TRADING THE ODDS

On Wednesday all Asian markets closed at least modestly, partly significantly higher. Japan’s Nikkei 225 closed up +0.43%, Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index closed up +2.02%, Sydney’s ASX All Ordinaries Index closed up +0.24%, Korea’s KOSPI Index closed up +0.24%, Thailand‘s SET Composite Index closed up +2.03%, Singapore’s Straits Times Index closed up +2.37%, and the Jakarta Composite Index closed up exceptionally strong +4.25%.

Table I shows the ES‘ (S&P 500 E-MINI) intraday performance (since 01/03/2000) concerning the open, high, low, close (compared to the previous’s session close) and close versus open on the same session (in this event Wednesday, June 24) on those trading days where all of those Asian market indices mentioned above managed at least a gain on the close (with Hong Kong’s Hang Seng Index closing higher > +2.00%), assumed one would’ve bought the ES‘ (S&P 500 E-MINI) on close of the previous session (in this event on Tuesday, June 23).

It is especially remarkable that

• chances that the ES (S&P 500 E-MINI) will open higher significantly exceed the respective at-any-time probability and odds, 45 out of 60 occurrences with a higher open and a profit factor (magnitude of change on the open, means sum of all potential profits on a higher open divided by the sum of all losses on a lower open) of 9.66 in comparison to an at-any-time profit factor of 0.97 only;
• the profit factor on the high (means the potential magnitude of change on the intraday high compared to the previous session’s close) and on the low as well significantly exceed the respective at-any-time profit factor on the intraday high (173.44 versus 13.96) and intraday low (0.39 versus 0.07), means downside potential is regularly limited on those sessions which fulfill the setup mentioned above while the upside potential significantly exceeds the respective at-any-time upside potential during any session, and additionally the ES shows an above-average probability for leaving an unfilled opening gap on the upside (on 16 out of 60 occurrences),
  
• although chances that the ES (S&P 500 E-MINI) will close higher are about even (on 33 out of 60 occurrences), the profit factor on the close significantly exceeds the respective at-any-time profit factor on the close (2.74 versus 0.98), means potential profits on a higher close significantly exceed potential losses on a lower close, but
• contrary to the bullish tendencies noted above, chances for a close above the open are below-average only, which even more applies to the respective profit factor as well. Means although the ES (S&P 500 E-MINI) regularly shows some remarkable intraday strength on the open and on the intraday high, a potential (better: probable) higher open is often very close to a potential intraday high.
  

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Bottom line:

Asian market’s positive performance on Wednesday’s morning increases the chances for a higher open and a potential intraday high significantly above Tuesday’s close on Wednesday’s session, but selling into any significant intraday strength during today’s session might provide a favorable short-term/intraday opportunity on the short side with respect to the ES‘ below-average peformance on the close versus open (and additionally taking into account the FOMC announcement at 2:15pm on Wednesday’s session) which would very well comply to the probabilties and odds concerning those setups which were triggered on Tuesday’s close (see my posting Trading the Odds on Wednesday – June 24).

Successful trading,

Frank

P.s.: I’ll regularly make some intraday updates as well using Twitter. If you’re interested in, please have a look at the blog during the trading session as well or subscribe directly to Twitter (recommended).

Disclaimer: No positions in the securities mentioned in this post at time of writing.

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I’ll be on vacation (in Italy)
starting today (Sunday) and going through the end of next week.

While I’m away
frequency and extensiveness of blogging will mainly depend on the local availability of cellular broadband internet access and/or local WLAN (chances are good), but will probably be less frequent and shortened as well.
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From my point of view Friday’s session was just the heyday of an almost perfect week concerning the fact that using the power of statistics in combination with historical market data will give you a decisive edge: the key is to have the odds on your side and bet accordingly, knowing what, when, where and why and how much to bet on each trade (but I regularly leave out the latter question).

The S&P 500 fully complied again to Friday’s bullish forecast based on the positive setup triggered on Thursday’s close when the ‘S&P closed higher at least +1.00% on the day on higher NYSE Total Volume (than the previous session’s volume), but couldn’t manage to take out the previous session’s high‘ (see my post Trading the Odds on Friday – May 29, 2009).

On Friday’s session the S&P 500 closed higher +1.36% on the day, and breadth was (relatively) strong again (but with a negative tendency, I’ll stick to that later in the post) with NYSE Advancing Issues/Declining Issues at 2.86, and NYSE Advancing Volume/Declining Volume at 3.02 (NYSE TRIN at 0.95). The S&P 500 opened higher, posted a higher high, a higher low and a higher close than the previous session’s high/low/close, and finally closed above it’s open. The S&P 500′ low below Thursday’s close early in the session provided the favorable intraday buying opportunity which was spotlighted in Thursday’s bottom line concerning Friday’s session.

