Trendfinder Trading Systems

This ended up being the most actively traded month this year for Trendfinder’s systems. Two swing systems had a profit, one daytrading system was very active and ended about breakeven, and the rest of the systems that traded had a loss. MeanSwing II had its first losing trade in 18 months. What really threw a wrench in the swing systems were the missile launches by North Korea. They spiked prices down (and volatility up) for a very short time, triggered stops or exits/reversals, then the market went back to its normal flow. Unfortunately that is a part of trading.

In September, there could be heightened volatility due to 1) an FOMC meeting where they may announce the actual start date of the balance sheet reduction (instead of just saying what they plan to do), 2) debt ceiling politics (Trump tweets anyone?), and 3) any more posturing from North Korea (fire a missile that flies over Tokyo?). And, of course, something else could happen not mentioned here. Or, September could end up being a non-event, the VIX is back to single digits, and all of the stock market indices make new all time highs. If the latter happens then trading will be light.

Trading was light this month. FedSwing and FedSwing II each had one win and three losses. SentimentSwing had a profitable trade in every market. Almost all of the portfolios ended with a small gain.

July 2017 may go down as an historical month based on the lowest levels of volatility ever seen.

There were a handful of good trades this month, but the rest were losses.

A couple of systems had a losing month, but all of the other systems that traded did nicely. Every portfolio was profitable.

Mixed results this month, but overall trading was profitable.

MeanSwing II and SentimentSwing were active this month. Most systems ended with a profit.

Political concerns provided a little more market movement, which provided these systems some opportunity to trade. Going forward I wouldn’t be surprised to see volatility continue to be about the same.

With the extremely low volatility, there were not many trades this month.

Low trading activity can be frustrating, but I’ve found it is much better to be patient and play the odds rather than making trades just to trade.

Even though January’s volatility (based on intraday range of the S&P 500) was the lowest in over 50 years, it was a profitable month overall for these systems.

There were just a handful of trades this month.

Trading activity will likely pick up in January. Also, in January I will be releasing a new swing system (and likely additional systems in the first quarter).

MeanSwing II had winning trades, FedSwing had losing trades, and the intraday systems had mixed results. Overall, it was not a very active month of trading for these systems.