topstep Archives – Chartsky Trades

July 17, 2019July 17, 2019

July 16-17, 2019 — We’re Still Day Trading Well In My LIVE! Trading Room – Despite the Tough Market Conditions

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, 2019July 15, 2019

July 15, 2019 — After the Fantastic Week We Enjoyed Last Week – A Tough Day In the LIVE! Trading Room

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:

July 8-10th

July 11-12th

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!

July 13, 2019July 13, 2019

July 11-12, 2019 — Finished Another Great Week Day Trading In My LIVE! Trading Room

The Daily Profit Target (Again) Solidly Today!

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.

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!

July 10, 2019July 10, 2019

July 8-10, 2019 LIVE! Trading Room Continues Day Trading Stock Indexes With Success!

Daily Profit Target PLUS! and Finished In Less Than 10-Minutes

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!

July 3, 2019July 7, 2019

July 3, 2019 — LIVE! Trading Room Enjoys Another Great Day Into The Holiday

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.

Have a happy and safe 4th of July!

July 2, 2019July 7, 2019

July 2, 2019 — The Full Daily Profit Target . . . TWICE!

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.

December 26, 2018December 26, 2018

2019 Can Be THE Year Things Change For You!

2019 is almost here.

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.