Author: Scott Hoffman

The US Dollar is higher; risk assets are soft this morning.  There have been downbeat comments about the economy, notably Bernanke’s interview on 60 Minutes.  Moody’s cut Hungary’s bond rating, and...

I’m working to write a piece about discretionary versus mechanical trading. Using discretion when trading can be dangerous for a new or undisciplined trader, as it can lead to piecemeal application of sensible trading...

TrimTabs says the November NFP was better than reported Humorous Wikileak quote involving Goldman Should traders meditate? This weekend I’ll be watching this talk (90 minutes) on how to rewire your brain

An awful lot of traders trade the eMini S&P futures – on a notional basis, eMini futures trade about 5.5 times the volume of the SPY ETF.  Do a Google search for eMini trading rooms, educators, systems or courses...

One of my favorite setups to trade is breakouts –  looking for the directional moves that often occur after a contraction in volatility.  As volatility is often cyclical, a contraction in volatility is often a...

On Friday the eMini NASDAQ futures had two of the patterns I monitor for breakout setups for my Trade or Fade newsletter; it was an inside day and had the narrowest trading range of the previous four sessions.  This meant...

European stock markets are around 1 percent lower on fears that the Irish bailout won’t contain Europe’s credit problems as traders now focus on Portugal and Spain.  The Euro has recently spiked lower; I...

It’s a half day for the markets; everything is closing around Noon CT.  There are no economic reports out during the trading session; weekly money supply is out later this afternoon.  More shooting between the...

In marketing my services I offer the user’s guide to Swing Trader’s Insight (STI).  (You can get a copy of it here).   I call the STI user’s guide a “Guide to Swing Trading Futures”. ...

Last night’s euphoria over hope for the Irish bailout has given way to new concerns as there is a lot of domestic resistance in Ireland to the bailout.  Moody’s said there may be a multi-level downgrade of Irish...