Last week was exciting as investments rocketed higher or tank… We saw Gold and the US Dollar pop while oil and equities dropped sharply with heavy volume.

Just to recap, Wednesday the market went into free-fall mode sending traders and investors running for the door. This was obvious from looking at the large percent drop coupled with heavy selling. That day the NYSE showed panic selling with 37 shares sold for every 1 share purchased meaning pure panic. In my Wednesday night report “How to Take Advantage of Panic Selling for SP500 and Gold ” I explained how to read these extreme market conditions and what to expect the following sessions.

Currently the price of gold, oil, spx are trading somewhat at the opposite extremes seen last week. Below are a few charts explaining the situations:

GLD – Gold ETF Trading Signals

This 60 minute chart shows gold getting hit hard on Wednesday morning. Investors and traders around the globe were closing out positions and moving to cash. This high volume dumping of positions pulled virtually all investments lower and was the first tip-off that the market was in panic mode.

One the dust settled and investor’s regrouped we saw money surge back into gold creating a nice pop the following day. Problem I see is that gold is now trading at a key resistance level when reviewing the daily chart. And if you take a look at the 60 minute chart below you can see the price of gold sold down in the morning on August 13th and drifted up into the close on Friday forming a bearish wedge. Also there was some very strong selling just before the market closed which is also a concern.

USO – Oil Traded Fund

Both times oil has fallen we have seen the price pierce key support levels where the bulls would have the majority of their stops placed. The intraday pierce causes the stops to be triggered washing the market of long positions while the smart money loads up accumulating everyone’s sell orders . This is something which happens with virtually every type of investment and the main reason traders get shaken out just before the market goes in their direction. Anyways, running of the stops is something I will cover in a future report.

Looking at the chart below you can see oil trading at trendline support. Each time the key support levels (blue arrows) have been pierced the market has rocketed higher. Just from looking at the chart from August 9th forward you can see that this move down is overextended and visually looks ready for a pause or bounce in the coming days.

*Trading Tidbit - When trading trendlines it is important to try and play the third test. Reason being is that the first two pullbacks create the trendline and the third test is when active traders generally jump on board causing a sizable bounce. Each test of a trendline it becomes weaker and the probability of a breakdown is more likely.*

SPY – SP500 ETF Trading Fund

The SP500 chart shows last week’s breakdown on the 5th test of the trendline. The market is oversold here and ready for a bounce which I hope we get this week. My concern is that the downward momentum is to strong and a bounce will be negated.

US Dollar Index

US dollar put in a huge bounce last week after testing is 61.8% Fib retracement level from the 2009 December low. The strong bounce has pushed the dollar up to a key resistance level which happens to be 38.2% Fib retracement level from both the December up trend and the recent sell off. I figure this will hold the dollar down for a few days easing the pressure on oil and equities.

Weekend Gold, Oil, SPX and Dollar Trading Conclusion:

In short, I feel there will be a relief bounce in oil and equities while the dollar and gold will have some profit taking and trade sideways or down at the beginning of the week. After that it looks as though stocks and oil will head lower while the dollar and gold rally.

If you would like to receive my Trading Analysis and Signals Complete with Entry, Targets and Protective Stops please visit my website at: www.TheGoldAndOilGuy.com

Chris Vermeulen

- About the Author: Chris Vermeulen is Founder of the popular trading site http://www.thegoldandoilguy.com. There he shares his highly successful, low-risk trading method. Since 2001 Chris has been a leader in teaching others to skillfully trade in gold, oil, and silver in both bull and bear markets. Subscribers to his service depend on Chris’ uniquely consistent investment opportunities that carry exceptionally low risk and high return. Reach Chris at: Chris[at]theGoildAndOilGuy[dot]com Article Source

I have certainly traded on a variety of trading platforms throughout the course of my career. Some platforms have been a joy and a sheer pleasure on which to work, and other platforms made me want to set my hair on fire. The variety and quality of trading platforms available to traders varies from awful platforms to excellent platforms.

