July 16-17, 2019 — Despite the tough market conditions, we’re still doing well (knock-on-wood) in my LIVE! Trading Room as we day trade some of the most volatile and profitable markets. We focus mostly on the Stock Indexes — the E-Mini S&P (ES) and E-Mini NASDAQ (NQ) — and Crude Oil (CL).
These stock indexes are staying near ALL-TIME highs. That makes them difficult and dangerous. However, after a fantastic week last week, we’re still doing well this week as conditions tighten.
Started In A Small Hole — But Traded Out!Members Grabbed the FULL Daily Profit Target In Less Than 5-Minutes!
A Tough Morning — But We Traded Out of A Hole
July 16: After an initial scratch trade in the E-Mini NASDAQ (NQ), both market structure and price action were suggesting lower, so I sold and we promptly got caught in a HFT trap. When I recognized that, we took a small loss, like I prefer, to avoid a bigger, full loss. We then sold again and got whipped-out. There was little to no volume and the HFTs were completely in charge, whipping price. It was tough. We finally bought, counter-trend, and price just refused to move up. However, we were able to at least clear the early small loss and make a little lunch money. Sometimes that’s the best you can do. Day trading out-of-a-hole, is not something newer traders and struggling traders find sexy but it sure helps in the long run!
The FULL Daily Profit Target In Less Than 5-Minutes
July 17: Today was a bit easier. I told Members in the Top-Down Analysis that I thought the Stock Indexes, especially the E-Mini S&P (ES) and E-Mini NASDAQ (NQ), were set to push higher before moving down. I predicted the initial range where intermediate resistance would be found. Our Game Plan called for selling near that resistance. We did and Members walked away with their FULL Daily Profit Target in less than 5-minutes! Conditions didn’t warrant trying for an Add-On Day today so we stopped and had the rest of our day to enjoy, having finished our “job” in just over 5-minutes.
Remember: These markets conditions can literally change any day.
Volatility can return at any time.
We’re ready for it! Are you?
If your days haven’t been as good as the ones we were fortunate to enjoy these last couple of weeks, you could join us in my LIVE! Trading Room as soon as tomorrow!
July 15: After the FANTASTIC week we enjoyed last week — calling almost TEN-TIMES the monthly subscription fee in a single week — and that wasn’t a lucky once-in-a-blue-moon thing — we were overdue, perhaps, for a tough and trying day. We got it this morning day trading the Stock Indexes (ES and NQ) and Crude Oil (CL) in my LIVE! Trading Room.
Recaps of Last Week:
If you haven’t already read about last week, you can find my summaries here:
Like all of last week (except Wednesday when FED Chairman Powell made his “surprise” remarks at a breakfast meeting) there was NO volume this morning and the Stock Indexes stayed super-glued near their ALL-TIME highs. That scares-away serious buyers. Why? Because how can you put $1-Million plus at risk buying near ALL-TIME highs? How can you put that same $1-Million plus at risk selling a market that is staying plastered to ALL-TIME highs? Well . . . you don’t! You sit back and wait for some more “surprise” news about China. If anyone in the Trump Administration even uses the word “China” in a sentence the markets will react!
Still, even though conditions this morning were difficult, we almost had the full Daily Profit Target TWICE! Once when we got whipped-out of a nice 40-tick NASDAQ (NQ) winner; and first when I didn’t do what I should have done and sold the Open when market structure and price action were telling me it was a pump-and-dump in-progress. So, as always, it’s on me.
Day trading these volatile markets in my LIVE! Trading Room can be very profitable — if they’re moving. Day trading these same markets when there is no volume and no volatility can be very dangerous and very challenging.
How Mistakes Can Come Back and Bite You
However, like I told Members . . . Players and coaches know you usually don’t get cheated out of a ballgame by the refs. Fans who didn’t play think so. But YOU put YOURSELF in a position that a bad call (innocent or on purpose) costs you the game! If you made that TD catch in the 1st Quarter — or if you had cut right instead of left in the 2nd Quarter — or if you had stopped that 3rd and 3 in the 3rd Quarter — it wouldn’t matter what the refs did in the 4th Quarter. We didn’t have the Daily Profit Target stolen today by the HFTs as much as I gave it away by not selling the Open and being finished with a Daily Profit Target PLUS morning in less than 5-minutes!
