Directional plays can be really tough on the account over the long haul. Maybe consider investigating different types of straddles and strangles.
Hopefully the above quote does not imply you have been trading swing trading ETFs and you've now decided to ask what tools, information that's needed to do such successfully. If so, why would you be trading if you know you're not prepared to trade ? What have you been using so far for trade decisions ? Yet, if you have not been trading...why did you settle on swing trading the ETFs of the S&P 500 ? Reason why I ask the above questions because I have a strong belief that successfully trading involves more than just trade strategies. Therefore, I recommend you start a trade journal here at Elitetrader.com in which you reveal as much information as possible about your swing trading habits so that other members can provide useful information that's more specific to your needs. Seriously, it took several posts by others before you even coughed up the fact that you're a swing trader of ETFs of the S&P 500. You're lucky because I've seen others start threads like yours and I would see 20 - 30 replies before the person revealed what they were trading, their trading style, how they've been trading so far and then see that none of those replies had anything to do with what the trader was doing or trying to do. Therefore, you ask about what information you would need. 1) You need good research skills so that you can find the easy answers on your own. 2) You need to be honest enough to determine what you're doing wrong and make sure you focus on such. For example, I've seen very often threads like this and then after about 10 - 20 pages of replies...the thread starter reveals he/she has a serious discipline problem, trading with scared money, lacks risk management...revealing many things that should have been the focus of the conversation from the beginning. 3) You need to be able to be very specific about what you've been doing as a trader and how you relate to the markets and I'm not talking about trade strategies. The above may sound harsh but its the reality of being a retail trader in how we communicate with others or lack of communication when we hang out at anonymous discussion forums...that anonymous nature and can be problematic when we really need help. Once again, start a swing trade journal here and just maybe you'll be able to discover what your really need or you may discover you really don't need anything and that you already have it all. Thus, you just need to be better at managing it all or change how you're using it. Trade Journals @ http://www.elitetrader.com/et/index.php?forums/journals.29/
Concentrate on the wheat and disregard the chaff. 1. Consider the big picture from the news = Fundamentals 2. Drop down to regional e.g. S&P, FTSE, Dax etc depending where you live. 3. Drop down further to the blue chip companies of your region. If you live in the middle of nowhere then use the USA companies like Apple, Google etc.