Two Trends That Gave Guidance This Week

“Wow” and “whew”
describe this week’s ending trading action as both
major markets more than made up for their early-week range-bound doldrums with a
Friday to remember. We’ll give the Nasdaq Trader of the Week status in
light of its 54-point plunge from Thursday’s gap and trap (thank you
(
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)
to Friday’s midday low, which was followed in turn by a 90-minute 24-point
short-covering bungee later in the day.

Overall, both markets pretty much treaded water for the week, with the S&P
losing two and the Nasdaq giving back three. Yet intraday trends and patterns
continue to provide the most fertile opportunities for those so inclined.

After some early-week chop, the 13- and 60-minute trends provided stellar
guidance on Thursday’s break, and range traders had to make major adjustments
upon Thursday’s change in pace as the market pummeled traders not flexible
enough to both perceive and adjust to the change in weather.

Let’s hit the charts.

S&P 500



Nasdaq


Moving Avg
Legend:
15MA
Larger Timeframe 15MA

See https://www.donmillertrading.com
for Setups and Methodologies

Charts © 2003 Tradestation

A-Rod

One of the things I like to do to keep a clear mind during the trading day is to
listen to sports radio; specifically WEEI out of Boston that houses the nation’s
#1 sports talk shows. (Yea, I know it sounds geekish, but it beats the heck
out of the corporate days of sitting behind a corporate desk or logging
thousands of frequent flyer miles on business trips.)
Which of course this
week meant listening to hosts and fans bemoan the loss of A-Rod to the Yankees.
Remember,
this is New England where most are born to complain. Thank goodness the Tobin
bridge has barriers.

Anyway, the never-ending discussions reminded me of

last week’s column
where I stated that goals, plans, trades, results,
and perceptions of the trading business mean squat if they belong to anyone
other than you. And while the “trade” play on words may be a bit
corny, the analogy to trading is once again evident as what New York does to
retool in the off-season has little to no bearing on how Boston will execute
(excluding head-to-head match ups), just like how John “Trader” Doe performs has
no bearing on your own trading. As I said

last week
ad infinitum, it doesn’t matter.

Once this year’s baseball games begin, Boston will likely do best by focusing on
its own business, day after day. And when next week begins, we’ll all be better
traders if we focus exclusively on our own task at hand. Blocking out anything
and everything that doesn’t lead directly to properly executing our trades is a
start.

Good Trading and Have a
Great Weekend!


Don Miller