 range throughout the morning and continuing throughout the day between 78.50- 76.50. With trading beginning in the open outcry pits at 9:00am EST, more volume began to enter the market, and a quick reversal in price action was beginning to occur. This is when we decided to enter the market, with the volume in our favor; we entered long at 9:12am EST with a basis of 76.70. After our 2-step pattern executed perfectly, we didn’t have to wait for too long before all three of our profit targets were hit, giving us profits of +4 ticks (2 contracts) +8 ticks and +3 ticks for our final contract for a total of +19 ticks ($190)

We looked to diversify our trading profits this morning, and continued to scan all markets for a perfect trade set-up, which we found almost an hour later on the Gold futures market (Symbol GC). The gold market kept itself in a rather tight range this morning from 1055-1065, but still offered some great price action for us to trade off of. After we took our first trade on gold, we actually ended up taking another one, but upon entering the market the spread widened to 4 ticks, so we stayed away and closed at break-even. We began to see some strange price action in the Gold market after 10:30am EST today and it became very tough to trade. Unfortunately, due to the odd price action we also had to sit and watch 2 more trades pass us by, but in the end we did the right thing by protecting our capital first. Our winning trade on the Gold market though came at 10:28am EST with a great Breaker pattern long; with a basis of 1063.5 we were off to the races as soon as our order executed, giving us some great profits of +4 ticks (2 contracts)+8 ticks and an additional +9 ticks for a total of +25 ticks ($250) (Gold Futures Day Trading Video).

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Market Commentary November 2, 2009

Well it was yet again another great Monday morning for all of us at the School of Trade! We saw some great volume today in the markets, thanks to some added volatility courtesy of the U.S news events released later on in the morning. It is also important though to remember that we have the FOMC day on Wednesday, so volume was a little bit sleepy today early on, and you should expect the same tomorrow as well. Even with the inconsistent level of volume, we were still able to go 5 for 6 today with a profit of $495.00. Let’s review those great trades…….

Our first trade of the morning came on the Crude Oil market, (Symbol CL). Today, the Crude oil market produced a rather large channel throughout the day, oscillating from roughly 78.60 to 77.00. Early price action was slow to start, most likely to the FOMC decision about to take place later this week, but the opening of the pits trading at 9:00am EST as well as the U.S Equities market at 9:30am EST brought the market lower with added volume. It once again tested the highs of the day shortly after that, but when watching the tape at the highs, it was clear that the market participants looked to keep the range they had set early on in the morning (Identify Market Sentiment For Day Trading Futures). As the market was selling off earlier in the morning after the open outcry pits began to trade, we looked to take advantage of the short side pressure and join the sellers. At 9:16am EST we entered the crude oil market based off a Breaker short patter at 77.15. Once our order had been executed, we didn’t have to wait long before our first price target had been reached, allowing us to take profits at +4 ticks (2 contracts) before closing our trade with a total of +8 ticks ($80).

The second trade of the morning came about an hour later, due to the release of news in the U.S, and we were able to identify a great set-up on the Mini-Russell (Symbol TF). The Mini-Russell consolidated amid the early hours of electronic trading, but once the U.S equities market opened up at 9:30am EST, the sellers jumped on the opportunity with significant volume, pushing the market even further south (E-MINI Futures Day Trading Video). The sellers finally found a bottom around 10:00am EST, at which time the buyers began to rally once again towards the highs of the day. Once this happened, we knew it was time to enter the market, with volume seeming to be on our side, we entered the market at 10:19am EST off a Breaker long pattern. Once our order had been executed though at 566.8, it seemed that the buyers no longer wanted anything to do with the market, and price action began to slow down considerably. Upon seeing this, we decided it was best for our trading account to exit the trade at our entry price, +/- 0 ticks.

Not long after our scratch trade on the Mini-Russell occurred, we decided to scan the markets for another set-up, this time taking refuge in the Crude Oil market once again. The Crude Oil had continued to oscillate, finding a top around the mid-$78 price level. It wasn’t long before the sellers took over control of the market, allowing us to look for a possible entry to the short side ( Crude Oil Futures Day Trading Video). At 10:29am EST we found just that; with a Breaker to the short side. We placed out stop limit order at 78.17 and were executed shortly, once in the market, volume kicked in with more sellers coming across the ticker tape, allowing us to get +4 ticks (2 contracts) before closing our trade with a profit of +8 ticks ($80).

It was only a matter of minutes before our next trade set-up yet again on the Mini-Russell market (Symbol TF). The market had been pulling back sharply from its latest decline in price action, and we looked to take advantage of this pullback (Scalping Futures Day Trading Video). The short term trend began to change ever so slightly to the long side, which is when we entered the market long with a Breaker patter at 10:32am EST. Once in the market, it wasn’t long before we were able to scalp off some quick profits from the market, with an entry price of 568.6, we quickly picked up +4 ticks (2 contracts) for a total of +8 ticks on the trade.

The fifth trade of the morning came only minutes after we had closed our trade on the Mini-Russell, but this time it was on the British Pound futures (Symbol 6B). The British pound futures also kept a rather tight price range today, hardly exceeding 1.6430 – 1.6330 (Sideways Market Day Trading Futures). The market oscillated multiple times today inside this range, and we waited patiently for a trading opportunity. At 11:02am EST opportunity finally knocked and we were there to take advantage of it. With the market coming off its recently made lows, it began to pull back to the long side, which is when we took our trend reversal trade, the 2-Step, long at 1.6382. As soon as our order had been executed, larger buyers came across the ticker tape, obviously wanting to push this market higher, which indeed it is, allowing us to take profits at +4 ticks (4 contracts) and again at +3 ticks (4 contracts) for a total of +28 ticks; we trade double the contract size on the British pound because of tick value ($175).

We ended up trading later into the morning than usual today because there was a steady flow of volume still in the market. At 12:08am EST we once again saw volume pick up on the Crude Oil market, (Symbol CL), allowing us to enter the market for one last trade. With the market trending to the short side, we were able to identify a Breaker price pattern and enter the market shortly after that at a basis of 78.32 (Price Patterns Technical Analysis Futures Video). With not only the trend, but also the volume of the market on our side, it wasn’t long of a wait before we took profit from the market at +4 ticks (2 contracts) for a total of +8 ticks on our last trade of the day.

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