3 AOT Members Share Their Progress!

Hey folks!

I got these 3 emails from 3 different AOT members recently and I wanted to share their progress with you thus far!! 

So if you've been struggling lately or going thru a frustrating phase or perhaps feeling like you're hitting a "plateau" in your trading career right now.... Please read these 3 letters below!

If they can do it, YOU can do it too! 

No excuses! 

So here you go!! 

Hi stewie,

I've been a Member for around 6 weeks.  I was fed up with taking entries on break outs, following sensible and recognized criteria, then watching the price turn around in the chop and getting stopped out.  So I was particularly looking tor a service that would help teach me swing trading, rather than longer term trend following, to be able to make money in all markets, even choppy markets such as we've experienced over the last few months.  Boy, has Stewie met my expectations and more!

Separating the trading results from the education, the results have been very good - high probability trades with smaller draw-downs on the losers.  I would have made very good money but have been taking modest positions while I build my trust in the service.  Given the great return on risk that I've seen I'm now ready to move up my position size to what I regards as full positions (I'm a cautious chap!).

Turning to the learning, that has been no less impressive.  Stewie seems to be on a mission to share all he knows and educate his Members in all aspects of his craft.  What I especially like is how uses the actual trades along with subject specific emails to get his message across.   I love how simple and straightforward he keeps his teaching.

Since I started trading (rather than investing) last year I've read and heard countless times from greatly respected traders about how essential it is to be patient and wait for the high probability trade in the right market.  I have nodded sagely to myself and then gone on to snatch at whatever has taken my fancy!   However watching how Stewie makes such good money while making fewer trades, waiting not only for the right trade but for the right trade against a backdrop of a favourable market, has hopefully brought home to me the Jesse Livermore statement that:

“After spending many years in Wall Street and after making and losing millions of dollars I want to tell you this:  It never was my thinking that made the big money for me. It always was my sitting. Got that? My sitting tight!”

If this takes hold in my trading then everything else I learn from Stewie will be a bonus!

Thanks for all you do and your generosity in sharing what you know.

Jim

Hi Stew,

Hope all is well! My apologies in advance for this lengthy email! Pls read when you find time.

I wanted to take a moment and thank/update you for all the fantastic trades this month. In spite of the chop, staying patient and taking the best setups has helped me tremendously this month. 

In a nutshell, I'm up $5,000 this month in profits. I cashed out 3K out of this account after taking this snapshot below. This is the highest payout I've received from the market ever and am very grateful I'm having a good month.

Over the past 4 months, I was literally in a CHOP in terms of performance. Had some great trades here and there, but losing in commissions overall and no real gains overall. Kept giving them gains back. There were 2 main reasons. 

1) I was taking WAY TOO many day trades (not per plan/no setup/getting stopped or wiggled out of positions).

2) Expecting a huge % win in a short period of time, and holding trades longer than needed. 

Risk was defined, so I didnt blow any accounts, but definitely didnt make any money net.

I have learnt a TON over the past few months from AoT compared to what I've learnt in past 6  years of trading struggle. To put this to use finally without giving up, I added some trial capital into Robinhood to execute my options trades. No commissions and max 3 day trades in 5 days helps my case. 

My equity curve looks like this since I started trading here on August 1st. Initial capital: 2,000 (trial). Today its at $7000 (I have withdrawn $1500 over the past 7 days as I was seeing gains, $1500 after this snapshot). So account is literally up 250% (dont mind the % in snapshot, its basically a bug). This is not the usual for me and I don't want to get greedy, so I did take cash out to keep myself humble.

I played all of AoT recommendations as well as small positions in many charts that you posted but didnt play (GOOGL, PYPL, NFLX etc.). 85% of these were 2-3 day swing trades. Robinhood has made it difficult for me to journal since it has to be manually, but I'll show you the journal based performance stats once I have it ready!

Things I will do moving forward:

1) No setup = No trade

2) No revenge, chase or overtrading

3) Reduce expectations - more singles than home runs ( i see home runs will come with some of your best setups automatically!)