But you know what? We’ll be right back tomorrow and try to make these HFTs give us the one they cost and more on top of that!
Here’s Some Good News
Even more importantly, though, we didn’t get hurt today either!
I can almost guarantee that new or struggling traders — or even experienced traders — that still need help with patience or discipline (or both) — all got chopped to death this morning.
If you’re one of them, you can join us and be day trading on our side in the LIVE! Trading Room as soon as tomorrow!
The Daily Profit Target (Again) Solidly Today!A Good End To Another Great Week!
July 11-12, 2019 — We finished another great week day trading the Stock Indexes — E-Mini S&P (ES), Emini NASDAQ (NQ), E-Mini Russell (RTY) — and Crude Oil (CL) — in my LIVE! Trading Room.
Except for Wednesday, when FED Chairman Powell made his “surprise” remarks at a breakfast and shot the markets up-up-UP — after they had mysteriously churned up-up-UP the day before, without retracements — almost as if some insider banksters “knew” what he would say the next day (Nah!) . . . Monday-Tuesday-Thursday-Friday this week saw very little volume and either dead or whippy price action as the HFTs were in complete control and the Stock Indexes stayed plastered to near their all-time highs. I explained in the LIVE! Trading Room how and why this affects price action and what to expect going forward.
Time For Summer Scalps?
It’s that time of the Summer when we usually consider taking my “patented” Chartsky’s Summer Scalps.
Last year, for the first year, volatility remained high enough for us to continue pursuing regular trades and normal Profit Targets.
You can see from what we achieved this past week, volatility is still there — just coming in fits-and-spurts . . . so I’m not ready to give-up valuable ticks and so we’ll wait at least another week before considering Summer Scalps.
On to the specific days . . .
July 11th — The Daily Profit Target SOLIDLY Earned
July 11 — As usual, we were PATIENT and DISCIPLINED and that’s even more important when conditions are tougher and mistakes are harder to recover. Also, FED Chairman Powell was scheduled to “testify” before one of the countless Committees or Sub-Committees in the House of Representatives. I discussed how that works in the LIVE! Trading Room but you can sometimes see price spikes before, at the scheduled time of, or during these regularly scheduled appearances. Even though we were front-run by the HFTs in the E-Mini S&P (ES), we had the FULL Daily Profit Target in the E-Mini NASDAQ (NQ) right at the 9:30 Open but price whipped us out of an excellent Entry before turning to the Profit Target. That happens. So we kept going. We took a long break and came back and waited for market structure and price action to scream “SELL!” and we did in the ES. There was a companion trade available in the NASDAQ but not the same market structure so it wasn’t an official call.
July 12th — We Turned To Crude Oil For the FULL Daily Profit Target
July 12 — With the Stock Indexes pretty much dead and stuck in either WHIP or UGLY WHIP, we turned our attention to Crude Oil and caught a great Entry and sat through 4-5 candles of dead whip until price turned down fast-and-hard just like I told members of the LIVE! Trading Room to expect. It came right back but we had milked that one for a solid 20-ticks and the FULL Daily Profit Target.
I’ll make a video on my YouTube Channel of the July 12th Crude Oil (CL) day trade since it can help folks understand the need for PATIENCE with both their Entry and their Trade Management. Not much is said or written about patience as a part of trade management . . . although I’ve been talking about it for years. It’s very important though.
So, like I wrote, we were fortunate enough to see a good end to a great week and if your results on this past tough week weren’t as fortunate, you could be trading with us in my LIVE! Trading Room as soon as tomorrow!
Daily Profit Target PLUS! and Finished In Less Than 10-MinutesFULL Daily Profit Target Again QUICKLY!Daily Profit Target PLUS! Today
OK . . . I’m back from the golf course and sure enough — as soon as I missed a day posting charts of what and how we day traded in my LIVE! Trading Room, someone sent an e-mail asking for them!
It’s NOT my intention to post charts every day — although if it’s helpful, I’ll certainly be happy to consider it. I do appreciate the e-mail request!
What I don’t want though is for folks to start using the charts as a guarantee of what they will get if they join us in the LIVE! Trading Room. Why? Because trading is cyclical and past results are no guarantee of future results. With that warning, I’ve been doing this for long enough that what we accomplish in the LIVE! Trading Room is certainly not lucky . . . but I can best explain by telling you about a guy (about a year ago) who watched just 2-3 of the videos on my YouTube Channel and saw they were Add-On Days (those were the ones he picked) and he signed-up and immediately got angry when I didn’t stay every morning to call an Add-On Day just for him!
