There is another holiday this week, but even so, there are several news releases from each region (US, Europe, and Asia). Each region also has a few high volatility news releases, so markets throughout the world should experience some decent price movement this week.
As day traders can trade in both directions (long and short), they do not usually care what the news actually is, only whether the news will cause the markets to experience volatility in one direction or the other. For this reason, day traders will find the volatility expectations more interesting and useful than the actual news release.
The US, European, and Asian news releases for this week are as follows (all times are Greenwich Mean Time, which is 2 hours behind Central European Time, and 4 hours ahead of US Eastern Time) :
US
Monday :ISM Non Manufacturing, and TAF Auction at 2:00 PM
Tuesday :Central Bank News Conference at 12:30 AM
Wednesday :Non Farm Productivity, and Labor Costs at 12:30 PM, Central Bank News Conference at 12:45 PM, Pending Home Sales at 2:00 PM, Oil Inventories at 2:30 PM, Consumer Credit at 7:00 PM, and GDP Estimate at 11:01 PM
Thursday : Initial Claims at 12:30 PM, and Wholesale Inventories at 2:00 PM
Friday :Trade Balance at 12:30 PM
This week's US news releases that should cause high volatility are shown in bold type. There are a few high volatility news releases this week, so the US markets should experience some decent price movement throughout the week.
Europe
Monday : EU Investor Confidence at 8:30 AM, and EU Central Bank News Conference at ??:?? ?? (Unknown Time)
Tuesday :Switzerland CPI at 5:45 AM, EU PMI Services at 8:00 AM, UK PMI Services at 8:30 AM, EU PPI at 9:00 AM, and UK Consumer Confidence at 11:01 PM
Wednesday : France Budget Balance, and Trade Balance at 6:45 AM, UK Industrial Production, and Manufacturing Production at 8:30 AM, EU Retail Sales at 9:00 AM, UK Shop Price Index at 9:30 AM, and Germany Factory Orders at 10:00 AM
Thursday : Switzerland Unemployment Rate at 5:45 AM, Germany Trade Balance at 6:00 AM, Germany Industrial Production at 10:00 AM, UK Interest Rates at 11:00 AM, EU Minimum Bid Rate at 11:45 AM, and EU Central Bank News Conference at 12:30 PM
Friday : France Industrial Production at 6:45 AM
This week's European news releases that should cause high volatility are shown in bold type. Even with the UK holiday on Monday, there are a few high volatility news releases this week, so the EU markets should experience some decent price movement this week.
Asia
Monday : Australia Inflation Gauge at 12:30 AM, Australia House Price Index at 1:30 AM, and New Zealand Commodity Price Index at 3:00 AM,
Tuesday :Australia Trade Balance at 1:30 AM, Australia Interest Rates at 4:30 AM, and Australia PMI Construction at 11:30 PM
Wednesday :New Zealand Unemployment Rate, and Unemployment Change at 10:45 PM
Thursday :Australia Unemployment Change, and Unemployment Rate at 1:30 AM
Friday :Australia Monetary Policy at 1:30 AM, and Japan Leading Index at 5:00 AM
This week's Asian news releases that should cause high volatility are shown in bold type. There are a few high volatility news releases this week, so the Asian markets should experience some decent price movement this week.
Both short term and long term traders often like to know the general sentiment of the markets (e.g. are they going up, is trading volume increasing, are other traders pensive or bold?). As a result there are several indicators that have been developed to gauge the overall condition of the markets. These indicators include the Trin, the Ticks, and the Tiki (collectively known as the market internals), various pre-open volume measurements (such as the volume from 8:30 AM to 9:30 AM Eastern Time), and something called open interest.
Open interest is a calculation of the number of currently active trades for a particular market. Open interest is calculated using futures and options contracts, so open interest is available for most of the popular futures and options markets (such as the index and currency futures markets). Open interest compares the rates at which new trades are being opened, and existing trades are being closed, so it shows whether trading activity is increasing or decreasing, which can be very useful in determining the upcoming market conditions.
The full definition of open interest, along with a description of how open interest is calculated, and examples of how it is used in trading, can be found in the open interest glossary entry.