On Friday’s close the S&P 500 triggered a few setups which -as always from a historical and statistical perspective- show some (significant) tendencies concerning the S&P 500′ next day’s (Monday’s) probable performance:

• with Friday’s session the S&P 500 closed higher at least +1.30% on two consecutive sessions (Setup S1),
• the ratio of NYSE Advancing Issues/Declining Issues came in higher than on Thursday’s session (2.86 versus 1.92), but the ratio of NYSE Advancing Volume/Declining Volume closed unchanged (and was therefore not able to close higher accordingly, for a logically higher NYSE TRIN) at 3.02 on both sessions (Setup S2), and
  
• the S&P 500 opened higher, posted a higher high, a higher low and a higher close than the previous session’s high/low/close, and finally closed above it’s open (Setup S3).

Table I shows the ES‘ (S&P 500 E-MINI) performance (since 01/02/1990) on the next session (in this event Monday, June 1) immediately following those sessions where setup S1 to S3 listed above had been triggered. Setup S4 represents the combination of setup S1 and setup S2, while setup S5 represents the combination of setup S1 and setup S3.

It is especially notable that the market (E-mini S&P 500) shows a significant tendency of a lower close the then following session, concerning both the probability for a lower close the next session with approximately 2:1 (67%) and profit factor (expectancy and pay-off) as well (potential losses -better ‘the sum of’- on the downside almost double potential gains on the upside). And even if we’d completely ignore the fact that the S&P 500 closed higher at least +1.30% on two consecutive sessions and take into account the combination of setup S2 (negative relatively tendency in breadth stats) and S3 (5 highs) only, the probability for a higher close would be below-average (18 out of 38 occurrences), and the profit factor would be unchanged at 0.55 only (for the same conclusions concerning the negative tendency on the next session).

Table II now shows the ES‘ (S&P 500 E-MINI) intraday performance (since 01/02/1990) concerning the open, high, low, close (compared to the previous’s session close) and close versus open on the next session (in this event Monday, June 1) immediately following those 30 sessions where ‘the S&P 500 closed higher at least +1.30% on two consecutive sessions‘ and ‘the S&P 500 opened higher, posted a higher high, a higher low and a higher close than the previous session’s high/low/close, and finally closed above it’s open‘ on the most recent session (setups S1 and S3).

It is especially notable that

1. the market (S&P 500 E-MINI) regularly shows a notable tendency of a lower open the then following session (on 25 out of 30 occurrences),
   
2. the market (S&P 500 E-MINI) regularly shows a notable tendency of again some follow-through of the trigger day’s strength during the next session due to the fact that the respectiv profit factor on the ‘high’ almost doubles the respective at-any-time profit factor  (for statistical purposes only in order to demonstrate that the magnitude of change on the high almost doubles the respective at-any-time magnitude of change), but
   
3. chances are very high that the market will post an intraday low significantly below Friday’s close as well (the average losing trade on the low is greater than the respective winning trade on the high), and
4. chances are high as well that the market will finally close lower on the day, with 33.33% for a higher close the next session significantly lower than the respective at-any-time probability for a higher close the next session, and with a profit factor of 0.52 one would’ve lost$2 for every $1 won. But regularly donwside potential is limited as well with only two 5 sessions out of 30 occurrences with a close -1.0% or more below the previous session’s close, and the average losing trade on the close (slightly) below the respective average at-any-time losing trade.
   

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Bottom line:

1. History (even the most recent since 2009) suggests that that market is currently a bit (short-term only) extended on the upside. The most probable scenario for Monday’s session might be a (slightly) lower open, a  positive reversal and run-up  to Monday’s  intraday high (on average 0.82% above Friday’s close) in the first half of the session, followed by another round of profit-taking in the second half of the session (posting a low significantly below Friday’s close) with finally a lower close (above the low) on the day (but it’s difficult enough to make a forecast concerning the next session’s close, leave alone trying to forecast the next session’s intraday movements and their potential chronological order).

Successful trading,

Frank

P.s.: WordPress recently implemented a Twitter widget, so I’ll regularly make some intraday updates as well using Twitter. If you’re interested in, please have a look at the blog during the trading session as well or subscribe directly to Twitter (recommended).

Disclaimer: No positions in the securities mentioned in this post at time of writing.