[stephenNUTS]

[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ]
half hour before the close the market tends to pick a direction and go with it.

[/ QUOTE ]

I didn't read any book about this but have found it to be reasonably accurate barring any drastic unforseen news. I also use this to exit some positions and add to others. I trade individual stocks of which most of them either track closely with the DOW or NASDAQ. I also like to see increased volume during this period which only increases my confidence in the indicator.


Jimbo

[/ QUOTE ]

From a trading perspective..the best/most volitile price movements are 9:30-10:00am......and then 3:30pm to the 4:00pm close during normal market hrs.If however a specific event(Fed rate cut,many IB's recently warning about their sub-prime exposure,EPS warnings/surprises,any related global incidents,terrorist activity,oil spike,etc),the volitilty can last all day ...every day ...as we have just witnessed

In regard to your original Dow "system"...it worked because the market was in a one way steady incline and not much can go wrong if you were on the LONG side of the market ..I assume.

Once the market started to peak last month.....intra-day swings shook most players out who used stops ...and the wild swings became extremely tougher to trade without a thorogh market understanding,alot of experience,good order entry software/broker.....and a STRONG stomach.

Using a STANDARD/traditional broker the last few weeks would not be optimal to just trading IMO...as just from a higher commission POW ,...as well as a too much TIME standpoint to enter/execute trades...many of the opps would be missed by the time these nit brokers get your order processed.However,if you were looking over a swing-trade type longer time frame horizon...then you would be fine I guess.I still would NEVER OVERPAY a broker if I did all the work...and BTW if you listen to just your broker recos'....lol...you should go see a doctor and have your head examined.

But my feeling is if YOU are doing the research...you are putting YOUR monies at risk...you are making the buy/sell decisions,....and you are sweating the trade,I would not be paying for a Full Serice broker.

In this day and age with advent of discount/online brokers....if you keep your upfront costs managable,do your research,and have a disciplined hardcore set of rules,and firm BR management...you will have a great shot of making
solid yearly returns

With this recent volitilty ,the last few weeks, I have had one of my( as well as some of my talented colleagues/friends that I still consult and share ideas with ) most profitable trading months in a few years.

I still trade TWO hedge funds I own,as well as family trust accounts,even though I retired from "dealing" with the public two yrs back when I sold my shares in my firm...so I am just trading MY OWN money at this time

I havnt seen trading opp's in years like I saw the last 20 calender trading days and love times like these [img]/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

GL,
Stephen [img]/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]