This Thursday is May 1st, which is a holiday in Europe and Asia, but not in the US. Whenever there is a holiday in any of the trading regions (US, Europe, or Asia), markets throughout the world are affected (even those that are still open).
European and Asian markets will be closed on Thursday, and even though the US markets will be open, the missing European and Asian traders will cause the US markets to trade differently than usual.
Friday is not a holiday, and the European and Asian markets will be open, but many traders will take fours day off (Thursday through Sunday), so trading on Friday may be lighter than usual (i.e. may have lower volume).
Whether the holiday affects your trading depends upon the markets that you trade, your trading style, and your trading system. If you do not yet know how holidays affect your trading, just be aware that you may need to make some adjustments to your trading to compensate.
Even with the holiday on May 1st (Thursday), there are still several news releases from each region this week. Each region also has a couple of high volatility news releases, so markets from each region (US, Europe, and Asia) should experience some significant price movement this week.
The US, European, and Asian news releases for this week are as follows (all times are Greenwich Mean Time, which is 2 hours behind Central European Time, and 4 hours ahead of US Eastern Time) :
US
Monday : No news releases
Tuesday : HPI Composite at 1:00 PM, and Consumer Confidence at 2:00 PM
Wednesday :Non Farm Employment Change at 12:15 PM, Advance GDP, and ECI at 12:30 PM, Oil Inventories at 2:30 PM, PMI at 2:45 PM, and FOMC Statement, and Federal Funds Rate at 6:15 PM
Thursday : Job Cuts at 11:30 AM, Personal Spending, PCE Price Index, Initial Claims, and Personal Income at 12:30 PM, ISM Manufacturing, and Construction Spending at 2:00 PM, and Vehicle Sales at 6:00 PM
Friday :Non Farm Employment Change, Unemployment Rate, and Average Hourly Earnings at 12:30 PM, and Factory Orders at 2:00 PM
This week's US news releases that should cause high volatility are shown in bold type. There are several high volatility news releases this week, so the US markets should experience some decent price movement throughout the week.
Europe
Monday : Switzerland Central Bank News Conference, and Germany Consumer Confidence at 6:00 AM, EU Central Bank News Conference at 7:00 AM, and Germany CPI at ??:?? ?? (Unknown time)
Tuesday : Switzerland Consumption Indicator at 8:00 AM, UK Money Supply, Mortgage Approvals, and Lending to Individuals at 8:30 AM, UK Central Bank News Conference at 8:45 AM, UK Distributive Trades at 10:00 AM, UK MPC News Conference at 5:00 PM, and UK Consumer Confidence at 11:01 PM
Wednesday :UK House Prices at ??:?? ?? (Unknown time), Germany Unemployment Rate at 7:55 AM, EU CPI Estimate, Consumer Confidence, Italy CPI, and EU Unemployment Rate at 9:00 AM, Switzerland Leading Index at 9:30 AM, and EU Central Bank News Conference at 11:55 AM
Thursday :UK PMI Manufacturing at 8:30 AM
Friday : Germany Retail Sales at 6:00 AM, Switzerland PMI at 7:30 AM, EU PMI Manufacturing at 8:00 AM, and UK PMI Construction at 8:30 AM
This week's European news releases that should cause high volatility are shown in bold type. There are a few high volatility news releases this week, so the EU markets should experience some decent price movement this week.
Asia
Monday :New Zealand Trade Balance at 10:45 PM
Tuesday : Australia Business Confidence at 1:30 AM, New Zealand Building Consents at 10:45 PM, Japan PMI Manufacturing at 11:15 PM, Japan Household Spending, and Unemployment Rate at 11:30 PM, and Japan Industrial Production at 11:50 PM
Wednesday : Japan Interest Rates at ??:?? ?? (Unknown time), New Zealand Business Confidence at 3:00 AM, Japan Housing Starts at 5:00 AM, Japan Central Bank News Conference at ??:?? ?? (Unknown time), and Australia PMI Manufacturing at 11:30 PM
Thursday :Australia Building Approvals, and Japan Average Cash Earnings at 1:30 AM, and Japan Monetary Base at 11:50 PM
Friday :Australia Retail Sales at 1:30 AM
This week's Asian news releases that should cause high volatility are shown in bold type. There are a few high volatility news releases this week, so the Asian markets should experience some decent price movement this week.
