Trader Janice

Oh, how I love checklists! My trading rules are continuously evolving as I learn from my mistakes, but here’s my trading checklist as of late.

Long Trades

SPX is in an uptrend

Three out of four stocks follow the market so I always trade with the market just to be on the safe side. I’ve been burned several times where I didn’t pay attention to what the general market was doing and I immediately got stopped out the following day.

Since my trades are short term, I look at the short term uptrends in the market. I like to use SPX or ES as my gauge.

Here’s an example of the SPX 6 month daily chart below. The market is in a long term uptrend in area A, and it’s in a range in area B. In both cases, I enter into long positions during the short term uptrends. 

I time my entries so that I’m entering a long trade at the beginning of the short term uptrend of the SPX.

The stock is making higher highs and higher lows

This is a big requirement. The chart has to be making higher highs and higher lows. No exceptions. Here’s an example chart below.

The average volume is not decreasing

The stock is staying above resistance

There is no prior known resistance. If so, the stock should be well below it

There is a reversal and confirmation candle

Earnings are not coming up

The trading indicator is signaling a reversal