Markets meandering

I think the mission of the market at this point is to wear us down and either chop us up with whipsaw or burn us out with boredom.

The key will be to preserve capital and sanity for the period when this phase is over, which could be any length of time.

I made the mistake of being to far out of the market during June and July, because I was so burned out on this.

I want to be ready when the next action phase begins, I just hope it isnt 5 years from now.

 

Let's not put too much on today as many were absent due to Jewish holiday.

 

This is very true!!! One more holiday to go this weekend. Plus the main earnings pre-announcement season is coming up, and earnings themselves are coming soon, one month. That should liven up the action for us. Otherwise, just keep staring at those walls, so you prevent yourself from blowing yourself up, or get churned to death.

 

Very good point. Seemed like about 30% of the office was gone today. I should've taken that as a hint. Thanks for pointing that out.

 

Anyone still bored?

 

Seems like mornings have been ok for a week now and the afternoons have been useless. Are siestas catching on in NYC or what? Everyone was up and trading at 3am last night...

 

Yeah it's so slow, I keep thinking my real time feed server is going down.

 

As choppy as this day was, the afternoon provided us with some great moves. You just had to make sure you didn't get shaken out.

 

And it is one bombshell after another.

First JPM, and now EDS.

No one is going to be making any commitments to the market from the long side until this period is over with.

Historically, September has the most volatility.
And October has a habit of setting-up major lows due to the fact that Equity Mutual Funds book their capital gains, ( and capital losses ) for the year, as of October 31st.

That's one of the reasons for such a strong Nov, Dec, and January period, and why most tax-loss selling is done by the end of October.

 

Just looking at the daily chart for the dow and the nasdaq reveals the sideways activity from the last week of July or so thru now.

Interestingly, all the systems I have written had monster months in June and July and not nearly as good August and Sept so far.

The nice thing about decreased volatility is it implies pending increased volatility...just like channels, flags, pennants, triangles, inside days, NR4's, NR7's et al.

You gotta love the quiet times because you knwo the good times are coming and you didn't miss it. Of course, quiet for too long doesn't pay the mortgage.