OPX Surprise!!

9:45am EDT: After all that whipsaw yesterday now we get this huge head fake:

Here are some possible upside targets for today and Monday. As I said – before this thing turns we might have to sit through some pain – and our friendly market makers were happy to deliver 🙂

Your friendly market maker at work.

I might actually load up on more puts here once I see this roll over.

10:13am EDT: WOW – we just sliced through the ES VWAP at 920 as if it was butter.

10:44am EDT: For you channel surfers:

Question here is: was this a throw over head fake or are we back inside the channel for the remainder of the day? I don’t see bears take advantage of the rip, so chances are we’ll have to sit through more pain today and maybe even Monday.

10:52am EDT: Okay, some technical masturbation:

Assuming a = 100%
c = 138.2% at 928
c = 150% at 930
c = 165% at 932 (would be flat?)

Just FYI – if we push beyond 165% I’d get a bit nervous.

11:05am EDT: Offtopic – This is why the plundering of the public purse continues in bright daylight:

Teheran

NYC

As the old saying goes – every country gets the government it deserves 😉

11:39am EDT: Great treat on trading psychology courtesy of Bill Cara:

While most of us are frustrated about the lethargy, narrow price ranges, and aimless meandering of the stock market over the past 6 weeks, this is no time to abandon discipline, swinging for the fences, trying “to make something happen.” A few small losses are easy to recover from once the market reveals its true intentions, profits accruing quickly once the impulse wave begins.

Taking large losses are incredibly difficult to recover from, psychologically and monetarily. Emotional capital lost saps a trader of energy, affecting decision making ability, losing confidence to pull the trigger, resulting in bad execution, or passing on the next big winning trade.

Trading is difficult because you often are your worst enemy, the most glaring character flaws continually coming back to bite you in the butt. Being able to objectively identify your personal shortcomings, though, is the first step to financial freedom.

To know thyself is to be free.