Word out to meet, I would simply list the platforms that are of high quality and list the platforms that were awful. Unfortunately, if I took that approach the pile of lawsuits and cease and desist would have my mailbox overflowing. So I have chosen some characteristics of great platforms and enumerate why I think they are particularly effective.

Of course, the effectiveness of any platform is directly related to the quality of the data feed. For the purposes of this article, we will assume all platforms have an adequate data feed and simply eliminate that variable from the discussion.

1. A good platform has a quality set of charting tools at your disposal.  

When trading and active chart it is essential to be able to draw in trend lines, Fibonacci retracements, pivot points, and a host of other tools that traders other than myself may deem necessary. You should not have to have a degree in physics in order to facilitate the drawing of these symbols. The procedure for entering trend lines and other symbols should be effortless and accomplished without excessive thought. After all, your primary focus in trading is the price action on the chart not figuring out how to draw up lines on your chart.

2. A good platform should be easy to read and interpret.

A good platform should be easy to read and set up. You should not have to read a 200 page manual in order to operate the software. The chart should be clear and easy to understand and the index readings should be legible and prominent. Platforms that are difficult to set up, or require daily maintenance to set up waste valuable trading time and ultimately cost the trader money. A quality program will also save your settings from the previous day and when you start the program the following day the exact settings should appear, you should not need to add your oscillators and indicators on a daily basis.

3. A good platform has a complete set of oscillators and indicators.

There is nothing more annoying than using a platform that does not have a complete set of indicators or a method to add those indicators to the chart. Many lower end platforms feature five or six basic indicators and that is the extent of their functionality. Further, a good platform should allow you to adjust time periods and other variables in the indicators to your personal preference. Once again, it should not take an excessive amount of time to perform these functions. They should be self-explanatory and not require paging through the dreaded 200 page manual to ascertain how to set a 14 period setting on a commodity channel index.

4. A good platform allows for a number entry and exit options.

A good trading platform allows you to quickly set the number of contracts you intended trade while also providing you the means to set your profit target and stop loss limit. This should be a seamless activity and not require an excessive amount of time. Most good trading platforms also have a provision that allows you to scale out of trade at certain profit points. Further, a good platform will have an easily understood trailing stop feature that is simple to set up. You should also be able to set up a simple bracket trade with a minimal amount of effort.

5. A good platform never fails or crashes

There is no worse feeling in trading than being in an active trade and the platforms software fails. There is no excuse for software incompatibilities with operating systems. The platform is the essence of your profession and should perform as such. This particular requirement is one of my pet peeves, as I traded ones on a platform that was very unstable and made for a long and frustrating day. I have never used that platform again, and never will. Software designers are well aware of the design flaws inherent in trading platforms and there is absolutely no reason that these flaws should not be addressed in a manner which insurers the trader of a crash free trading experience. There is nothing worse than buggy software.

There are many other inherent flaws in trading platforms software, but these five stand out as deal killers in my book. I will not tolerate any of these flaws and will quickly change platforms if I encounter these problems with any frequency. Of course, a one-time glitch can be expected. But a consistent and reoccurring glitch in trading platforms software is inexcusable.

- About the Author: I am a long time retail and institutional trader who now only trades part time, usually in the morning. I enjoy writing informational articles about my style of trading so others may benefit. Would it be convenient to recieve valuable trading tips every night in your email? You can sign up for our free video series by Clicking here These videos contain advanced trading strategies and will enhance your trading knowledge immeasurably. Best of all, they are free! So get your free videos and start trading like the pros. Article Source

I think the most important fact, yes I said fact, regarding pivots points is they are a prediction of future support and resistance levels.  The key word in the previous sentence is “prediction” and traders should keep that in mind when trading pivot point systems.  I have always been conflicted as to why pivot points (PP) become important throughout the course of the day.  Most traders begin their day by plotting pivot points onto their chart.  With so many people using similar formulas to plot PP it is little surprise that the market stops at the calculated support and resistance levels.  Do the support levels and resistance levels occur because everyone is using a similar system or are they part of the natural function of the market?