We may get 2-3-4-5 days straight of difficult price action (or non-action) and walk away empty-handed. Listen, almost ALL of 2017 was tough. Then 2018 got volatile and more than made up for 2017! Price may start spiking counter-trend and we walk away with a losing day (which, knock-on-wood, we haven’t had for some time) — or we might keep plugging-along and getting the Daily Profit Target or the Daily Profit Target PLUS! or Add-On Days in these nicely volatile markets.
July 8th — Daily Profit Target PLUS! In Less Than 10-Minutes:
Anyway, on July 8th — everything we saw in the Top-Down Analysis was telling us the markets wanted to go farther down and our Game Plan was to be sellers. We tried selling up near the yellow S-R Level in the E-Mini NASDAQ (NQ) and correspondingly higher in the E-Mini S&P (ES), and when we saw that wasn’t going to happen, we caught the E-Mini NASDAQ (NQ) and the E-Mini S&P (ES) right after the 9:30 Open, as they started down harder than anticipated . . and we got nice winners in both markets for the Daily Profit Target PLUS! or maybe even a small Add-On Day.
July 9th — Daily Profit Target Trading the Other Way:
On July 9th — we had a two-part Game Plan but when the Stock Indexes opened so strongly, we bought a break of the green S-R Level in the E-Mini NASDAQ (NQ) and grabbed the FULL Daily Profit Target quickly — before price started chopping or whipping. We couldn’t get a fill in the E-Mini S&P and, since I don’t like to “chase” price, we just let that one go. It was kinda’ strange though, WHY they would suddenly and without any breaking news, be so strong at the 9:30 Open . . . but we try to trade what we see. We could have stopped in less than 10-minutes but hung around to see if the markets would give us opportunities for an Add-On Day. When it didn’t, we stopped.
July 10th — Daily Profit Target PLUS! and Just Missed An Add-On Day:
Today — on July 10th — we were buyers from the 9:30 Open because FED Chairman Powell made some ultra-dovish remarks at a breakfast meeting well before the 9:30 Open and the Stock Indexes shot up. At least we now know why they churned up-up-UP yesterday . . . almost as if Goldman-Sachs and J.P. Morgan and Wells Fargo and what’s left of DeutschBank all “knew” what he would say the next day. But . . . nah! Of course, we know they don’t get “insider” information and they’re just so dang good they somehow else “knew” the markets would go up the next day and so bought-bought-BOUGHT on Tuesday without allowing a single retracement (and then even piling-on into the Close). We don’t need to get those memos . . . we read market structure and price action and try to take it from there. [NOTE: But if you want to send me the memos, I’ll read ’em!]. After they topped-out, you could only take counter-trend sells on a strong up-day or wait for the expected deep retracement (which I told Members about) — but which would have kept you off the golf course. LOL!
I don’t see how these days would add anything to the YouTube Channel so I don’t plan on any videos. Besides, I’ve already got too many lined-up to finish! However, if you have more questions, don’t hesitate to send them to me at my gmail.com address which is: ChartskyTrades. [I write it that way to confuse those hateful e-mail scraping spam bots].
. . . and if your results on Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday weren’t as fortunate, you could be trading with us in the LIVE! Trading Room as soon as tomorrow!
Another FULL Daily Profit Target Morning — In Less Than 30-Minutes!
July 3 — This morning in my LIVE! Trading Room — ahead of tomorrow’s July 4th holiday — with the decreased holiday volume as traders start their holidays early — we still had a quick Top-Down Analysis and developed a solid Pre-Market Game Plan. We knew to look for day trading scalps and, although it took two tries, we grabbed the FULL Daily Profit Target from the HFTs in less than 30-minutes.
Knock-on-wood . . . that’s 3-days in-a-row of either the FULL Daily Profit Target or an Add-On Day! Add-up the last 3-days for yourself and it would have paid for MONTHS and MONTHS . . . and this is why my friends say I’m crazy to call day trades in the stock indexes (ES, NQ and RTY) plus Crude Oil (CL) for what I do!
But I enjoy it . . . and even though I don’t advertise, word leaks and spots fill-up fast . . . plus I may increase the cost since even at $500 a month these last 30-days ALONE would still pay for MONTHS of access! So you might want to stop watching and start trading . . . with us!