4) No need to grow account to actually make money from the market

5) Reduce day trades as much as possible since I cant monitor the markets (this is NOT my time frame)

5) Stay humble, keep greed in check and rinse-repeat 1-6

A HUGEEEE THANK YOU to you for getting me back on the right track. You are an fantastic trader, excellent mentor, great entertainer (cooking + soccer + trading + handling the trolls lol) and more importantly, a good trading buddy :). 

Will keep you posted.

N.C. 

Hi Stewie,

Just wanted to give you a quick update on my progress now that I’ve completed 3 months at AOT.

First, want to share the reason why I’m doing this: 

This is my granddaughter Alanna(not going to share Amy's picture of her granddaughter of course!). She’s almost 3. I lost my job in April and have been agonizing over whether or not to take another time consuming, travel-intensive job. I’ve made the decision to spend these next couple of years with her instead with trading for income. I’m excited and a bit terrified but my gut tells me that this is the right decision.

So, onto the progress! What I’m most happy about is that I’ve increased my trading skills, pattern recognition, and discipline. I still make some stupid mistakes but they are getting fewer and with less disastrous results.

I don’t keep track of percentage wins because I’m trying not to focus on P/L but rather focus on the skills learned. The money will come as a result of good, consistent trading. For the past three months, I’ve been able to wire cash out to my bank account an average of $3500 each month. Still not where I want to be but I know that will come if I execute the trades correctly and gradually increase my risk as I gain confidence.

I can’t thank you enough. Your guidance has not only helped me improve my performance but more importantly, it’s given me the gift of time with my granddaughter. That is incredibly precious and I humbly thank you.

You rock! If you’re ever on the East Coast, I owe you a huge hug!!

Amy 

Hope these 3 letters have fired you up and motivated!!! 

Happy Trading!! 

ArtOfTrading.net

How to Use RSI and MACD Divergences to Spot Big Reversals

Hey folks, 

I wanted to do an EDUCATIONAL post on how and why SPY and QQQ rallied so hard on Thursday and why i was so convinced the market would rally hard despite the market's initial very big gap down open on Thursday morning. 

As many of you who were following my tweets on the @AOTtrades private feed and also on @TraderStewie public feed, i was very bullish on that day and I'm going to walk you thru it, STEP BY STEP.... 

Ok, so coming into Thursday morning, we were already long NFLX and FB.... so coming into Thursday's open, the market was gapping down big at the open due to some new "Tariffs news" blah blah blah....... Remember, the news is almost always irrelevant, it's the REACTION TO THE NEWS, that interests me most!

***Coming into the day, the Dow Jones was going to open down about 175 points, SPX was opening down 20 points*** 

Ahead of the open, i took out my "SPY Road Map" chart(see below) to see where we were going to open.... 

I quickly noticed that SPY was opening down near the $279 area which has been strong support on numerous recent tests.... 

However, what made today's weak open so interesting so that not, only was it opening at exactly the $279 support area but also, that the RSI and MACD indicators were HIGHER  than the previous time SPY tested the $279 area... since RSI and MACD were higher than the previous time, that right away told me, they were making a HIGHER LOW hence telling me, that today's down open is WEAK and UNSUSTAINABLE therefore odds of an upside reversal were very high..... 

I actually tweeted this out shortly after the open: 

"Today is a good test for the $SPY, $QQQ... as they RETEST support.... Note... ..on this RETEST, we need to watch how the MACD and RSI behave here... if RSI and MACD continue to form a HIGHER LOW as $SPY, $QQQ retests support, odds increase for a strong bounce phase soon."

A few minutes after the open, SPY, QQQ started to bounce, they wasted no time... so that increased my confidence that a big reversal and rally day was brewing here.... 

Note the mini HAMMER candle in the above SPY chart shortly after the gap down open and right off $279 support.... the RSI and MACD higher lows were very visible at thus point and firming up even more aggressively... 

A few minutes after the open... i started to notice many of the big stocks started to reverse to green, despite the overall market still well in the RED.... Stocks like FB, MSFT, GOOGL, NFLX were starting to go from RED to GREEN... that's when my confidence of a reversal went from 75% to 99% !! 

... and that's when I tweeted this out ... 

"$SPY bouncing here as RSI and MACD are carving out a HIGHER LOW .... This is setting up for a wicked bounce...."

