Sure, unarguably a positive for the market as tech (especially AAPL & the other top-weighted components of the indexes) will absolutely beneficiaries of that.

To me, that headline/decision by the WH, was a near 100% certainty, as I’ve spoken about in recent videos (AAPL is the poster-child of US dominance in technology & innovation.. Trump & everyone in the US knows that I won’t kill the stock… which would also kill the US stock market & hence, the US economy).

As such, I completed expected that, as I’m sure many professional fund managers did, just as I predicted we would get the abatement/pause on the tariffs before that. Hence, the reason I was long/bullish before those headlines hit. So basically, how much of the recent 16% rally off the lows in the $NDX have already priced this in???

CVX at VERY GOOD long-term support so objective here with stops somewhat (relative to your price target & loss-allowance/stop preference). Here’s my weekly chart.

I’m open to that potential but have been long Bitcoin until today (Monday morning) as I just closed out that position along with my index longs in pre-market due to the reasons stated in the first post I made today. I’ll definitely be posting some more updates on Bitcoin this week.

Too long to put (type) in words here but I’ll be glad to talk on it in one of the upcoming videos. Many variables, many factors that go into my thinking on that.

To add to that, I don’t hide my “take profits” orders (i.e.- sell limit order on longs, buy-to-cover limit order on shorts) as I prefer they see those & move up (or down) to fill them. Plus, the ‘visible’ limit orders that are sitting on the exchange are more likely to be filled than the hidden orders (which your broker doesn’t send to the exchange until that price is reached) in the case where that is around the point where the position you are in reverses, especially in a fast-moving market.

Let them become complacent. I’ll join in the short when the time is ripe.

Yes, Randy’s the BEST!

Thanks for this insight!! My broker is Lightspeed and their day trading app has a number field for “Shares” and below it a number field for “Visible” which I assume is this “hide” feature you’re referring to.

I normally set visible to 0, with this current assumption. :)

Could you please expand on your comment that this bear market will play out differently than others?

Some brokers, mainly those that cater to professionals, like Interactive Brokers, provide an option to hide your stop-loss orders until the stop price is reached which helps to prevent getting taken out in a stop-raid, especially during periods of lower volume.

Instead of sending the stop-loss order to the exchange, which is the norm, a hidden order remains at your broker until the stop price is reached.

I usually state the objective levels to set stops depending on where one entered a position although many of the trade ideas I share here are highlighted with multiple objective entry points. As such, everyone will have different average entry prices & even then, I often highlight multiple price targets. Therefore, some might target only the lower price target(s) while some might hold out for the higher price targets and, as such, the latter will typically have larger stops than the former, even if using the same R/R.

Finally, while I usually highlight where the objective areas are for stops based on a given entry point, the last thing in the world I, or any professional trader, often with large position sizes, is going to do is to tell the world exactly where my stops are & risk a pile on of stop-loss order at that exact level, most of which wouldn’t be hidden & as such, targets for stop-raids by the algos & market-makers.

I always “hide” my stop loss orders (a default setting offered the broker for my primary trading accts). A hidden order, unlike most retail traders use (because the main-stream retail/non-professional brokerages like Fidelity, Schwab, etc.. don’t offer that option) is not sent to the exchanges for the world to see until & unless the stop price is reached. That helps me avoid stop raids, especially on futures during the lower-volume overnight session.

I don’t think you find a service with first & foremost, such precision & accuracy on trades but if you’re struggling to keep up with such rapidly shifting (frequent reversals) positioning then you might be best sticking with the Warren Buffett buy & hold strategy if you have a long enough time horizon. Hope that helps & best of luck on your trades or more so your investments, if you’ve decided that swing trading isn’t for you.

If you are going to stick with swing trading, maybe consider standing aside during bear markets & periods of elevated volatility, like this, as you either pivot fast or perish if staying too late to the party during the fast & large rips & dips that come with it. Might be a while before the next low-volatility bull market but all I can say for certain is volatility is extreme right now & as such, one needs to be very flexible & pivot fast, stick with long-term trend positions and not try to trade actively, if not your wheelhouse, or stand aside until there is decent evidence that the correction or bear market has most likely run its full course.

IMO you’re totally right. They can see your stop orders in the brokerage system. I don’t know if these stop orders are actually sent to the “market makers” and maybe that’s why they can see them or if it stays within your brokerage… I believe the best solution is to don’t use a hard stop if possible.

If you have to (because you can’t remain in front of the computer all day) then set your hard stop up to 1% below your desired stop out number. The reason for this is it’s highly likely your stop out number is the break of a level or trend line or trading range. A high majority of the other traders will have their stop orders at the same technical breaks as you; they’re human too and they most likely identify the same technical patterns as you.

By setting your stop up to 1% below your desired stop out number you’re adding a good size buffer to the other people’s stop out number. Now when the market makers do their stop raids game you’re far enough away from it to not get impacted. Unless the market truly does break down/out the other way against you.

All my opinion, of course.