There’s not much else to say. It was simple and straight-forward and actually a little boring — which is what professional trading can be and should be. If YOUR results don’t match what my LIVE! Trading Room members got these last 3-days . . . you could be trading with us as soon as tomorrow! Well, tomorrow is a holiday so Friday.
I’ll post a video of today soon that addresses some important things we covered, like why we entered where we did and why we pretty-much KNEW price would run down and give us the 40-ticks and FULL Daily Profit Target we were looking for.
July 2 — Today the stock indexes (ES, NQ and RTY) were dead and whipping with no news due — and Crude Oil (CL) was going straight down — as we battled the high-frequency trading (HFT) computers in my LIVE! Trading Room.
They were especially difficult to trade using the small stops we employ — because of the whip.
To make matters worse, not everyone got in on the first trade because of the caution I urged, and so I kept going to try and sneak-out the Daily Profit Target for them too.
We were finally able to do that when market structure and price action both supported potential sells — which we took — and snatched the Daily Profit Target out of the NASDAQ before a 10:30 anemic move up.
I’ll post a video talking about how we trailed this particular trade soon.
July 1, 2019 — We ended June with some really nice days to cap-off a great month and it continued as we started July today in the LIVE! Trading Room.
Following hints of good news about the US-China trade disputes, the stock indexes (ES, YM, NQ) all spiked up sharply at the close on Friday. They gapped farther up when markets re-opened Sunday night.
In case you don’t know, we day trade some of the most volatile and profitable markets including those stock indexes: the E-Mini S&P (ES), the E-Mini NASDAQ (NQ), the E-Mini Russell (RTY) and Crude Oil (CL) in the LIVE! Trading Room.
Today was a little difficult because while the market structure supported price testing the highs, once they did we found there weren’t many buyers and price started declining. When the market structure and price action supported selling, we quickly transitioned to our Plan B and became sellers instead of buyers.
In doing so, we captured a FANTASTIC Add-On Day!
I’ll make a video showing the trades and explaining a little more how and why we switched to Plan B selling. Look for a link here soon. Until then, I’ll be posting daily screen captures from the LIVE! Trading Room.
As I write this we’re still in the last days of 2018, but what I’m about to suggest will apply whether it’s the first week, the second, the third, or even later.
Since I don’t advertise, and since I don’t have an Internet marketing person constantly promoting my LIVE! Trading Room, it’s not the first anyone ever finds. Most have been to several (some even more) before they find me.
I’m told that almost all of those other trading rooms offer free trials and I guess you could spend months floating from one free trial to another and never get any closer to your trading goals. In fact, it would surprise me if taking so many free trails didn’t have an adverse psychological effect! It’s not the purpose or scope of this short post to explain why — but you have cash capital in your Trading Account and psychological capital (if you’re still lucky) between your ears. Once you run out of psychological capital it’s just as hard to trade successfully as it would be trying to put on a trade without any margin available.
Before my Blog got nuked in the server fiasco of November 2016, I had some articles that discussed trading psychology. Even though it’s now the flavor-of-the-month, we’ve been talking about its importance for YEARS. I’ll try to re-write about some of those concepts in the coming months.
But if you’ve suffered a series of bad losses quickly — or small losses for a longer time — both your trading account capital and your psychological capital will have taken hits. Maybe serious hits.
Someone with little to no psychological capital can be handed one of my mechanical systems that has an excellent winning percentage — and would still manage to self-sabotage and find ways to lose!
Similarly, someone with little to no psychological capital can take the signals I call — IN ADVANCE — and manage to get far different results. Their subconscious mind will find ways to self-sabotage. That’s just one reason I speak with each and every new member before their first day in my LIVE! Trading Room.
However, regardless of your past things CAN change for you! Before you continue to nibble-away at your psychological capital . . . and jump from free trial to free trial . . . why not make the decision to try us for just a month? There are no long-term commitments you have to make — there are no special indicators you have to lease — there are no systems you have to buy. We’ll work to restore your psychological capital and try to help you make a few bucks (all while learning good habits).
We day trade some of the most profitable futures markets every morning in a LIVE! Trading Room: The E-Mini NASDAQ (NQ), the E-Mini S&P (ES), Crude Oil (CL), Gold (GC) and the EuroFX. We may soon add the Dow into our mix as well.
