The market has continued to move up as discussed in the weekend update. Today I want to discuss a change in end-of-day trading strategies. For decades end-of-day was a chance to calmly review opportunities without the stress of the market actually being open. However increasingly the stock market has made it hard to act on those opportunities. It has done this by consistently moving on overnight gaps and then leaving a day session with relatively benign trading activity. The attached chart of the SP 500 shows this well.

Want to spot the trend early? Grab this Little Black Book of Momentum Set Ups for free and see how easy it is. Click here

So many gaps! So how to combat this? Instead of end-of-day analysis we need to use the last 60-90 minutes of trade analysis. We need to treat the data like it is already end-of-day, and most days that is going to be good enough. This is the only way to get these gaps working for us. I understand not everyone can do this, but if you are able to move your homework up a bit, it is going to reward correct calls with immediate gaps in favor of your trade. How big of a deal is this? Well consider that 100% of 2024 gains can be attributed to gaps. So it is a big deal indeed. I am now starting my daily stocks review 90 minutes before the close to spot better opportunities, and if possible I suggest you should consider doing the same.  

Thanks,

Joe