Many day traders are interested in automated trading, where their trading systems are traded automatically by a computer program. For traders that have some experience with computer programming, there are several pieces of automated trading software available. One example is TradeStation, which includes a proprietary programming language called EasyLanguage, that can be used for trading system testing and live trading. However, for traders that do not have any computer programming experience, there were not any pieces of automated trading software available ... until recently.
TickTrader is a relatively new piece of automated trading software, that can be used to develop, test, and trade automated trading systems, without any computer programming experience. Instead of a programming language, TickTrader uses a visual interface, where traders can choose the criteria that they want to use in their trading system, and then test and trade their new trading system, without knowing anything about computer programming.
If you are a day trader that would like to use automated trading, but do not have any computer programming experience, TickTrader may be able to help you. Further information about TickTrader (such as some of its main features, and its system requirements) is available in the Introduction to TickTrader article, and the TickTrader software can be downloaded from the TickTrader web site.
Market Profile, TPO, Volume Profile ... It has lots of different names, but what exactly is it, and how can it be used in day trading?
Market profile is a type of chart that is used to see where (at what price) and when (at what time) most of the trading is occuring. By using market profile charts, traders can see exactly where other traders are making their trades, and where the most recent support and resistance levels are.
A description of market profile charts, with explanations of how they are interpreted, and suggestions for how they can be used in trading, is available in the market profile article.
There are only a few news releases from each region this week, but there are still some high volatility news releases, so markets from each region (US, Europe, and Asia) should experience some decent price movement (either up or down) this week.
The US, European, and Asian news releases for this week are as follows (all times are Greenwich Mean Time, which is 2 hours behind Central European Time, and 4 hours ahead of US Eastern Time) :
US
Monday : Central Bank News Conference at 6:30 PM
Tuesday :Existing Home Sales, House Price Index, and Fed Index at 3:00 PM
Wednesday : Oil Inventories at 3:30 PM
Thursday :Durable Goods Orders, and Initial Claims at 1:30 PM, and New Home Sales, and Central Bank News Conference at 3:00 PM
Friday : Consumer Sentiment at 3:00 PM
This week's US news releases that should cause high volatility are shown in bold type. There is not a lot of US news this week, but there are still a few high volatility news releases, so the US markets should still experience some significant price movement throughout the week.
Europe
Monday : Switzerland PPI at 8:15 AM, IMF News Conference at 9:00 AM, and EU Central Bank News Conference at 10:00 AM
Tuesday : Switzerland Trade Balance at 7:15 AM, and UK MPC News Conference at 12:00 PM
Wednesday : France Consumer Spending at 7:45 AM, Germany PMI Manufacturing and Services at 8:30 AM, EU PMI Manufacturing and Services, and Italy Retail Sales at 9:00 AM, UK MPC Meeting, and Mortgage Approvals at 9:30 AM, EU Industrial Orders at 10:00 AM, and UK MPC News Conference at 6:00 PM
Thursday :Germany Business Climate Index, Business Expectations Index, and EU Current Account at 9:00 AM, UK Retail Sales at 9:30 AM, UK Industrial Orders at 11:00 AM, and EU Central Bank News Conference at 1:30 PM
Friday : Germany Import Price Index at 7:00 AM, Switzerland Central Bank News Conference, and EU Money Supply at 9:00 AM, and UK GDP, and Services Index at 9:30 AM
This week's European news releases that should cause high volatility are shown in bold type. There are several European news releases this week, including a few high volatility news releases, so the EU markets should experience some significant price movement this week.
Asia
Monday : Japan Industry Activity Index at 12:50 AM, and Australia PPI, and Motor Vehicle Sales at 2:30 AM
Tuesday : No news releases
Wednesday : Japan Trade Balance at 12:50 AM, Australia CPI at 2:30 AM, New Zealand Credit Card Spending at 4:00 AM, and New Zealand Interest Rates at 10:00 PM
Thursday : Japan Industry Activity Index, and CSPI at 12:50 AM
Friday : Japan CPI at 12:50 AM
This week's Asian news releases that should cause high volatility are shown in bold type. There are only a few Asian news releases this week, but still a couple of high volatility news releases, so the Asian markets should still experience some significant price movement this week.