I’ve added videos to my YouTube Channel so you can have the benefit of a virtual “free trial” at your leisure — and one that will definitely not cost you an ounce of psychological capital to watch!
If you have any questions, you can find my direct e-mail address at the end of each video.
Chartsky
P.S. — And don’t worry, you can recover or add psychological capital in case you’re running low right now. If you’re still willing to try, it’s not too late.
Those who had the chance and missed 2018 — don’t worry — there will still be great trading days/weeks/months — but don’t let the same thing happen in 2019.
Look for an updated post suggesting how you can take advantage of the LIVE! Trading Room in 2019.
In an announcement that brings the federal government to the verge of a weekend shutdown, on Thursday (December 7th) Democrat Leader Nancy Pelosi said her group won’t support a Republican bill for a two-week funding extension because almost none of their demands have been met.
Speaker Paul Ryan, appearing at the same podium just minutes after Pelosi left it, said he’s optimistic the Republicans can win enough Republican-only support to pass another Continuing Resolution (CR). On Thursday, The Hill reported Speaker Ryan said, “I feel good where we are . . . “
Well, maybe he does but I don’t and the markets don’t seem all that thrilled either as there was a 2:00 p.m. (EST) sell-off. in the Stock Indexes Then the whip count was texted to the banksters (the number of committed “yes” votes by Republican Congressmen), the Magic Levitation Team stepped-in and we saw a hard bounce right back up that continued into the close
HINT: Non-Farm Payroll is tomorrow. Don’t think for a second the friendly folks at Goldman and JPMorgan and Citi and DeutschBank, et al. don’t already know the magic number the rest of us will see for the first time at 8:30 a.m.
But as far as government spending — by CR or otherwise — we’re already over $20-TRILLION in the hole . . . what’s another $100-Billion or so? C’mon! We already pay $229-BILLION — and rising — each and every year on the national debt (it’s actually more but they net what we supposedly receive from interest against what is paid); the U.S. pays about $600-BILLION a year on the military; and $1.25-TRILLION a year on social security with another $985-BILLION on medicare!
— 87% of mandatory spending is on social security and medicare
— 53% of discretionary spending is on the military
The United States spends almost $700-BILLION a year more than it takes in via taxes and all other revenue!
Anyway, according to Bloomberg, the bill is a “waste of time” that doesn’t include funding for combating the opioid crisis, among other priorities like enshrining DACA provisions into law, something Pelosi has said must happen before the end of the year. But, hey, kick the can as far as possible. If only 2-weeks then you have 14-days to get the PR machines working on why the other side is to blame . . .
Speaking of blame, the two party leaders wasted no time blaming one another for the precarious situation. What else is new? It’s WWE Professional Wrestling on display with YOUR IRA, 401(k) and other retirement on the line.
The current CR expires at midnight on Friday — December 8, 2017.
If it expires, who knows what will happen when the markets re-open?
12/7 Update: Yep, as expected, the can was kicked 2-weeks down the road. But the House of Representatives won’t have as easy a path to getting another CR because the House Freedom Caucus wants things the Republican Establishment is not really willing to give. Forget the Democrats who will obstruct-obstruct-OBTRUCT and try to use this as an election issue for the November 2018 campaigns! Plus, even if it somehow cobbles enough votes to pass the House, the Senate is another whole dysfunctional thing!
Again, I ask: What will happen to markets as a result of the U.S. Government effectively running out of money and shutting down? Something to keep very much in mind . . .
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World Market Cap Near $100-TRILLION!
First, the 2017 right edge looks a lot like the INSANE Bitcoin chart to me.
Second, understanding what this top chart is might help. It’s the total capitalization (current “value”) of all the stock markets in the world.
Update: The first chart was “debunked” (for days) by the corporate-controlled propaganda media outlets because, supposedly, Venezuela was counted wrong by a little. Right math. Used their Stock Index value — but it wasn’t “adjusted” to reflect what “would have been” — kinda’ like the non-GAAP financial statements from the corporate world. Anyway, they’re using the same old trick: argue about individual trees and ignore the forest! What difference does it make if the world cap is $90-Trillion or $85-Trillion? It’s still going parabolic!
I keep telling everyone in the LIVE! Trading Room that markets are broken! We see more and more evidence of it all the time. But . . .
