How Do You Spell Slow?

by Larry Levin

Today was an incredibly unhurried trading day to be sure. The first three hours of the day traded in a small range of just ~ 6.00 points; however, of that range, a full 90% of trades occurred with a miserably small 3.80 point range. The rest of the day was similar. So I wondered how you would spell SLOW, because today I spell it S-P-5-0-0.

But this is odd: NYSE volume was massive (for its recent action) at 1.780 billion shares. I guess the market couldn't go anywhere because neither bull nor bear could get the edge; the buy/sell volume was even.

The SLOWness could be attributed to several things; no bad news to spin, no good news to cheer, the FOMC meets tomorrow and there is an onslaught of Treasury IOU issuance beginning tomorrow.

Tomorrow is day #1 of the FOMC meeting that will end Wednesday with the following comment: "Well, with one end of the economy in freezing Nitrogen and the other half of the economy in a blast furnace, on average, all is fine."

Tomorrow is also the first day of another pile of debt the Treasury is selling starting with a 3-YR Note auction. Although this could be important, it is on the shorter end of the yield curve and should go well. The 10-YR Note on Wednesday and the 30-YR Bond on Thursday will be more interesting.



Previous Day's Trading Room Results:

Trade Date: 8/10/09

E-Mini S&P Trades*
(before fees and commissions):

1) VA sell @ 8:40am at 1003.50 = -1.75 (1 lot)

2) 80% buy @ 9:00am at 1003.50 = +2.00 (1 lot)

3) Algorithm positions (2)

4) "Reading the Tape" positions (0) ...combined Secret's, Algo, & "Reading the Tape" total...-0.25


Electronic (YM) Mini-Dow:

1) None today



Sign up as an AvidTrader Member to receive "The Technician" Value Area's each day. The market then has an 80% chance of filling the Value Area. Many traders familiar with the Value Area and the techniques that go along with it use it to help them decide what trades to do each day. Join and see how this technique can help you trade more successfully!