SCT Podcast

How do you start your trading day? Do you watch the open or check the markets mid morning? Every trader has a daily plan that they follow, in this episode of the SCT Podcast Sarah and TJ share how they set up their trading days and the strategies they use to tell how the market is going to move that day.

I have been coaching a number of new traders over the last few months, the 5 week beginner options program has been very popular. As part of this program, I have two one on one coaching sessions with each participant. Its wonderful to work with individuals based on their needs because it also gives insights as to where traders are struggling. Here are three things that I wish everyone would remember about trading:

 1. The Tortoise and the Hare have some important lessons for all traders.

Whether you are new to trading, or have been trading for years, it is important to remember the key skill of being patient, and realising that trading is about the long game. Only a minute amount of extremely lucky people will gamble with their money and hit it rich on the first go (this is not trading, this is gambling). Most will need to spend time trading in the markets in order to gain mastery as such, you need to trade more like the tortoise, and not the Hare. While you may want to go all in, and place big trades looking for big wins, most often the trader trying to sprint to the finish will only end up blowing their account up. The trader with smaller, achievable goals, who focuses on trading many times with attainable profit targets, and cashing in the profits as you go, will often be the most successful.

 2. Don't Second Guess Yourself

While I agree that everyone needs to create goals and look to take the most profit out of the market as they can, if you are always going back and second guessing your trades, you are probably making yourself more unsure of yourself. Once you have taken profits in a trade, don't go back an hour later to see what the stock did only to say to yourself; "man I left profit on the table, I should have held the trade to make more money". When you make decisions to exit a trade, you do it in the moment, in real time, so it is important to make the decision making process as routine as possible. Try not to let your emotions get in the way of making the decisions for you because the worst case scenario is that you hold a trade too long because you are second guessing yourself…and you lose the profit you had. Instead, write down the evidence, the reasons why you are getting out the of trade at the time. This process will help to ensure you are making rational decisions about your trading.

 3. Don't make you trading goals 100%

Nobody should try to get 100% of your trades right, this is unrealistic. I can't tell you how many people think that it is about perfection, but think about it, how many other things in life do you do that you do at 100% all of the time?...be honest with yourself…

Setting achievable goals for yourself will build your confidence and help you focus on your strengths in trading. Create trading goals that are focused on keeping losing trades small, and finding many achievable winners.

Futures contracts are typically what traders think of when the hear the term day trading. Options contracts can be day traded just like futures contracts or stocks. There are many options strategies that work well for day trading. 

In this episode of the SCT Podcast, we discuss out favorite ways to day trade futures, we talk about the best days of the week to day trade and the strategies and stocks that work best.

As the seasons move from summer in to fall, the markets are also seeing a transition. As a trader, you want to be able to recognise the signals to ensure you are adjusting your trades according to how the market is moving. The S&P is no different. This past summer was particularly interesting as there was more volatility on some days with the volatility drying up the following week. We had days with lots of trade entries, followed by days without trades at all. The market which saw highs of 2900 in January with a hard sell off, and moved back to the 2900 this summer. Now that the markets are coming off the highs with a controlled move, it looks like the fall is setting up for some great trades ahead.

One stock that has been headlining is AMZN with its projections to be a 3 trillion dollar company. While everyone is discussing this stock Im not trading it. Typically, this is a stock that look to trade every week, it is usually a great candidate for a credit spread on a weekly basis. The stock trends nicely which allows for strong levels of support or resistance, providing ideal levels to trade based on credit. But, for now, as the stock is printed on most media outlets, I will be waiting to trade it.

Should you hold both long and short positions in your account at the same time? If the market is rallying should you look to buy puts on stocks that are moving lower, or ignore these stocks in favor of stocks that are moving up with the market.

In this episode of the SCT Podcast we will discuss whether you should play both sides of the market just to be safe, or if the better strategy is to always trade with the market momentum and direction.

Apple just passed one trillion dollars in market capitalization. This is a new milestone for the stock, but what does it mean for the average investor?

Should you buy Apple now, or is it too late now that Apple is making all time highs?

In this episode of the SCT Podcast we discuss our opinions on Apple stock if we think that it is a good trade or if the ship has sailed.

The market is beginning to dismiss any news as a non event. With the many and ongoing news stories to make headlines, the market looks like it is tiring and resisting making any sudden moves. The shock and awe moments seemed to have changed to ho hum just another news story moments.

The market needs to move, it's like a shark, if the market doesn't move then there is no market. 

In this episode of the SCT podcast we discuss how the market is essentially ignoring the most recent comments from the President and actually moving upwards in an opposite direction to what would be anticipated. We also discuss how this lack of reaction is building and might culminate in a large unexpected move.

There are many ways to trade the broad market, from futures to ETF's traders have many ways to place trades and participate in the broad market.

Indexes like the S&P500 and the DOW are talked about daily in the media, but they can also be traded.

In this episode of the SCT Podcast we focus on how to trade the S&P500 index using ETF's and the SPX cash settled index. We discuss the differences between the SPY and SPX and the strategies for trading each. 

This summer promises to be a volatile summer. With the many factors impacting the market to continue over the summer traders will continue to be able to find great setups as the market should keep moving until the fall.

In this episode of the SCT Podcast we discuss where we think the market will move this summer and the best strategies we are using to make the most of the continuing volatility.

In this episode of the SCT Podcast the team discusses if the small cap rally will last despite the weakening of the large cap indexes. Are the small cap indexes a place to invest during this uncertain political time?