@rsotc, hope you’re having a great Dad’s day weekend. What about a video on back to basics 101 stuff, like risk management, asset and portfolio allocation? Most of us think we already know it all, but I’m sure I’m not the only one on here trading without stops and needing a refresher.

Asked you this question awhile back: ”I know you are trading several personal accounts with different timeframes: for daytrades, swingtrades, and 401k money. What would be your suggestion for percentage allocation of a portfolio to those 3 areas?”

@rsotc: swing trading is obviously the main focus of this site. Could you possibly throw in a few more tidbits about your day trading?

What are the dangers of day trading the recent sloppy SPY range 297-323?

Basically, I share what I see via the posts with videos and/or written commentary & charts. The frequency of the trade ideas as well as the analysis that I post on stock market, gold, commodities, bonds, etc.. will depend on market conditions (e.g.- a more volatile, fast-moving market had rapidly changing technicals & hence, more updates) as well as the number of compelling trade ideas that I come across at any point in time.
Over the years, I’ve learned that with swing trading, there are periods of fairly consistent & sometimes rapid gains spaced out between the lulls where the market or particular sectors, commodities, etc.. are just not very conducive to swing trading, such as consolidation periods following a big move.
Recent weeks have been one of those periods where swing trading has been challenging with the broad market (SPY) trading in a range from about 297- 323 since May 26th and most other asset classes besides equities (gold, bonds, commodities) have also been trading in a relatively sloppy range in recent months.
Add to that the recent price action in the broad market which is somewhat unusual. We have very solid & clear sell signals last week but since then, the market snapped back (although not enough to negate the sell signals yet) & has been grinding around since, making both long & short-side swing trades difficult lately. I’m going focus a little more on sharing the best-looking trade setups, long & short, as I cut back on my market analysis somewhat, at least until there are some significant developments worth noting.

I appreciate the feedback & will take that into consideration. There are days where I have a pretty good read and/or strong convictions on where the market might be headed during the day or into the close & I usually do try to communicate that via written posts with a couple of charts. I’ll make a point to do more of that, especially if/when I see something compelling but on the grind-around days like today, I often don’t have anything worthwhile to point out so I spend my time reviewing charts & market data, scouring for the next trade ideas or any developments in the market worth noting.

I believe that’s what gold membership is for, with trading room and stuff. But I concur that spending 25 mins talking about the market grinding around the same level is a waste of time.

However I love to hear Randy’s voice so I can’t complain, and I feel a little more traction with the market when I listen to voice commentaries from him, since the static text and images do not reflect his stance towards the market as much as his voice, either hesitation or confidence.

So I can’t say he should stop doing it. We had weeks when a few folks were trolling him and he switched to gallery format, can’t say my favorite. That’s said, tough call.

$SPY gains 1.50% or more and closes below its open?

Only dates that match.

1/3/2012 – Up 12% in 3 months
9/19/2008 – down 32% in a month
9/8/2008 – down 34% in 1.5 months
8/17/2007 – up 9% in 2 months then the market peaked
10/17/2002 – up 8% in 1.5 months
6/2/2000 – flat for 3 months then start of massive bear market