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From the Beginning...my journal of starting from scratch
Trading: The one I'm creating in the present....Index Futures mini/micro, ZF
Posts: 2,311 since Nov 2011
Thanks Given: 7,341
Thanks Received: 4,518
Could not agree more about forgetting the TV especially CNBC....I read her book too some years ago and it's from a slightly different time as far as the trading world goes ....Still has good info so keep going .....Now if you want to watch https://tastytrade.com/tt/ by all means do. You can learn more there, way more then you ever will at CNBC. Tom Sosnoff is a trader and a true pioneer in his field with first ThinkorSwim which he sold to TDAmeritrade for $600mil and now TastyTrade.
The trick is to not let your emotions cause you to make decisions but to use it and get info about yourself via your emotions using that data to your advantage in your trading. Something I am working on and it's a difficult endeavor to put it simply. If you are into reading, and it seems you are, here are some excellent books regarding just that.
Thanks @Blash and @PeakGrowth for the information and tips. I keep seeing in books and here on futures.io (formerly BMT) that people like having CNBC on for market news but if I can get it bigger, better, and with less commercials I'm all for it! Plus that will save the money on a tv and additional cable services.
And yes, I do love to read about this stuff and it is the only way I can learn right now other than videos as I don't have any trading friends to talk to and learn from.
So I have tastytrade up right now and going to check it out for a while and see how it is. Thanks again for the links and help! This is what makes this site/forum so great! So many awesome and helpful people like you guys!
Trading: The one I'm creating in the present....Index Futures mini/micro, ZF
Posts: 2,311 since Nov 2011
Thanks Given: 7,341
Thanks Received: 4,518
News items relate to ES and other markets like bonds ZB and notes ZF ZN ZT and many others. And can have an effect on them as traders anticipate and react to the news. For example I only watch for U.S. related news items and then only the ones labeled as Moderate to High. If you have a DOM sometimes you can witness the bid/ask depth getting pulled as the news gets closer and closer like 1 or 2 minutes out. At first in your trading (2-3 years) it might be a good idea to stand to the side during these times.
Be sure and click the real time live audio feed over at Financial Juice in the top right corner. They will give you a good heads up for important news until you come to an understand yourself in this regard. FOMC is a very big news event most times as you will see. Some skip that day all together. Also triple Triple Witching Definition | Investopediaand quad witching Quadruple Witching Definition | Investopedia are days to take note of as the market can behavior oddly on these days to some extent. But there are no hard and fast rules for these things. Just the ones you make and stick to for yourself as if your life depends on it. Because it does. At least your trading accounts life does. Your businesses life blood. And we all know what happens if our blood drains away....lol
Ron
...My calamity is My providence, outwardly it is fire and vengeance, but inwardly it is light and mercy...
The steed of this Valley is pain; and if there be no pain this journey will never end.
Buy Low And Sell High (read left to right or right to left....lol)
Just to give you an opposite view, but remember that Darvas did best when he filtered out all the news, noise, etc.
It is always a good idea to know when important news releases are so that you can avoid initiating positions before an important event, except of course if you really wish to trade the event. In that case, be aware that the volatility can cause your stops to be hit quite easily even if you guess the direction right.
I think that what many people are telling you is basically to not overdose on news. (If that's not what they mean, then I'll tell you that .)
It's one thing to be informed; it's another to try to use the flood of news and opinion you will get from all the available news sources to make decisions. Consider that you will make good trades only if you are a little ahead of the crowd of other traders -- then ask yourself if watching the blather on cable news is going to give you some valuable information or perspective that no one else has. (No one except the millions of others who are watching the same thing....)
Having a simple calendar of economic news releases, such as several that have been mentioned already, is very useful. Certain sets of data that can be significant to trading are announced at scheduled times, and you should know when they are. Major announcements might include things like the unemployment report, or the Federal Reserve FOMC announcements (Open Market Committee, which sets Federal Reserve interest rates). These can move the market, and sometimes suddenly. People will speculate (and news programs will pontificate) about what the numbers will be before they come out; you should probably not try that, and not listen to their guesses, either. If anyone can tell in advance what these will be, he is not going to tell you. Why should he be making his money selling his opinion, instead of trading the market? (Which is true in general, not just about news events.)
But knowing that an important item of data is scheduled to be released may save you from being unnecessarily surprised by a sudden market movement that is touched off by it. This can happen if the market generally believes one outcome and suddenly finds that it's another. And sometimes the market reaction is no big deal.
To repeat, you can't figure that out in advance. You just don't have any way to know. But you can know when the major scheduled releases will come. Many people will decide to just stay out of the market at those times. Some will take a position anticipating a big move, which is usually iffy, but will work for a few. You just don't want to be blindsided by not having a clue that something may happen.
The most important scheduled announcements are usually at 8:30 AM Eastern time; less important but still significant announcements are usually at 10:00 AM Eastern. Most days, nothing is scheduled, so there's nothing to watch out for. For what it's worth, here's another good calendar, but there are plenty of them: 2015 Economic Calendar Notice that they will all have the date and time, the country it's important to, and usually a description of what it is about. After the reports are released, they will have a summary. The main thing is just to know that something will be released at that time.
Other than that, read a general newspaper with good business coverage (you can subscribe on line to the NY Times or the Washington Post or whatever; you can also just look at bloomberg.com) -- your goal here would be to stay informed in a general way, but do not get lost in the little details and do not pay any attention to anyone's breathless analysis.... how would they know what's going to happen? They are just selling advertising space for their sponsors. And don't worry about getting all the current news flashes the instant they occur -- you won't actually be getting anything ahead of everyone else, quite the contrary -- and you won't really know how to evaluate its significance either.
Sometimes (usually) major companies will release information about things like their current earnings after the New York Exchange closes at 4:00 PM Eastern. These can move the markets sometimes, but, again, you can only know they are coming, not what they will be. Nor can any news program.
So just be aware of the timing of major data releases, and have some awareness of the general context of what's going on in the world, but don't think that you need to know every little event, and don't pay any attention to CNBC or any other combination of news and opinion.
You can't figure out what the news is going to be or what it will mean. Save yourself the effort, and keep your mind free for the things you can do.
Thank you @bobwest for your expert analysis of the news, and thank you @grausch and of course @Blash again for everything you guys are helping me with.
So the general consensus is that news is great as long as you eliminate the "noise" and just stick to the articles/announcements that can move the market like rate hikes, unemployment, earnings reports, etc. and to screw places like CNBC altogether because they are full of pontificating pontificators.....got it!
.)