Day traders combine multiple individual orders to make their trades, and for most day trading markets, there are many different types of orders that are available. The most well known order types are market orders, limit orders, and stop orders, but there are also some less well known order types that are equally as important.
Two order types that many day traders (including some experienced day traders) have never heard of, are market if touched orders, and limit if touched orders. Market if touched (also know as MIT orders), and limit if touched (also known as LIT orders) are replacements for stop and stop limit orders, and in the right situation they should be used just as frequently as stop and stop limit orders.
If you do not yet know what if touched orders are, or when they should be used, it may be that your stop orders are not being filled correctly. The Stop or If Touched Orders article explains the differences between stop and if touched orders, and gives examples of when if touched orders should be used instead of stop orders.
There are several news releases from each region this week, but only a few high volatility news releases. Most of the high volatility news releases are US and European news releases, so the US and European markets should experience the highest volatility this week.
The US, European, and Asian news releases for this week are as follows (all times are Greenwich Mean Time, which is 2 hours behind Central European Time, and 4 hours ahead of US Eastern Time) :
US
Monday :Retail Sales at 1:30 PM, Business Inventories at 3:00 PM, and Central Bank News Conference at 8:15 PM
Tuesday :Business Conditions, and PPI at 1:30 PM, and Long Term Transactions at 2:00 PM
Wednesday :CPI, Building Permits, and Housing Starts at 1:30 PM, Capacity Utilization, and Industrial Production at 2:15 PM, Oil Inventories at 3:30 PM, Central Bank News Conference at 5:30 PM, and Beige Book at 7:00 PM
Thursday :Initial Claims at 1:30 PM, Central Bank News Conference at 2:45 PM, Manufacturing Index, and Leading Index at 3:00 PM, and Central Bank News Conference at 7:00 PM
Friday : No news releases
This week's US news releases that should cause high volatility are shown in bold type. There are a few high volatility news releases this week, so the US markets should experience some significant price movement throughout the week.
Europe
Monday :UK PPI at 9:30 AM, EU Industrial Production at 10:00 AM, and EU Central Bank News Conference at 10:30 PM
Tuesday : France CPI at 7:45 AM, UK CPI, House Price Index, and RPI at 9:30 AM, and Germany Economic Sentiment at 10:00 AM
Wednesday : Germany CPI at 7:00 AM, Italy Trade Balance at 9:00 AM, UK Average Earnings Index, Unemployment Rate, and Unemployment Change at 9:30 AM, and EU CPI at 10:00 AM
Thursday : Switzerland Retail Sales at 8:15 AM, EU Central Bank Bulletin at 9:00 AM, Switzerland ZEW Expectations, and EU Trade Balance at 10:00 AM, and Switzerland Central Bank News Conference at 4:30 PM
Friday : Germany PPI at 7:00 AM, and UK Money Supply, and Public Sector Borrowing at 9:30 AM
This week's European news releases that should cause high volatility are shown in bold type. There are only a couple of high volatility news releases this week, but the EU markets should still experience some significant price movement this week.
Asia
Monday : Japan Monetary Policy at 12:50 AM, Australia Home Loans at 2:30 AM, and New Zealand CPI, and FPI at 11:45 PM
Tuesday : Australia Central Bank Meeting at 2:30 AM, and Australia Central Bank News Conference at 3:40 AM
Wednesday : Australia Leading Index at 1:30 AM
Thursday : Japan Industrial Production at 5:30 AM
Friday : Australia Import Price Index, and Central Bank Bulletin at 2:30 AM, and Japan Household Confidence at 6:00 AM
This week's Asian news releases that should cause high volatility are shown in bold type. There is only one high volatility news release this week (the New Zealand CPI), but the Asian markets should still experience some significant price movement this week.
All day trading markets have margin requirements, but many day traders do not fully understand what margin is, nor what happens when their brokerage makes a margin call.
Margin is nothing to be scared of, as it is simply a financial requirement that is set by the exchange that offers a particular market, but a margin call is something that should be avoided at all costs. If you do not yet know what margin is, or why professional traders should never experience a margin call, full definitions are available in the margin and margin call glossary entries.
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