2/3 Today In The Market, Had To Fight Through Difficulties

Today was another day of profitable trading with the School of Trade! We had to be very selective in our trades today, mostly due to the Crude Oil Inventories being released at 10:30am EST. It is always important to be aware of any and all news events that are coming out during the trading day; because you never know how it will affect the market you might be trading. We were able to take a total of 3 trades today, going 2 for 3 with a total profit of $80 on 4 contracts.

Our first trade of the morning came on one of the E-mini’s, the Mini-Russell (Symbol TF). The mini-Russell stayed relatively flat with little volume until the start of the U.S Equities market opened at 9:30am, at which point buyers jumped in the market and price began quite an impressive rally into the 10:00am hour. It was at this time though, that the rally began to weaken, and as the buyers began to take profits off the table, more and more sellers looked to be entering the market; setting up a perfect counter-trend trade for us. At 10:17am EST we were able to capitalize on the quick trend reversal with our 2-step pattern, getting an entry price of 620.9 to the short side. After seeing price action form a double top in price it wasn’t long before the market started to sell off, allowing us to take profits at +4 ticks (2 contracts) for a total of +8 ticks on our first trade of the morning ($80) (Price Patterns Technical Analysis Futures Video).
The second trade of the morning came shortly after our first, and was also executed on the Mini-Russell (Symbol TF). The market had continued to oscillate around its newly made highs, and after a pullback in price, we began to look for another quick trend reversal, this time to the long side. At 10:37am EST, with our Pace of the Tape indicator as well as other technical indicators we use, showing decreasing selling pressure, we placed an order to go long on the Mini-Russell at 620.4. Our order was executed quickly, and we watched with the utmost concentration on the price action, to see if our first target would get filled (Identify Market Sentiment For Day Trading Futures). After seeing price trade up to, but not execute at our first profit target, we quickly decided that it was time to exit our trade, and ended up closing at a small loss of -2 ticks (4 contracts) for a total of -8 ticks (-$80).

At the point in the morning, all the news had been released, and we were at break-even, which considering the price action today wasn’t too bad at all. Many traders that are in this position make a decision to either continue trading, or stop for the day, we continued. Our third and final trade of the morning didn’t come for about an hour after our previous trade, and this time we looked to the Crude Oil market to provide us with the right opportunity ( Crude Oil Futures Day Trading Video). At 11:49am EST, the Crude Oil market provided us with a just that; after a small rally to the long side, we entered short with our 2-step pattern at a basis of 80.42. It wasn’t long before more sellers scrolled across the ticker tape, and we knew we were in the correct direction of the market; we were able to lock in profits at +4 ticks (2 contracts) before closing our trade, for a total profit of +8 ticks ($80).

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