On choppy days or days when the market has been flip flopping – gapping up/down successively – are typically the days I get the most emails from traders. But I’ve noticed on days where there has been an extremely large move, like today, I can almost hear crickets in my inbox……until after the market closes or the next day when all the emails from random traders that I don’t know come flooding in. If this ‘indicator’ works as a sample of market participants, it suggests most participants are experiencing one or more of the following right now as my in-box is relatively quiet: caught off-sides; in shock; or in panic mode….and it means I’ll get all those emails tonight or tomorrow or the next day, not while the move is underway.

It also means that most traders do not prepare well for what I like to call the ‘alternative scenario’. Going into each day we need to have three hypotheses, a bull, a bear, and something in between.

Back to the email indicator…..using unconventional indicators can be very helpful to your trading. Consider using your own internal state as an indicator. There are lots of ways to do it. This is an important area in trading psychology and I’ll write more about this in the future.

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