Setting Up Your Day

Going into today preparation was the key.  Talking with most of the traders on our desk, last week was a very frustrating week.  I know for myself the important thing was to not get frustrated, review the week, and come into today with an objective view of the market and what stocks I would be trading.  Last week the market had been flat and trading was very stock specific. 

In our morning meeting we were expecting a trend day from the market.  Whether that move was above the 113.20 area or below 112 was insignificant.  What was important was knowing how you were going to trade that scenario if it happened.  Our overall bias was to the long side so if we broke 113.20 we were going to trade that scenario with higher expectations.  The important thing was to have your list of strong stocks and levels that you wanted to get involved at so if the market broke there would be no hesitation.  Once the level in the SPY broke and held the long side was the only trade it was just a matter of getting involved with the proper share size. 

Our desk made most of our money in Best Buy(BBY), Caterpillar (CAT), and American Express(AXP).  This was the type of day to make your week or if properly sized your month.  Last week was a grind while today the market did what it was supposed to do. 

Remember preparation and setting up your day is the key.  Identify strong and weak stocks.  Identify and set alerts for the important levels.  Write down what you are going to do at these levels.  Spend your day executing not coming up with trading ideas.  Have a good night and best of luck tomorrow. 

Kyle