Day Traders wait for Non Farm Payroll Data ahead of a busy Friday

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The James’ Report: Professional Resources for Professional Traders

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Crude oil futures trading inside the range from Thursday at the highs of the range, the highs of the price wedge, highs of the bear price channel. If price rises inside day tells me to sell PHOD, sell the highs of the price channel and price wedge as well as the resistance above them starting at 83.33, 83.76, 83.98 etc. If price falls to new lows we are selling retracements down to the BMT 80.83 where we need to be careful in the middle of the range. If price keeps falling we will buy the PLOD first at support. If that support at 79.08 breaks we then sell retracements down to the price wedge lows and major support at 76.94, then buying the major support and price wedge lows before we look for new lows down to the price channel lows around 75.17

Gold futures trading in the middle of Thursday’s trading range, in the middle of the price wedge and sideways range. If price rises I’m selling the PHOD, price wedge, and range highs 1668.0, 1675.5, 1681.5, and the resistance above the range highs 1694.6. If price falls to lower-lows I’m buying the price wedge lows and PLOD as support. If this support is broken we sell retracement down to the price wedge lows and major support 1609.3 where we will buy this support. If price makes new lower-lows below 1605.8 I will sell retracement down to the next major support levels below 1596.6, 1585.0 and keep repeating this process of buying at support first, then selling retracement if we make new lows below that support level all the way down to the lows of this sideways range.

I added a price alert indicator to the 89range chart to remind me when to get serious about a trade on gold.

The Euro is trading in a bear price channel, at the highs of the range from Thursday, and the middle of the price wedge. If price rises im buying Pullbacks above the PHOD 3445 all the way up to the highs of the channel and the wedge. sell the wedge and channel highs as resistance. if we break above the bear channel im looking for the reversal to bring price back down, and will sell at resistance as price rises to new highs above the channel highs. We know the higher percentage trades will be to the short side with this bear channel. if price falls i need to avoid the middle of the range 3350 area. I will buy the PLOD 3272 as support and buy the wedge lows below the PLOD as support. if we break below 3235 we then sell retracements with new lower lows, down to 3142 the next major support. we will then buy the channel lows and the lows of this range around 3142.

Mini-Russell Futures just failed above the PHOD so the sellers were too strong at the highs and we now have a short term sideways range to trade with.

As price rises I’m selling the highs of the price channel and the HOD starting at PHOD 672.0 and up to the highs above the HOD. If price falls I’m buying the lows of this range at 663.6 and then with new lower-lows I will sell retracements below down to the bull price channel lows where I will buy at support. As price falls to new lows below the price channel I am buying at support on the way down.

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Around the Globe this morning:

– U.S. employment report set for release in NY morning 830am EST
– Germany and France are said to be in disagreement about the EFSF
– The ratification of the EFSF in national parliaments is still facing stiff opposition in Slovakia
– Upcoming weekend sees another meeting between German Chancellor Merkel and French President Sarkozy.

– European shares traded choppily during the session ahead of the release of the US nonfarm payroll due out during NY morning. Initial jobless claims came better than expected yesterday and traders are looking forward to another significant indicator of the health of US economy. Meanwhile, in Europe there is not yet a sustainable solution. Bank of England stunned markets with a £75B increase in its asset purchase target which signals that the bank is worried about downside risks to economic growth.

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Today’s Economic News:

All eyes this morning on 830am Non Farm Payrolls, which is our biggest news event we have, so we expect to see 1 of two scenarios. Either the number will come out as-expected and the market will shop sideways from being ‘price-in’ already, or if the number comes out better/worse than expected we will have a very fast-moving and volatile environment that can be very difficult to trade, so don’t be afraid to sit on your hands and wait through it.

Once we get through 830am news we then go through the 930am us open, then followed by the last news event of the week 10:00am Wholesale trade, which will be a minor blip on the radar for traders on a Friday.

I expect to see volume taper off quite quickly after 1030am today as traders finish up the first week of the new month and quarter earlier due to the attention to the 830am news.