....At this point, SPY was pretty much almost FLAT(see chart below).... while the clear cut leader was QQQ....

Meanwhile, i noticed that "trader sentiment" on twitter was still surprisingly bearish or skeptical at best(not many bulls), which only further increased my confidence that this rally day was only getting started and that's when i tweeted this out.... 

"$SPY ... up a cool +$1.5 since this posting tweet/chart and i suspect, this could be just starting!"

Note the STRAIGHT UP move in QQQ after the initial gap down open.... 

....Fast Forward a few hours later.... 

Our NFLX position was up a good +$8 points since our entry and FB was up $6 since our entry .... 

SPY was now up a good +$3(see chart above) since tweeting out the first SPY chart with the RSI and MACD bullish divergences playing a key role in pinpointing a reversal and rally.... 

I tweeted out this: 

"How bout that $SPY chart, folks?! Up almost +$3 since posting this SPY chart at the open! Learn to spot those RSI + MACD divergences! Especially on indices, this pattern is as strong a buy signal as you ever gonna get!"

This is 100% true, LEARN TO SPOT these RSI and MACD divergences on the indices!! 

 

RSI and MACD bullish divergences are as strong a "BUY signal" as you're ever gonna get, especially when you're analyzing the indices.... 

I hope this educational post will help you spot these divergences going forward!! 

Happy Trading!  

Join the ART OF TRADING community today! 

Art Of Trading Member's Inspirational Story!

Hey fellow traders and readers! 

A few days ago,  i received this email from an Art Of Trading member who's been on board for about 5 months! 

This story was so powerful, so incredibly moving, so inspirational, that I just had to share it!

Enjoy! 

"My dear Stewie,

I just want you to know that as of today, I am officially “green” in all three accounts YTD (one trading account & 2 IRAs)! All 3 suffered horrendous losses over the past few years, including a company that went bankrupt & I lost 100% of my $250,000 long-term IRA investment. But that’s truly nothing, compared to the annual losses I racked up in all 3 accounts for the last 5 years while ALL off my closest loved ones (3 family and my 3 closest friends) passed away. Seriously! From January 2014 thru last December, it’s been pretty unbelievable that everyone who I had roots with--who actually know who I am--are all gone. I should have gone on a long vacation, but instead, I tried to trade my way thru it every day, by myself, and absolutely every trade I made became a loser. In a few years I lost everything--my loved ones, my financial security, my ability to dig my way out of a deep hole, and my confidence as a person and as a trader. ALL GONE! I was pretty much at my darkest place after the holidays when I wrote to you to inquire about your special AoT holiday offer...just out of curiosity.

Without my ever telling you my situation, you reached out and showed me with your generous AoT gift that you cared and you believed in me. I don’t know why you did! But I am thoroughly convinced that you were inspired by an angel to help me when and how I needed it the most. At first, all of the AoT trades I took got stopped out & somehow I missed getting into those that ended up being really big gainers. It also took me a while to understand your process, your trading tempo & pace, and that I needed to buy more than 100 shares at a time if I wanted to make any money! It really wasn’t until the end of May when I realized that you and the amazing AoT camaraderie had become quite medicinal and healing for my grieving soul. In addition to learning far more than I ever expected, I started joking around again, laughing again, feeling a part of something again and yesssssss! making money again!!!!! I am trying to take the kindness & encouragement you’ve given to me and pass it on to others. To pay it forward. You are truly one of a kind, Mr. Stewie! You are an old soul with a generous spirit, yet you have a youthful energy and a zest for life that is truly motivating and inspiring! Plus, you are so much fun to trade with every day. I adore your Pop Quizzes!

I owe you so much for your encouragement, teachings, trading skills, experience, time, patience and the genuine caring you have given to me. I fear I will never be able to repay you. How do I put a price tag on helping me to let go of my regret? Helping me to get grounded & disciplined & more self confident? These are PRICELESS GIFTS you have given to me. No words are big enough for me to describe how grateful I am to you…How full of loving gratitude I am…Overflowing, really.

I pray that you and your young family are all blessed with love, peace, good health and long lives. And I thank you for being a blessing to me.

