Happy 2010 to one and all- I hope we all enjoyed some much needed down time and are primed and pumped to get back to a good year ahead of trading. What did you traders do on Thursday afternoon to the tape?!! Whatever you did, I like it- looks like bearish engulfing acres on the charts! This last month in particular has been a true test of patience and resolve, so if you've made it this far consider yourself a little more seasoned for the year ahead.
Every trading blog and every financial web site is full to the brim of prognostications and cacophony about what might lie ahead in the market, but when it boils down to nothing but minerals burning at the bottom of the pan, the only thing that matters are the charts we have right in front of us. A few months ago I watched a trading video created by a former shrink turned pro trader. The thing that really stuck with me overall was his take on trading blogs and the posters therein. The Reader's Digest version of this trading nugget was that he had closed his own live trading blog but continues to visit many others each day to get a feel for what retail traders are thinking, and often takes the other side of the trade. Ouch. Can we use that trick too to some extent? After all, this is a trading blog for retail traders, but can we tune out our own self-created cacophony a bit and examine our own calls and use that to our advantage this year? I actually think we can, and I actually believe we have enough technical talent as far knowledge and variety goes, (as well as basic fundamentals) at this trading table to make some giant scissor steps this year. There is an extra added element of what I know is an effort to pitch in and support and protect each other here as well that truly makes this group extraordinary. There lies my confidence in a good year ahead, no matter what the predictions are for the months ahead and definitely no matter which way the tape swings.
I'm hoping DDT will sound off for us on his DM views of the charts later tonight, but I wanted to share a few things in my chart folder before the craziness all begins again in a few hours. I also stumbled on a good site with audios of analysts from all sides of the trading spectrum I think you might enjoy. There are two interviews in particular I enjoyed- Charles Nenner and Bill Fleckenstein, so scroll near the bottom of the list and you'll zero in on those. We have a busy week ahead on the Economic Calendar, including the always fun and enlightening (/sarc) unemployment data coming up this Friday and FOMC meeting notes on Wednesday, but tomorrow we'll start out with: Construction Spending and ISM Mfg. Index at 10 AM EST. There is a light schedule of earnings announcements this week, but notables include: MOS, MON, FDO, APOL, SCHN and LEN. Get ready to fly traders! (even if it’s by the seat of your pants)
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