I thought that going into the morning, with the pop at the open, we could be setting up for a move higher—especially since we opened above the previous day’s high and saw some solid response in the pre-market. That all changed when the Fire Nation attacked. lol No, actually, from the very first minute of the open the market started shooting down, and those first few minutes of sharp downward action pretty much killed the pre-market plan. So I shifted to checking out some of my earlier ideas—SNOW and CRM—but for the most part, they didn’t really offer a clean look. Which wasn’t a total surprise given the PSR (Position, Structure, Response) of the daily charts and the overall market. Nothing crazy to stress about today.

Why was my watchlist so bad today? 1. Price Position - MRVL had already come back down from its pre-market/after-hours highs. This put MRVL in a spot where now it would be facing difficulty with all the selling that occurred for an upside move. - Not saying it is impossible, but I favor more downside to start. - However, the market responded with a lot of friction with any idea of moving lower, and the whole thing began to look very bad. MSFT was also similar. While it was looking like it could really move lower, once the open came, the stock began to hold, and while it didn't turn higher immediately, it was resisting moving lower. Why? 2. Market Support - There was a lack of support from the indexes after the open that showed the market was truly weak. - It rather kept hugging the VWAP and refused to move too far away from it. - The odds shrink when the market is not moving with your trade. In reflection, it is very important to think about price position when thinking about an idea. Because how a stock got to where it is in that very moment can greatly affect what may happen next. These are just some things that I'm relearning today and bitterly needing to improve on.

Across stocks and the market itself, there was a lot of whiplash coming from the market. The market would sit above the VWAP as if the possibility of really continuing was there, and then would eventually flush lower rapidly. Just to come back a couple of minutes later and do that again. A common theme from today was the further and the longer the price spent away from the VWAP, the better the eventual trade was, and this makes sense. The further the price is from the VWAP, the further the reversion/extension can be, as the range is just bigger. However, once the price begins to meander around the VWAP without great price structure, position, or response, is when the market seems to get a little boring. This has been tricky because how to use the VWAP has been so multifaceted, and how spontaneously these trades can develop makes it for longer sessions at the moment. Then without great HTF structure or position, it requires a lot of patience to just see what develops. Some things that I think are noteworthy: 1. SOFI EOD chart - very nice move off the VWAP. Wonder if this is something to apply in the right context (news, data, etc.) 2. If no stock-specific news = Focus on indexes for better liquidity 3. If there is legitimate stock-specific news = Focus on stock All within VWAP framework.

The VWAP showed today with MSTR that it could indeed be a driving factor for trade ideas. MSTR gapped down, putting in another lower low, and after it tried to bounce from the opening, it showed it was unable to continue—fell back below the VWAP, and after moving away from it, the QQQ timed it up nicely for further downside. What's good to see about today's move with MSTR is that it shows the VWAP is the intraday execution point. While we still want the HTF to show good position, structure, and response, VWAP is the execution point. Now I would add MSTR didn't have the cleanest structure, but I think that was made up for with a more developmental-style trade this morning, as it took 45 minutes to develop before making its move. Which is totally fine, but something to keep in mind generally when trading. Not always will it be perfect, but as the market develops, the missing pieces can be filled in for a solid decision.

Time to rejuvenate and prepare for the upcoming week because today, and most of the week, was pretty insignificant from a trading point of view, unfortunately. Will do some more digging on what is going on with the VWAP, but for right now it's unsure whether or not this is a super important factor. Hopefully it is something a little more meaningful we can look to execute on next week, but we will just have to see.