Thursday's Trading Trends & Year End Recap

[Image] Hey , The SPY and QQQ hardly moved on Wednesday and volume is declining into the end of the year. The Santa Claus rally is resting and possibly petering out, unable to sustain the bullish momentum after the monumental gains that November and early December brought. The bulls look exhausted at these levels and the big boys including MSFT, AAPL, AMZN, NVDA, GOOGL all are chopping sideways, waiting for a catalyst to drive them either higher or lower. The market is in need of a decent pullback right now and the main question is when, not if, it will come. It is looking more and more likely that January will be a month of the retest and chop, which will start 2024 out with a whimper. The markets are starting out 2024 near or at all-time highs with a year full of obstacles ahead. The soft-landing narrative has been priced in as market participants are expecting cut after cut all of 2024. The Fed looks to be prioritizing a soft landing right now over getting inflation down to their 2% goal. Watch for the Fed’s talons to come back out if inflation numbers start to heat up again. Keep your eyes on oil, as it needs to continue to sell off in order for inflation to continue lower. If oil has bottomed, that could be a problem for the Fed and the soft-landing narrative. Some other key events to monitor during 2024 will be the US election, the war in Israel, the war in Ukraine and Chinese aggression in Taiwan. With only two more trading days left in 2023, it’s time to tally up the years results. Every trader needs to see what worked and what needs work. The highly motivating New Year’s season is the perfect time for such tedious introspective work. SPY [Image]( [Image] The Prosperity Portfolio continues to live up to its name in 2023! The system has exited 75% of the current position and will continue to hold the remaining 25% until it is trailed out. The trailing stop is a close below the 50DSMA. The Prosperity Portfolio will end the year with a 27% return! A very small portion of that return is still unrealized, but the lowest it can go with the trailing stop is a 25% return. This is an amazing return in a portfolio that only took seven trades this year. Because of its low trade count and great returns, this system is perfect for anyone who is short on time. The Prosperity Portfolio is slow, steady and methodical and has some serious edge in the markets year after year. It does not carry the full downside risk that a buy and hold system does and gets traders a lot of exposure to the markets during the bull runs. That is a win-win and makes it a great system for every trader who wants long market exposure. QQQ [Image]( [Image] Our Weekly Reversal portfolio has finished out the year strong! [ALV]( hit Target 2 on Tuesday for another 1.2R winner. This only leaves two trades active in the portfolio: PHR and USAC. [PHR]( is up nicely and we have 1.4Rs locked in with the most recent stop move to $21.39. Target 2 is still pretty far off, but we can be very patient with PHR as the worst case is a 1.4R win and the best case is a 3R win. [USAC]( missed its Target by 32 pennies last Thursday and has been selling off ever since. We have increased the stop to $23.23 to see if the 100DSMA can hold. [SCS]( is still open with a limit buy at $13.28. It is continuing to retest its earnings candle, which is exactly what we want to see. We will keep it open into next week and see if it can fill. The Weekly Reversal portfolio will end the year with 5.32R. This is nothing special, especially compared to the great returns of our other two portfolios and the overall markets, but it is at least a positive year. The RLTNewsetter team will be tweaking and updating rules and scans in 2024 in an effort to continually improve this systems edge. PHR [Image]( [Image] [QCOM]( continues to inch closer to its main target, getting within one dollar of a great win on Wednesday afternoon. The stop has been trailed well above break even, locking in a win and allowing for patience and calm during the waiting. [AMD]( was one of the strongest stocks on Wednesday closing up 1.85% on the day and finishing the day with a cute little hammer candle. The target for 100% is at $152.51, well within possibility but still over 4% away. The stop has been trailed to $134.98 to lock in a win on AMD as well. The Nasdaq Momentum portfolio was an epic performer during 2023, ending the year up 77.34%. This could be in the low 80s if QCOM manages to hit its target today or tomorrow. Of course a system that is designed to capture momentum in the Nasdaq would perform wonderfully in 2023, the year of A.I. and the mega caps. NFLX, MSFT and ADBE all contributed to this systems outperformance, but META and NVDA were the stars of the show. The system bought low and held during some of the most epic bullish moves these mega cap names have ever seen. A.I. and the mega caps will likely continue to outperform over the coming years so with a few tweaks and updates we will continue to rock the Nasdaq Momentum portfolio here at the RLTNewsletter. For the volatility lovers out there, this one is for you! QCOM [Image]( If you want to watch how we trade and manage these portfolios in 2024, check out the link below to join the Real Life Trading Newsletter. [Level up your 2024!]( [Image](mailto:support@thetradersplan.com) Disclosure: You are responsible for your own trading decisions. ALWAYS, do your own research before investing in any of the above securities. This is not a solicitation to buy/sell ETFs or securities. NEVER invest money in ETFs or stocks that you can't afford to lose. You can lose all of your capital by trading any securities mentioned. These ETFs/securities are very volatile and gain and lose value quickly. We reserve the right to freely trade in any mentioned ETFs or securities. We are not compensated by any mentioned companies. We trade ETFs and securities based on our opinion of intrinsic/possible future value only. We are not registered investment advisors, so always do your own research before buying any securities. Unable to view? Read it [online]( If you no longer wish to receive mail from us, you can [unsubscribe]( Sent from: Real Life Trading in Nashville TN 37221