I was just talking with a friend and we both had a great time today on ES/NQ/YM/RTY and CL of course. While it has been perfectly trade-able the past year and I guess good for the ETF guys, nice and simple just going up, for intraday Futures it has been low volatility. Seems Nasdaq reached to hit 7000 and crashed back hard. Davos/Trump thing perhaps, seemed early but it was going to anyway. Nothing compared to the Eurozone crisis days. Perhaps with America First rearing it's head, the Chinese are going to start playing rough. I see the Dollar Index has dropped below 90. Possibly a significant thing. I hopefully some grand volatility returning in the coming weeks?
You comment reminded me of https://www.elitetrader.com/et/threads/this-is-what-bulls-have-been-doing-to-bears-lately.317437/ That is a video representation of what it looked like in the market today. (Couldn't post it here directly, too graphic I think. ) I missed most of it because I went long right at the peak after taking some small gains early, then had to leave for an appointment right at the bottom before ~1:30 PM ET and let the long fester. I got in on that drop elsewhere anticipating that bottom at about 12:30PM, but it fell for another bit. At least that later entry is currently green. Just have to allow the bad longs to recover now. But my God man, the charts do look like a bloodbath! Hehe!
I actually past 1000 round trips today on 5 instruments which could be a first for me. Maybe not an entire church load but it felt close hehe. Not the most efficient trading as I've been scalping hard for months, good return however I'll calm down and get into longer target mode if it continues. I want long wicks on hourly candles, more 20 point ES runs, a few 40s, easy on the 60s but bring it on. I am tired of easy but meh days and relaxed smiles on stock trader faces.
The psychological barrier of 7000 was good to bring some NDX vol back. NDX and RUT appears to be the only hedgeable indexes. Everything else keep going up like no tomorrow. After the last FANG stock announces earnings is most likely when vol will start spiking. Today's 2-hour pull back, allowed me to close some of my hedges for minimal losses and put some new ones in place.
Everything is hedgeable, InTheMaking. Show me the one thing in the Universe which you can't hedge and I'll show the first quadrillionnaire in history. The US dollar is going down like there is no tomorrow. To the point where the Mexican peso has become a great investment in the US. Why do you claim the US markets are going up like there's no tomorrow? Because of your perspective. Not because it's the truth... “Everything we hear is an opinion, not a fact. Everything we see is a perspective, not the truth.” - Marcus Aurelius (121 - 180 AD)
You're right! The going-up-like-no-tomorrow wording was mere hyperbole to indicate exuberance in the market. Its was also stemmed from a rhetoric of frustration of recent failed hedges placed on Gold and Nat Gas. There's definitely infusion of new money coming into the market. Appears the money is definitely giving a speculative boost on other seeming uncorrelated instruments like Metals and Nat Gas. Yes, that's my perspective. But it doesn't matter if its the truth or perspective. As traders, we just need to capitalize earlier on the changing perspectives of the mass