Plan: Very clean trading yesterday. A large gap down this premarket, with a decent bounce, setting us up smack in the middle of levels at 9:00. Interested in a short for either market if we push into yesterday’s close. Both have gap fills lower for a long if we dip. Should get decent range on this Friday after a volatile week. Again, looking to capitalize on the first directional pick.

Result: Markets start the morning with a push out out of the gate. Neither went far enough for full entry, but I did get a starter on SPY 586 puts and got first target just 15 second later!?!?! Doesn’t look like much, but that’s a 12% move into the 9 ema on the 1 minute chart. I’m even happier with patience on entry, and was rewarded for the entry. Here we are at 10:00 est without a proper trigger, and I’m green. How? FIRST DIRECTONAL PICK is a big part of the game on a large gap. But like every day, we move towards resistance, I look for a short/puts. If we move towards support, I look for a long/calls. Remove a lot of the thinking and stick to strategy and plan, and then it’s all about controlling fear and greed.

Being 5 for 5 this week is what I’m most focused on. A very volatile week in the markets with FOMC creating a large move. I stayed disciplined with first test prior to 10:00 and carry on with my day. Confidence in a volatile market does wonders for a trader’s psychology. My job is to capitalize on the first move, first trigger of the day. My job IS NOT to catch every move.