G’day Traders,

What a nice morning it is on the Gold Coast. I have had a great weekend with my brother’s family, including an 8 month old, staying with us. He has been very entertaining without keeping us up at night – amazing!

This week is important for the markets. There is plenty of economic data out in the US that’s pretty important, such as the Housing data out last night. But the European market will focus on the market’s reaction to the bank stress tests. Don’t worry about what everyone is writing, that the stress tests are not worthwhile. Recall back to the US bank stress tests – the rally in 2009 started from there.

I am not leaning either way on this. I am simply waiting to see how the markets react. Overall, long-term, I am bearish and this wouldn’t change my mind too much that we are in a sideways market unless the ES rallied above 1115 and held there for more than a few days. This of course impacts options, ETFs and Forex.

For Commodities we are seeing a lot of markets rally. September Crude is at the top of its recent range near $80. I will be interested to see if it breaks above this. Corn has fallen below support after breaking $4 and is starting a new trend. Soy has just crossed, after rolling over nicely.
Copper has been really strong recently, which is a great sign for world growth. Cocoa’s fall has slowed. Cotton has turned nicely long and Sugar continues to move higher.

The US S&P500 +12.35, The Nikkei was up 12.77, HK +1.1, China -3.36 and Australia +0.41%.

ETFs – There is a couple of weekly’s I am interested in to give me some more balance on the long side – but I am only interested in the ones that are really strong. Also, aside from Commodity ETFs that hold physical products (such as GLD), I would only hold these ETFs short term (off the weekly) because they use futures, and holding long term doesn’t really work too well as contracts need to be rolled.

Options – I’m a little cautious, due to where the market is, on BECS. Still I think BUP opportunities may be limited until the market moves a little higher or falls.

Today’s Top Tip!

NEW LIS Online 30 Day apprenticeship sequence
New to the LIS members area is the 30 day apprenticeship page. You will find plenty of information on there about how to get started on the various different strategies. Have a read through and complete the exams, I am sure you will increase your knowledge, even if you are an experienced trader. Where is it? In the LIS members area, under the Lifestyle Trader Apprenticeship> First 30 Days tab.

Information for Beginner traders- Stick with the trends. Follow your trading plan taking all trades that fit your strategy (but be diversified and trade the smallest amounts).

Information for Intermediate traders- You need to be diversified and whilst it is true, many commodities are trending, many are also sideways. You don’t want to miss the start of trends. This makes a difference.

Information for Advanced traders- If you miss a good trade and it breaks out on Agricultural Commodities don’t be afraid to jump in on the breakout.

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Earlier in the year, Lifestyle sponsored an event that featured two Accountants who shared fantastic information on Self Managed Super Funds.

Since many missed out on these events, we got John & Chris into our studios and recorded their presentations.

This week, we present John Illingworth, a Director of IPS, a forward thinking accountancy practice, that we use for all our activities.

To watch John’s presentation, click on the link below:

http://www.lifestyletrader.com/media/ips-presentation-john/

Next week, we’ll list Chris’ presentation.

We’re recording quite a few interviews and presentations like this – all for our Lifestyle Members.

Enjoy.

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If you’ve been trading for a while, you will release that success in trading comes from mindset. Having the right mindset is critical to making head or tail of the global markets. May experts agree, that having a great system that tells you when to get in and when to get out, is only part of the story. Mindset represents 60 to 70% of success.

One of our very own trainers, Darryl Nagel has put together a brand new course, where the focus is on trading mindset. During the course Darryl and his team will give you hands on examples that will put your trading specific mindset to work. For more information, visit http://lifestyleurl.com/mindsetevent

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Scott Goold

Head of Lifestyle R&D