Those who seek the absolute greatest returns and want it "now" are those who will bet heavily on any short term market change. "
Hoping" to be getting in at the bottom is not a sound investment strategy. Confirmation is key to any trading plan.
A trend is in effect until it is broken.
One issue that is concerning regarding the S&P 500 Index is the double top.
S&P 500 showing double top pattern
For the S&P 500 to be truly in a new bull market the index needs to break above the double top line and move into new highs territory.
I received an email asking how I trade and what I look at on my trading screens. For a trader it is always important to keep an eye on the past while you make your trades. For example, the image below is a typical trading window I use when I am watching for a trade to present itself. For swing traders and day traders you must always know where trends and support/resistance levels are on longer term charts when you decide to make a trade while watching the short term intra day charts. For me I always watch the weekly, daily, and the 5 minute chart of the same stock. I will often change the daily chart to a 60 minute view to gain another perspective before I make my decision. On another monitor I keep the primary indices and the major sector charts. If your deciding to trade Oracle (ORCL) for example as a short on a trend line failure but the Nasdaq index is breaking upwards out of a trend then your chances of a successful trade are reduced. Always keep an eye on the big picture.
I run four 22" monitors for my trading platform. But remember I am monitoring many more things so that we can keep you up to date on our views of the market. Most traders should be fine with two monitors in order to make life easier. Trying to keep everything all confined to one monitor could be a bit much.
A little hard to see as I had to shrink the image to fit the blog, but you get the idea. This example is my typical trading setup for stocks. It includes the Weekly, Daily, and intra day 5 minute charts, plus level 2 data.
Earnings season gets cooking this week with many companies slated to issue this week. On tap for tomorrow:
Before the Open: ALDN, AME, ASTE, BAC, CACH, CRNT, DSL, GBE, HAS, HIFN, RX, MRK, NVR, PETS, RPM, SAY, SGP, UB, WFT.
After the Close: ALB, AMLN, AAPL, ARTC, BSX, CNI, CX, EXP, EFX, RE, FNB, FWRD, HPC, HXL, LNCR, LOGI, MSPD, MHK, OMCL, OMI, PKG, PGI, QLGC, RGA, SNDK, SFG, STLD, TXN, VRTX, VLTR, WGOV, ZRAN.
(Note: American Express (AXP) should be be reporting tomorrow as well after market close, there has been some conflicting data on their earnings date)