Shannon V.” 

How To Trade AOT Setups When Working Full Time!

Hey folks, 

Art Of Trading member, Zach @87Alwaysred , who some of you know from communicating with him every day in the @AOTtrades private twitter feed has BRILLIANTLY and most importantly generously/selflessly took time from his very busy work schedule to write this "guide" on how he trades the AOT setups! He asked me to share it with other AOT members who work other full-time jobs but still have that passion for trading and want to incorporate trading into their busy work schedule!

Zach, lays out HOW he does it, gives examples and gives you some good ideas and will surely inspire you! 

Enjoy!   

Hey Stew,

I've made up an easy to follow and easy to understand short "guide" on how to trade your setups if you work full time. I hope this can help a few people out!

As always, you effin ROCK stew! 

Zach

How you Could Trade AOT Setups if you Work Full Time

“YOU DO NOT NEED TO BE IN THE MARKET EVERYDAY TO MAKE IT IN THIS BUSINESS”

STEP #1: (Trading Plan) Identify and study all of the setups that are contained within the daily emails. From the list of setups identify the stocks and setups that you want to trade!

STEP #2: (Look at the Previous Day Low) Stew usually sets his stops just below the previous day low if the trigger is tight and, in some cases, (ZTO from today for example) The stop was set at the current days low.

STEP #3: (Get a Feel for the Name) Using the charts that stew provides in the daily emails look at the way the name has traded in the past. More importantly take note of the price action from the day previous. Ask yourself; How big was the previous days price swing? Am I comfortable holding full size on this name? How “tight” is the setup on this name? How far off is the “trigger” from the previous days range? These are things I look at when “planning my trades". 

"Daily Price Swing from high to low" 

"Tight Setup"

STEP #4: (Managing Your Capital Responsibly) After Identifying the setups you feel comfortable with trading you must allocate the capital and set the risk you are willing to put forward in order to enter the trade. If you work full time entering names with a 4% - 5% downside risk isn’t a good idea. These names are better played if they are “managed”, meaning tiered buy ins and updated stops through out the day if necessary. The names you want to trade are names with 1.5% - 3% down side risk. The reason for trading names with lower downside risk is because you can allocate “normal size” to these trades and feel comfortable entering the position. If you want to trade names with higher volatility and don’t care for the management side of things only ever enter “half size”. If you enter “half size” on 4% - 5% downside risk names the “loss” will feel the same as a full size 1.5% - 3% risk name. Let’s use $10 000 as full size for example ($10K FULL with 1.5% - 3% downside risk is $150 - $300 loss) if you project that same idea over to a higher volatility name ($5K HALF with a 4% - 5% downside risk is $200 - $250 loss).

EXAMPLES OF SETUPS THAT ARE “EASY” TO TRADE

This TWTR setup above would be easy to trade for a few reasons.

Reason #1: The chart consolidation just under the breakout/entry point is pretty tight. 

The previous day's action was very narrow! 

Reason #2: Down side risk within the trade would be in the 1.5% - 3% loss range.

This AAPL setup above would be easy to trade for a few reasons.

Reason #1: The chart is tight. The previous days action was very narrow.

Reason #2: Down side risk within the trade would be in the 1.5% - 3% loss range.

Reason #3: APPL is a slow-moving stock. The name only gets volatile with news on the name or MAJOR MARKET UNCERTAINTY. The trade either works or it doesn’t. No managing.

In the following charts identify reasons why these setups are easy to trade? Can you find anything within these charts that I haven’t mentioned? If so share them with other members over at AOT!

ArtOfTrading.net 

Use Smaller Time Frames to Unlock Hidden Patterns!

Hey folks !

I've been meaning to do a post of this kind for a while now.... 

One "trick" I often use when plotting charts for the overall market, i.e. SPY, QQQ, IWM etc 

I not only look at the DAILY or weekly charts to try and gauge what's going on with the "overall big picture" to hopefully try and spot PATTERNS, trade-able, actionable patterns like "CUP and HANDLE" patterns, "Head and Shoulder patterns", "Inverse Head and Shoulder" patterns, Falling Wedge patterns, Bull Flag patterns etc... 

