Rule No. 1 when trading the S&P 500 futures is that there are no rules, only patterns. The algorithmic programs that controlled yesterday’s reactions to news releases jumped in front of every order, on every book between the New York Stock Exchange, the P Coast, the NASDAQ, the CME Group and every other venue that […]
The S&P futures started out lower Tuesday, sold off hard and then rallied. Greek headlines and index arbitrage sell programs helped push the ESH15 down to 2056.50 in the early going and the index could not have looked worse, but @ChicagoStock, a well-known trader from the MrTopStep trading room, came out saying that the […]
Timing is everything when it comes to trading the S&P 500 futures, and yesterday’s short squeeze proved the point. After the S&P sold off down to the 2033 level, the futures pushed back from the weakness in the euro late Friday and rallied over 16 handles in the final hour. After trading higher in […]
Yesterday was “switch day” for the S&P and Nasdaq futures. Switch day or the rollover happens at the end of each quarter when the expiring front-month contract is replaced by the next front-month contract, in this case going from the March contracts to the June contracts. The roll tends to take away volume from […]
The S&P 500 goes up and the S&P 500 goes down, but recently it’s been more down. Like anything in life, it’s all about risk, and with the NASDAQ composite reaching 5000 and the highest it’s been since the 2000 tech bubble, the markets decided to take a breather. MrTopStep.com believes that if you’re […]
The MrTopStep Imbalance Meter (MiM) http://closingimbalance.com/ and yesterday’s winning trades: It was a good day for the traders of the new MrTopStep MiM Trading Room. There was a lot more conversation, but I’ll stick to what I think best describes how the late-day trade went down: Marlin ( 3:19:01 PM ): offering 50.75 Marlin ( […]
Positive economic headwinds and the continued pounding of the drums by the Federal Reserve that it’s going to raise interest rates soon don’t seem to be affecting investors’ appetite for the stock market. With the S&P 500 futures (ESH15:CME) down six out of the last eight sessions and the weak close on Friday, most […]
SELL BONDS / SELL S&P A powerful jobs report reinforced the idea that the Fed could start to raise rates as early as June. The CBOT’s June 30-year bond contract rose over 3 full points while stocks closed sharply lower. As the ECB gets closer and closer to launching its new quantitative easing plan, European […]
“S&P Slip & Slide”