When anything goes parabolic, it’s a bubble that’s due to POP!
It’s like the Dutch tulip bulb mania — version 5.0.
Don’t know what that is? Well, it’s happening right before your eyes in Bitcoin and stock markets.
OK kiddo . . . get comfortable . . . here’s the story: In 1593 tulip bulbs were first brought to the Dutch from Turkey. They were new and unique and became popular quickly. Then some sort of disease struck — which didn’t kill the tulips, but which caused them to flower in wildly exotic patterns. This increased the rarity of an already rare and popular “asset.” So tulips, which were already expensive, became even more expensive — especially according to how the most exotic patterns were demanded and how many were available (supply). Everyone — farmers, barbers, metalworkers, grocers, etc. — began to deal in tulip bulbs which was essentially speculating in the informal Tulip Bulb Market — a market which apparently had no limits. Tulip bulb merchants (like garden centers) bought for the next season which decreased supply even more. Soon, prices were rising so fast and so high that ordinary people were trading their land, their life savings, and anything else they could sell to get more cash to “invest” in tulip bulbs. Many Dutch stubbornly believed they they would sell their hoard to foreigners, and thereby become instantly super-rich. At its peak, the originally overpriced tulips saw a twenty-fold (20X) increase in value — in one month! [Now stop and think . . . You might have managed to get in early and have 5 tulip bulbs and be able to afford 5 entire estates. But until you actually traded for the estates all you had was imaginary wealth.]. Well, back in Tulipland, then the selling began. It started slowly and as prices fell more jumped on the bandwagon and a domino effect resulted. There were NO buyers — only sellers. Finally, the next natural step of panic-selling “at any price” kicked-in and soon most had lost everything! At the peak of the market, a person could trade a single tulip for an entire estate — and, at the bottom, one tulip (for which someone had traded their entire estate) was the price of a common onion!
Can you see the similarities to the markets and Bitcoin?
Both are going parabolic (pretty-much straight up).
Everybody is buying-buying-BUYING! Some are selling other assets to “invest” in tulip bulbs, oops, errr, I mean Bitcoin or the stock markets.
When “everybody” — your barber, your mechanic, your lawn service guys, grocery store managers, McDonalds managers — are investing in something (well, anything) because they all “just know” it’s going up-up-UP — then if I haven’t already, I sell.
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It’s like the actual New York stock broker I met while traveling to Costa Rica in late-2006, I think. Now, of course, this was before the banksters were hitting CTRL+P and creating more imaginary money every day to flood the markets.
The Dow was so clearly (to me) topping and I had just encouraged my buddy (who was in the group that went with me to Costa Rica) to liquidate. When he called his guy at Edward Jones — he told my buddy he was nuts! He was a real professional (I guess unlike me) and the market was absolutely going higher-higher-HIGHER!
Well, in Costa Rica we came across three young stock brokers and we started chatting about all the beautiful girls and the best places to go at night, etc. One asked what I did for a living and, aside from practicing law and writing, I said I was a day trader.
“Ooooh, can you believe the markets? Going to the moon!” he said.
“Nope,” I replied, “they’re topping and are gonna’ come down. Maybe a lot.”
“You’re crazy!” he insisted.
Even after I explained exactly why, he said he was “backing up the trucks as soon as they got back to New York and loading-up!”
In other words, he was going to borrow money and margin and buy as much as he could — because those tulip bulbs were only going to get more expensive.
Well, the moral of the story is that my buddy made out like a bandit. He saved 100% of his 401(k) and got back in after the correction. To this very day, he still has to buy me beers when we go to a favorite sports bar.
And we still drink a toast sometimes to the bankrupt stock broker.
When everybody says buy-buy-BUY — if I haven’t already — I sell.
When I see the World Market Cap going parabolic — I worry for everyone else.
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Speaking of Bubbles — How About The Dot.com Bubble?
I’ve been trading since the 1980s.
WOW! That’s over 30-years!
Anyway, I’ve seen and lived-through a lot . . . and younger traders might not have seen everything I have.
Heck, I can still remember when I was lucky enough to pay the exorbitant monthly fee I did for live data via satellite and so I had real-time charts and could call my broker to place swing trade orders in the mid-1990s.
Today, I press a button and get an instant fill. WOW!
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My children and grandchildren have never known anything but the Internet, while I can remember a time my Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) and Pong game were cutting-edge. LOL!
