This post was contributed by a guest author, and does not necessarily reflect the views of Richard or MovetheMarkets.com

Popular opinion would say to stay away from the 1st hour of trading. I signed up for the UTC, so I could learn how to do it. I could see I was missing opportunites, or worse, losing money. I’m pleased with what I found.

From this post by Dr. Brett, you can plainly see that you have to learn how to trade the opening hour.

Moreover, we can see that essentially all of the market’s upward trend has taken place during the first hour of trading. The first hour has accounted for about 1116 points of gain during 2007; the middle hours have lost about 780 points; and the last hour has gained about 719 points. What that means is that daytraders who sit out the first hour of trading have not, as a whole, benefited from the upward market trend. Indeed, there has been something of a downward trend to the market’s middle hours.

This post was contributed by a guest author, and does not necessarily reflect the views of Richard or MovetheMarkets.com

This post was contributed by a guest author, and does not necessarily reflect the views of Richard or MovetheMarkets.com

Zoomie and Prospectus have been asking for charts. I almost don’t want to do it, because the methods I’m employing are fairly simple and repetitive. With that in mind, if you are trading stocks, sign up for the UTC. If you are trading futures, I would prefer you stay in the dark! :-) Its really changed how I view the markets. I originially signed up to see the setups she uses to trade the morning action. I mainly concentrate on very few setups. However, I continually read over her transcripts from actual trading sessions. I think that has done more to help me than anything else. There are only so many outcomes, and traders constantly do the same things at certain levels. That’s all I’m going to say on the matter. You have to subscribe to get the information. Its worth it. This post is getting so long, I feel like Prospectus.

Anyway, here’s the chart. As you can see from this 2 point range chart of the NQ, a nice low risk entry was provided. I was able to get on board as the train left the station (hat tip to Teresa Lo).

Here is the 5′ view. It didn’t really offer a low risk entry unless you shorted the breakdown. The stop was a little rich for me, so I was able to short the pullback. The range chart offered the tight stop I was looking for.

This post was contributed by a guest author, and does not necessarily reflect the views of Richard or MovetheMarkets.com

This post was contributed by a guest author, and does not necessarily reflect the views of Richard or MovetheMarkets.com

The last two days have more than paid for the Ultimate Trading Course. Teresa Lo recommended that I either use a daily or 15-minute timeframe. As a compromise, I have been experimenting with using limit orders to gain entry after the trade triggers. Two trades for two big winners in the last two days.

This post was contributed by a guest author, and does not necessarily reflect the views of Richard or MovetheMarkets.com

This post was contributed by a guest author, and does not necessarily reflect the views of Richard or MovetheMarkets.com

This is a trade I made Friday based upon two of Teresa Lo’s discretionary setups found in The Ultimate Trading Course. As you can see from the 5′ chart of the NQ, it was testing the highs of the trading range. I was actually expecting a breakout here, but I was waiting for confirmation. It seemed like it would be a repeat of Thursday’s rally into the close.

I was also watching it on a volume chart (3000). I noticed a Trader Vic 2b pattern setting up. A variation of that pattern can be found here. The variation is more aggressive than the pattern I played. Honestly, I wasn’t confident that it would continue to sell off, so I waited.

On the volume chart, the uptrend line is in black (like you couldn’t figure out which was the uptrend line). The upper limit of the trading range (volume chart) is yellow. The line in the sand is the green line. Once price breaks the uptrend line, you have the 1st step complete. According to the Easy as 1 - 2 - 3 pattern, you don’t need it to make new highs. You just need a test. This one actually ran the stops, so that’s even better (point 2). I waited until it breached the green line (point 3). The market paused briefly forming a narrow range inside bar (the Pause). Its very similar to a dummy play that I was used to doing with stocks. Its a low risk entry in a fast moving market. The entry is circled. It dropped like a rock for the rest of the session. I wish I could tell you that I got a quick 30 points on the drop, but I only scalped for three.

I particularly like the Fast Flag, Pause, and Wunderbar patterns. You can actually wait for the move to get underway, and jump on board. That was the only trade I made. Having the confidence of knowing I could gain an entry in a quick paced environment, gave me the peace of mind to actually let the move confirm itself - in whichever direction it eventually decided to go.

This post was contributed by a guest author, and does not necessarily reflect the views of Richard or MovetheMarkets.com

This post was contributed by a guest author, and does not necessarily reflect the views of Richard or MovetheMarkets.com

I copied this exchange between Teresa Lo and a friend (taken from the Ultimate Trading Course).

TLo: One of my friends said to me, “If you’re such a shit hot trader, you should be making money hand over fist.”

TLo: I said to him, The more I trade, the more I know the dangers and the more conservative I become. And the more conservative I become, the more I trade only the scariest and/or fast setups, because I know there is either a reversal or momentum.”

Did you catch that? She only trades the fastest markets, because that’s where its the safest. That’s counter intuitive. From my experience in chat rooms, there are many times that I have sat and watched the market run away. I had no idea where to get in. Invariably, when I did finally jump aboard the runaway train, that would be the top/bottom. You see the experienced traders (those who bank money on most days - Stewie, DT), are taking part.

How do you get the confidence to do that? I would guess it comes from having a solid plan that works. You know where you’re getting out when it doesn’t. My problem was that I didn’t have a solid plan for entering a fast market. Thanks to the UTC, I’m getting one.

I will give a quick example of the most confident act I have ever seen. We’ve all either tried talking to girls while stopped in traffic, or at least seen someone else do it. If the light is long enough (or if they both ignore the green to keep talking for a few seconds), you can guage how strong his game is by her reaction. I was stopped in traffic about five years ago, and I saw a guy that was driving a port-o-let truck try to pick up a girl next to him. I was directly behind him, and the truck reeked. It smelled exactly like you think it would. It took balls to even do it. I don’t know if he actually got the number, but you could tell by her reaction that she was at least, on some level, into him. They say girls like confidence. You have to be one bad mofo, and know it, to run game while you are hauling shit.

Now back to my nerd festival — studying the UTC, and trying to learn how to use Wealthlab.

This post was contributed by a guest author, and does not necessarily reflect the views of Richard or MovetheMarkets.com

This post was contributed by a guest author, and does not necessarily reflect the views of Richard or MovetheMarkets.com

I signed up for the Ultimate Trading Course, and am pleasantly surprised. It has far more information than I could have imagined.

I don’t use Esignal or TradeStation, so I have been putting it off. I was interested in her discretionary setups to trade the morning action. That in itself was worth the cost, but its only the beginning.

One of the problems that I have faced, in my trading journey, is trying to put it all together. Like most of you, I have a ton of trading books. She has read them, and more. Thankfully, she put it all together in one place.

The only regret I have now is not doing this when I first set out to trade futures. Better late than never.

This post was contributed by a guest author, and does not necessarily reflect the views of Richard or MovetheMarkets.com