Day trading offers the most rewards right now
Stock index markets continue the same
patterns of movement they’ve exhibited for a long time now: rising in agony.
Instead of strong trend sessions where price action stair-steps higher in waves
of accumulation, we see listless drifting around interspersed with buy programs
that eventually bob the tapes higher. Going up ugly, but they’re still going up
regardless.
ES (+$50 per index point)
S&P 500 futures bobbed slightly higher from
Tuesday’s close. The quiet ascent from above daily pivot point to R1 at the
highs was staccato, but measured. Just an absence of selling pressure all day,
no real accumulation action either.
ER
(+$100 per index point)
Russell 2000 futures traded weaker by relative
comparison early on. They coiled & chopped thru the first hour, dipped hard to
S1 while ES held fast (clear bullish reversal warning) and then plodded straight
back upward to recent highs. From there is was a sideways bob-fest within a two
point range to the closing bell.
ES (+$50 per index point)
Daily chart view shows the S&P back near recent
highs of the congested range again. Still no abatement from well inside a
20-point true trading range over the past month. Such is the nature of this
symbol for the past couple of years: make a directional burst, then coil up in
boxed fashion for an extended time before staging the next directional move.
With price action holding support and trading near long-time highs, upside has
the nod for now. That may change in a day or three if sellers whack the top as
buyers fail to push it higher still.
ER
(+$100 per index point)
Russell 2000 has been a bit more vertical than
S&Ps over the past month, but they too are coiled in pre-breakout fashion for
the past five days. The intraday ranges are somewhat normal in span, but fail to
close anywhere new for a week. Expect that to change real soon, perhaps today.
Summation
No change in outlook or opinion at this time. When price action coils as it has,
eventually the next directional push releases stored energy. Nothing magical
about that. Pending market demise as called for by many pundits (at times
myself) has been premature. We know that directional breaks and true trending
action will obviously prevail again, but when? No one knows, period. Until that
time stock index futures remain a day-trader’s game, one of patience and
acceptance for what the market has to offer on a weekly or even monthly basis.
Most sessions are tradable, no complaints there
at all. It does get easier (and more profitable) when price action trends, but
we work with what we have and go from there. Trade what we see… right now we
see agnostic charts that struggle go higher and refuse to go lower each day.
Trade To Win
Austin P
(Online video clip
tutorials…
open access)
Austin Passamonte is a full-time
professional trader who specializes in E-mini stock index futures, equity
options and commodity markets.
Mr. Passamonte’s trading approach uses proprietary chart patterns found on an
intraday basis. Austin trades privately in the Finger Lakes region of New York.