All Posts by Jani Ziedins

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About the Author

Jani Ziedins (pronounced Ya-nee) is a full-time investor and financial analyst that has successfully traded stocks and options for nearly three decades. He has an undergraduate engineering degree from the Colorado School of Mines and two graduate business degrees from the University of Colorado Denver. His prior professional experience includes engineering at Fortune 500 companies, small business consulting, and managing investment real estate. He is now fortunate enough to trade full-time from home, affording him the luxury of spending extra time with his wife and two children.

Apr 01

Why smart traders are not trading this chop

By Jani Ziedins | End of Day Analysis

Free After-Hours Analysis: 

The S&P 500 shed 0.2% on Monday as this sideways snooze-fest continues.

The index rallied in the second half of last week, meaning it was time for the pendulum to swing in the other direction. This simple reversal explains most of Monday’s trivial losses: One day’s ups become the next day’s downs.

Nothing meaningful is changing in the financial headlines, which is why the price action is so benign. Bulls are staying bullish, and Bears are staying bearish. This will inevitably change at some point, but we need a big and unexpected headline to shake things up and get the market moving. Until then, expect this slow, choppy grind with a slight upward bias to continue. Better trading opportunities are coming, but they are not here yet.

I will let the day traders fight over these nickels and dimes while I wait for better profit opportunities. Maybe that will happen later this week, or maybe it will take a week or two. But the next trade is coming because it always does, and it will be here when we least expect it. Until then, my goal is to avoid losing money overtrading this meaningless chop and that means sitting on my hands.

Remember, long-term success in the markets doesn’t come from our winning trades but from not giving those profits back in our follow-up trades. Often, the best trade is not trading.

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Mar 27

What Wednesday’s bounce tells us about what comes next

By Jani Ziedins | End of Day Analysis

Free After-Hours Analysis: 

The S&P 500 ended a three-session losing skid on Wednesday, bouncing 0.9% as the index recovered most of its prior losses.

Little changed between Wednesday, Tuesday, or even last week. The market is comfortable at these highs, and few owners are interested in selling. But at the same time, those with cash are reluctant to chase prices even higher. This draw between bulls and bears leaves us mostly treading water above 5,200 support.

Prior momentum is clearly higher, and that means all ties go to the bulls. If prices were grossly overbought and vulnerable, stocks would have tumbled by now. As long as we keep getting more of the same headlines, I don’t expect anything to change. One bad headline can flip sentiment in an instant, and if that happens, there is a lot of air underneath us, but we need to get that bad headline first. Until then, expect this back and forth to continue, but with a little more up than down.

If this market was going to break down, it would have happened by now.

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If you find these posts useful, help me out by liking and sharing them!

Sign up for FREE Email Alerts to get profitable insights like these delivered to your inbox every evening.

What’s a good trade worth to you?
How about avoiding a loss?
For as little as $1.28/day, receive actionable analysis and a trading plan every day during market hours

Follow Jani on Twitter