Tag Archive for 'ES'

It’s time for a rollover!

Published on December 7, 2011, 8:30 pm in Trading. Closed Tags: , , .

Yes, it’s time again to rollover those futures contracts. The Equity Indices: TF, ES, NQ, EMD and YM roll on Thursday at the open from the December 2011 contract to the March 2012 contract. The month code for March is ‘H’. So tomorrow and Friday will be a little rocky as traders move their positions. You can trade the ‘Z’ contracts through next Thursday, but by the end of the day tomorrow, the volume will move to the ‘H’ contract.

Today was a crappy day until the end when indexes moved up to their high of day. Seems like the bulls want to be Santa Claus!

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MF’ers

Published on November 16, 2011, 6:51 pm in Trading. Closed Tags: , , .

Yes, I mean those ‘motherly’ cuss words…but I’m actually talking about Moodys and Fitch, get it? Heehee!

Moody’s downgraded some German banks, so Fitch downgrades US banks with dealings in Europe. Is this really news? Didn’t everybody already know that? And why announce that in the middle of an options expiration week? WTF? News, made up or real, always trumps charts and indicators.

The Stock Trader’s Almanac says, “Week before Thanksgiving, Dow up 15 of last 18.” Let’s see what Thursday and Friday bring us.

I was trading ES today. It just doesn’t feel good when a retracement doesn’t come back to your buy point…missing by one tick and then takes off without you…mope, mope, mope. On the other hand it doesn’t feel as bad as when you chase it up and it goes against you. Patience is a virtue! Trade your plan and stick to it!

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Rollover

Published on September 7, 2011, 10:37 pm in Trading. Closed Tags: , , , .

It’s time to rollover all those September index contracts to December! Volume should shift tomorrow and Friday.

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Up, down and back to even

Published on August 1, 2011, 10:30 pm in Trading. Closed Tags: , , , , , .

The gap up was expected of course, but the reversal after only 15 minutes was a surprise. I unloaded half my long positions at, as it turns out, the high of the day. My thought was to hang on for a continued up move after a pullback. But, the pullback never stopped!

The S&P, Dow and Nasdaq broke through Friday’s low to notch new lows. But, the Russell did not make a new low…although it did close below its 200MA. The Dow tested its 200MA but bounced back up. The S&P broke through its 200 but managed to recover and close above…. A wide range day on all indexes. You would think with all that volatility the VIX would have gone up. Instead the VIX moved down. With the VIX down and the RUT not making new lows, there is some hope for the bulls.

The House passed the latest version of the debt-ceiling crisis bill. Now onto the Senate. It traders hated the announcement of a deal, just what will they do once it’s approved? Well, futures are near the low of the overnight session as I’m writing. Oh my!

A little bit of economic reports every day this week, but Friday brings the monthly aggravation of the employment situation…which can’t be too good. And of course, the never-ending debt-crisis will continue to wreak havoc. Can’t wait til it’s over so we can go back and worry about Europe! ;-)

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Getting close

Published on July 31, 2011, 7:29 pm in Trading. Closed Tags: , , , .

Traders are on the edge of their seats waiting for the official word….will they or won’t they?

Politicians and diapers have one thing in common. They should both be changed regularly, and for the same reason!

On Friday, the S&P and Russell tested their 200 day moving averages….and successfully bounced off it.
S&P July 29 tests 200MA
Futures are giddy Sunday evening and anticipating a resolution to the debt-crisis as they pop 20 points (ES) at the get go. Still a very news driven market. :-(

We’re going to start off the week with ISM Manufacturing numbers along with Construction Spending. But remember there’s a big employment report on Friday!

I bet on a resolution on Friday so I’m long the Russell and financials. Now here’s hoping that this evenings happiness lasts at least until Morning!

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The debt bet

Published on July 24, 2011, 10:52 pm in Trading. Closed Tags: , .

So now traders are playing the raise the debt ceiling bingo. Tonight it looks like a big no…or at least the uncertainty is pretty scary! The ES futures opened 18 points lower. That’s real scary. Is it time for a crash? Let’s see what Monday brings.

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Nothing

Published on July 20, 2011, 11:20 pm in Trading. Closed Tags: , .

Nothing happened today…the markets ended where they started. Some good earnings reports, some not so good…traders just didn’t know which way to go. Or maybe they weren’t around at all. Volume was low.

I continue to trade small positions, not very often. I guess I’m contributing to the low volume. On the other hand, I’m getting a lot of projects completed around the office. Trading-wise, this has to be one of the slowest seasons I have endured…so far at least!

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Not much today either

Published on July 6, 2011, 11:28 pm in Trading. Closed Tags: , .

Another day of markets going nowhere…but on a bit higher volume. It’s been a narrow range week so far, only 14 points in ES, but futures are looking bullish this evening. Of course we have a long ways before the US open.

But we’re kicking off two days of employment data with ADP report and Jobless Claims on Thursday and then the biggie Non-farm Payroll and Unemployment report on Friday. So I’m looking for some volatility soon.

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Closed at the highs!

Published on June 28, 2011, 7:16 pm in Trading. Closed Tags: , , .

Markets closed near their highs as traders anticipate good news from Greece by Wednesday morning. And we did have some good news on home prices, although consumer confidence was down a bit. The VIX closed at its lows. Both Monday’s and Tuesday’s rallies were on fairly low volume, both days about the same. Can’t complain though, unless you were short.

I didn’t like the way the news reported all the riots going on in Greece without mentioning that the Greek markets were up along with the Euro as well as other European markets. I finally turned off CNBC and concentrated more on the charts. I think I’ll look back to this week as the moment I turned off financial news while trading! Should be a good habit.

Remember Thursday is the End of the Month, End of the Quarter and End of the First Half 2011. Lots of window dressing going on, and could be the reason for the buying. Money managers want to get stocks into their portfolios before the reports need to be sent out.

Earnings season is about to start again….in about 2 weeks. And next week we have the monthly Employment reports. The big question, is this the summer rally and how long will it last?

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Happy Monday

Published on June 27, 2011, 11:20 pm in Trading. Closed Tags: , , .

I sure hope we haven’t used up all the summer rally in just one day. A nice up day on Monday usually looks for a nice down day on Tuesday. But do we really have to?

Took profits on some QQQ Jul 54 calls, then just sat on my hands.

ES futures sitting in a narrow 3 point range so far, but we have the whole night before us.

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