Don’t Feel “Forced” to Do This in a Choppy Market

Hey friend,

We got some manufacturing and services activity data this morning.

While manufacturing slightly underperformed expectations, the services sector showed a surprising boost.

Let’s see how markets have been moving.

The Daily Direction

Note: All indexes closed lower again yesterday, but have been mixed today. No change in any index directions.

The Daily Nugget

You don’t have to solve the market today.

After nearly a week of selling, there’s no shortage of things to worry about.

Debt headlines.

Treasury-market jitters.

Stocks giving back some of their recent gains.

And whenever that happens, traders start feeling like they need to make a big call.

Is this the start of something ugly?

Is the pullback almost over?

Should I sell?

Should I buy the dip?

Sometimes the best answer is simply:

I don’t know yet.

That’s perfectly fine.

You don’t need to predict the entire next move to trade well.

If the market is getting choppier, you can trade smaller.

You can tighten up your watchlist.

You can wait for cleaner setups.

And if you already have positions, you can stick to the levels and risk limits you decided on before the headlines got loud.

There’s no prize for being the first person to call the bottom.

There’s also no prize for predicting a crash that never comes.

The market will give you more information soon enough.

Maybe buyers step back in.

Maybe support breaks and the selling gets worse.

Either way, you’ll have something concrete to work with.

Until then, don’t let a few uncomfortable sessions force you into an opinion you don’t actually have.

Sometimes good trading is simply giving the market another day to show its hand.

The Traders Agency Team

P.S. Don’t forget that every Monday at 9 a.m. Eastern, Head Trader Ross Givens goes LIVE on his YouTube channel to break down the markets in real time and highlight overlooked opportunities.

It’s completely free so make sure you don’t miss the next one.

Use this link to join next Monday at 9 a.m. ET.

Have a good weekend.