But, most importantly, I also use SMALLER time frames such as 60 and 30 minute time frames to try and spot HIDDEN patterns that aren't visible by the "naked eye" when looking at the Daily or Weekly time frame charts!! Smaller time frame allows you to zoom down, just like a microscope and look at the "DNA"(genetic make-up) of the chart if you will !! If you know what i mean?! 

Take a look at the attached SPY chart below: AOT members who visit the 'Power Earnings Gap'(PEG) watchlist often probably recognize this chart! I've kept it and keep on there permanently! Even posted it on twitter a few  times.... 

​

So if you saw the above chart in the PEG watchlist, then chances are you probably saw this SPY chart attached below as well !! 

It's the SMALLER TIME chart of the SPY: the 30 minute time frame chart to be exact! 

​

Note, the CLEAR bottoming "Inverse HEAD and SHOULDER" bottoming pattern that emerged back in early April ! 

As a matter of fact, I was using this chart/ this exact bottoming pattern, that was only truly visible using the 30 minute charts to move out from 100% cash and start to play more LONGS at that time ..... notice how difficult it is to see that "Inverse HEAD and SHOULDER" bottoming pattern on the DAILY charts! Actually, the daily chart during the late march to early April time looked like a COMPLETE mess! 

But once you zoom down into the smaller time frames you've just uncovered a beauty of a bottoming pattern and boy oh boy, did it ever play out!

 ......Fast Forward to today.... 

Now, notice how recently the same 30 minute chart also uncovered a near PERFECT "Inverse Head and Shoulder" pattern once again, last week! 

I urge you all(every single trader) to add this KILLER weapon to your trading arsenal, folks! 

Use SMALLER time frames(15, 30, 60 minute charts) to unlock hidden patterns that aren't visible on the daily/weekly charts! Get that EDGE! 

"The edge", a thing that so many traders talk about and want is often found in the smaller time frames! 

This is a great way to spot and get into patterns ahead of the masses because you were shrewd enough to zoom down into the smaller time frames and do some "gum-shoe" detective work! 

Hope this helps!

Happy Trading! 

Join the ART OF TRADING community today! 

How To Trade an AOT Setup !

Hey folks!

As most readers of this trading blog know by now, I post many trading setups whether it be for 'Art Of Trading' members and/or also on the my @TraderStewie public twitter!

Trading setups I post come in various forms such as 'Falling Wedge' patterns, Bull Flags, Pennants, Bear Flags, Cup and Handles etc etc!

So today, I want to talk about HOW, WHY and WHEN we trade a breakout that "triggers" from one of the setups I shared. I'll show you how, when and why a setup triggers?
What's the call to action?

Let's take this SQ for example:

Posted numerous setups in SQ in the past but this recent 'Falling Wedge' setup in SQ was tweeted out on my @TraderStewie twitter feed on Friday and was also sent to Art Of Trading members on Friday as well....

SQ, was actually the 'AOT Top Pick' for Friday!! 

.......Fast forward to today, Monday May 7th 2018..... 

SQ triggered this morning about 5 minutes after the opening bell.... and here's HOW and WHY it triggered an entry and how it was traded with 'ART OF TRADING' members.... 

Below is the 5 minute chart to show you exactly WHY and HOW we took SQ long ....

Important things to know before taking an AOT setup: the stock in question cannot GAP UP over the trigger price, if it does gap up above the trigger price, I tell AOT members to "skip the trade temporarily" and wait for a new intra-day setup to emerge. This helps to avoid chasing gap ups at the open. The stock must open BELOW the trigger and move higher thru the 'Breakout Price' or 'Trigger Price' to trigger a "proper long" entry! 

Once the stock triggers a proper entry, the stop loss usually goes a few pennies BELOW the breakout day's lows(in some cases though, a stop loss can be wider and use a smaller position to compensate for market volatility, a stock's volatility, its specific liquidity etc)...

.... here's what the updated daily SQ chart looked like now..... 

Beautiful breakout today and we got into it at a great price while patiently waiting for the breakout! 

I hope this post was helpful!! 

Happy Trading!! 

Join the ART OF TRADING today!