Today's Setups and Real-Time Trade

Hooah Traders!

Well, the volatility dropped a little bit today ahead of rollover.  Not sure if I'm happy or sad, kind of get used to the 50 point swings and taking 10 point/contract stabs along the way.  February was one of my best months ever and I couldn't have done it without the wild market.  That being said, even the exhilaration of a wild party gets old after too long and you just feel like sitting quietly over a boring bowl of corn flakes.  My nerves can only take so much before I go crazy.  Staring at every tick of the market is exhausting, especially when there is a crazy bid-ask spread and your trying to enter or exit.  Today was a great range, keep it right about there please...

There were a few textbook long entries today that I talk about in the video, one nice one later that I didn't take.  As I mentioned before, I like to trade around 8:00 to 11:00 or so.  I find that before or after that is questionable for my setups so it works for me.  This week might be a little slower due to rollover so don't forget that.  Here's the video showing how I trade rollover in case you have forgotten.   

Lastly, so a follower asked me recently: “How did you trade today?  Were you profitable?” 
 
My gut reaction was to respond with a yes or no answer, but after a moment I realized how quick traders are to fall into a trap.   Let me explain:
 
The initial part of the question asks how I traded today.  A good trading day is one in which I follow my well thought out and researched trade plan.  This includes all setups, entries, and specific exit strategies.  This plan is 100% formulated before the trade is placed each and every time.  There is not a situation in which I do not know how the trade will go, it is a finite series of “if – then” statements.  I may not know which path of “if – then” statements will be executed, but do know the probabilities of each one.  The plan is researched to the degree that I know, statistically, what percentage of these trades will be profitable, IF AND ONLY IF the trade plan researched and documented is followed to the letter.  Any deviation throws all the research and likely the entire plan out the window.  We should never be figuring out a trade plan while trading.  I repeat, NEVER!  This is too late!  So the question of how I traded is really answered by how well I followed my plan, not if I was profitable or not.  So if the researched and documented trade plan is deemed to be profitable over some period of time then the question of profitability after one or two trades or one or two days is moot because I know if I follow my plan that there is a high likelihood that profits will be the inevitable outcome. 
 
So to answer the follower’s questions:  “I traded excellent today, thank you!” ;)
 
Hope the video is useful to you.  If so, as always, I'd appreciate a like or share somewhere of your choosing.  Down the right side of this page there are a few of the "hot links" but don't feel limited by that...  Go nuts! Thanks in advance!

Good Trades,
Trader Joe