It doesn’t matter.

As a trader I am only interested in what the market does, not why it exhibits certain tendencies.  I realize that is a bit of an obtuse answer, but it is one I have learned to live with comfortably.  Of course, it is often discussed among traders and each day trader has his opinion, but to trade the markets it is not necessarily important why this phenomena occurs.

On the other hand, some days the market pays absolutely no attention to pivot points and goes along its merry way without stopping at any particular point on the chart.  More often than not, though, the market will stop at the pivot points, or pause , or reverse right at the plotted lines.  My point is a simple one; pivots are very useful, except when they are not useful.  Whether the market will adhere to the predicted support and resistance is something that you must glean from watching the price action for a bit.  I typically don’t initiate my first trade of the day based on pivot points.

The formula for calculating the days support, resistance, and pivot point is as follows:

R2 = P + (H – L) = P + (R1 – S1)R1 = (P x 2) – LP = (H + L + C) / 3S1 = (P x 2) – HS2 = P – (H – L) = P – (R1 – S1)

S=support levelsR=resistance levelsH=hiL=lowC=close

As you might have surmised, the formula plots five lines on your trading chart.  These lines are commonly referred to as S1, S2, PP, R1, and R2.  S1 and R1 are the first lines of potential support/resistance on your chart.  The pivot point is the primary line of support and/or resistance.

Most traders have their own set-up to trade pivots, and I have three that are favorites of mine.  One is a break out through a resistance/support level.

Break outs often time occur when the market is in a consolidating mode and forms a horizontal channel, with the price banging off the top and bottom of the channel, especially if the channel is on a support/resistance line, as is often the case..  After this price action continues for two, maybe three cycles, I will set a sell a point below the channel and a buy a point above the channel. (I am referring to the ES contract here)  Generally the price action will break out of the channel and continue in the direction of the break out and you pick up the trade as it blasts through the channel parameters.  This is a pretty good strategy and can be very profitable.

Breakdowns are also a great way to use your pivots.  This trade is especially good if the market has been hitting a support/resistance line and stopping.  As the price action approaches the support/resistance line, I will set a buy one point below the line in hopes of picking up the trade as it pierces the line.  This trade can be a bit dodgy, especially if the market has been bouncing off the lines all day because the earlier bounces were usually followed a move in the other direction.  Your hope is that the move does not go through the line a bit (as it often does), pick up your trade and change directions.  Again, here you can set your order lower, maybe 1.5 points below the line if you are uncomfortable.

Finally, you trade the pullbacks from R and S.  Let’s say the market pierces S1 and heads straight to S2 and stops and reverses.  Often times the change in direction will go straight to S1 again, retracing it’s move down in the opposite direction.  Once it reaches S1 I will set a trade 1 point below S1.  More often than not, the trade will hit S1 and reverse field to the short side, and if it continues upward you stayed out of the trade by virtue of setting your sell 1 point below S1.  This probably my favorite pivot point trade, and comes with a higher degree of safety than most.  Of course, no specific trade works every time.  If I am stopped out twice on a pivot point trade, I forget pivot points for the rest of the day.

In summary, we learned that pivot points are predictors of future activity.  Further, as predictors they may or may not be effective on a given day of trading.  Your power of observation is key to understanding the effectiveness of a pivot point every trading day.  We reviewed three basic trades that I use; the breakout, breakdown and pullback.  If you learn to combine your trades with an oscillator or a tick chart, you will develop and even higher degree of activity in your trading.  Remember to check yourself when trading pivot points, never trade without stop-loss orders in place.

I endorse a state of the art trading program for beginners at Trading Concepts, Inc It’s an awesome product that will have you well on your way to success. Plus, it has a money back guarantee…you have nothing to lose and thousands to gain.

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