Anyone who is actually trading this year realizes markets are different now, they've changed dramatically due to HFT domination and extreme governments manipulation. That combination over time has led to multi-years lows in volume, volatility and open interest across all popular financial instruments.
Anyone who is not actively trading but merely observing chart action itself might wrongly assume that nothing has changed and markets are the same as they have always been. That simple.
Market extremes always self-correct to opposite extremes. The current multi-years dead market action will not resolve with a gradual, deliberate pickup in pace... the next stage from here will be wild, screaming volatility on high volume as artificially propped-up markets naturally correct themselves.
Too many traders expect trading results to be static, steady, gradual, deliberate, predictable, consistent, etc. But the reality is, trader results are directly determined by underlying market conditions. You don't control your average trading results... your chosen market dictates varying results to you. Anyone who thinks otherwise will be taught the truth over time by their master and boss: the market itself.
Meanwhile, we plug away because no one rings a bell when conditions are about to change. Could be Monday, could be the following week, could be next month. Last week's Russell 2000 emini futures blotter attached... all two-lot entries at a time. Divide the points total in half for single contract comparison.
Some sessions offer decent opportunity, other sessions offer very little. Sit, watch and wait for opportunity to present itself, and keep busy with non-market tasks in between. Thru the course of anyone's career, they will experience high-low market cycles repeatedly. This is nothing more than one part of that endless cycle.