The Internet started to catch-on in about 1995, I think. Some 10-years after my Nintendo.
Soon, the IPOs of internet companies emerged with ferocity and frequency, sweeping the nation up in euphoria. Investors were blindly grabbing every new issue without even looking at a business plan to find out, for example, how long the company would take before making a profit . . . if ever.
It was buy-buy-BUY!!!
The NASDAQ — where almost all were listed — rose and rose and rose. I’ve often said a chimpanzee could have thrown a dart at the wall and you would make money on whatever stock it landed on.
But obviously, there were problems. Serious problems. The first shots through this bubble came from the companies themselves. Many reported huge losses and some folded outright within months of their offering. Silicon Valley overnight-millionaires were frequently moving out of $4 million estates and back to the room above their parents’ garage.
In the year 1999, there were 457 IPOs — most of which were internet and technology related. Of those 457 IPOs, 117 doubled in price on the first day of trading. In 2001 the number of IPOs dwindled to 76, and none of them doubled on the first day of trading.
The NASDAQ lost about 78% of its value as it fell from 5046.86 to 1114.11.
If you invested when everyone was buying-buying-BUYING — and you were lucky — your nest egg of $100,000.00 was soon worth about $22,000.00 . . . and you got to start all over again! If you borrowed and “loaded up the trucks” to invest in the Dot.com Bubble, well, you’ve probably met that former New York stock broker who once could afford a trip to Costa Rica.
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Speaker Ryan Eyes Push For “Entitlement Reform” In 2018
The Hill reported that last Wednesday — the day before the 2-week CR was passed — Speaker of the House Paul Ryan (R — Wis.) said House Republicans will aim to cut spending on Medicare, Medicaid and welfare programs next year as a way to trim the federal deficit.
“We’re going to have to get back next year at entitlement reform, which is how you tackle the debt and the deficit,” Ryan said during an interview.
Actually, there is a very good TWO-prong approach:
(1) Decrease spending — across the board; and,
(2) Raise income (i.e., taxes).
Neither of these will be popular to Americans but the answer is a coming hard crash instead of a softer, more manageable landing.
No country can continue spending $700-BILLION a year more than it takes in and survive. The only thing that has allowed the United States to do it for so long is the devil’s deal cut with Saudia Arabia decades ago that required all crude oil transactions to be settled in U.S. Dollars.
That makes the U.S. Dollar also be known as the Petro-Dollar — and it is under attack by other, rightfully jealous countries all over the world! Those attacks are becoming more and more coordinated and now involve China and Russia. The days of the Petro-Dollar are indeed very limited and the U.S. must get its financial house in order before it’s too late!
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Anyway, I’ve served in elected office and understand the legislative process a little at least.
I also know it’s best to negotiate from a position of strength.
The Democrats, who are in the minority in both the House and Senate and out of control of the White House, demand DACA (immigration-related: Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals) be made permanent law and that’s their biggest demand and, thus, bargaining chip right now.
Making them choose between constituencies — those who are Latino, for example, versus those who receive “entitlements” — places them in a much weaker position and forces them to choose. They can’t have both: DACA and “entitlement” programs as currently funded. And make no mistake, the GOP is not about to touch social security and medicare — so they might initially lump those in but for all intents and purposes are only taking about SNAP (food stamps) and TANF (formerly called AFDC years ago) and Medicaid.
I differ from the far left-wing Democrats and do not want to see generational, or multi-generational, families living off government assistance — without doing anything to help themselves. But I also differ from far right-wing Republicans and do not want to simply cut-away the social safety net SNAP, TANF and Medicaid provides. There has to be some middle-ground.
But what does this have to do with day trading in the LIVE! Trading Room?
First, depending on the budget situation and what happens vis-a-vis a U.S. Government default or shut-down, the Stock Indexes, and currencies, and Gold could respond violently.
Second, this is a hot-button issue and could result in civil unrest or outright rioting if a substantial “entitlement” cut is made. The fabric of American society has never been weaker — with already hate-filled responses if you don’t agree with someone’s politics. Can you imagine them having their “entitlements” cut? That will also affect the markets we trade.
Third, with more cards on the table, it becomes more likely that other matters, such as tax reform and immigration reform, can be agreed to and passed. Those will have repercussions in the markets we day trade as well.
Forewarned is forearmed!
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