Trading Day Recap - Wednesday, 4/30/25

What a day! Wow!

When I got to my desk I saw the market had sold off quite a bit starting at 7:45 a.m and then accelerating at 8:30 a.m when US GDP hit the wires. The US economy contracted at the start of the year for the first time since 2022 on a massive pre-tariffs import surge as fears continue to grow the US economy will be severely impacted by Trump’s trade war.

On days like this I usually like to be very patient with the market knowing much of the move could’ve already happened in the pre-market and wait for a catalyst that changes market sentiment.

Then I saw the tweet above which piqued my interest. On Bloomberg someone said “weak data could hasten Fed rate cuts.”

I also noticed the Fed's primary inflation gauge was on tap at 10:00 a.m and decided to wait for this. When core PCE came in cooler than expected I noticed the market catching a bid. I let the ES go past the EMA hit resistance at ONL - overnight low and when it came back to the EMA, I went long the NQ.

For some reason I had a desire to remove my profit target today and let the trade run into the close but with all of the news coming out of the White House I could not do it. When I checked my trade an hour later I had captured R3 for the day and I closed shop.

When I checked the charts at close, the market had made a massive rally on some rumor that US-China are progressing on trade talks. Man, if I had removed my profit target and let it go until the close it would’ve been a 500 point day in the NQ.

Oh well.

There will be days like that in the future as long as you trade with a cool, calm head.

If you trade my system and my Edge - the Cusp Trade, the Edge appeared twice today at 10:41 and 10:51 a.m. I hope you were able to capitalize on that and let your trade run to the close.

One thing most new, struggling and even competent intermediate traders lack is the inability to let their trades run. The moment the market goes in their favor they want to bank in the small profit. No, you have to let your trade run. A 3:1 at the minimum or if you are experienced and fearless then as much as you can.

It is in the massive gains the R5, R7 you make back all of the small R1 losses and more.

This is the only way to trade my friends. Leave the fear behind and try and have big days when the market goes in your favor. Even if the market should turn around and take you out, continue to hunt for big days, this will rapidly grow your equity.

We have a lot of data tomorrow and Friday.