S&P 500 Triple Screen Trading System

This site is unique in that it allows you to pinpoint technical indicators with a moveable dateline along with the ability to triple screen daily, weekly and monthly charts.

There are many ways to trade the S&P. Emini futures, OEX 100 options, mutual funds and individual stocks. From the conservative to the speculator.

Why trade the Standard and Poors 500? Only about 1 out of 5 of mutual funds are able to beat the S&P 500 stock index. According to The Hulbert Financial Digest, only 4.4% of the investment newsletters have beaten the S&P.

The site is dedicated to investors who would like to take a more active role in their retirement, 401k, individual investors wanting to supplement their income or those of us who would like to trade for a living.

The purpose of this site is to encourage investors to build their own trading system using a simple spreadsheet program and to no longer be left at the mercy of fund managers and analysis’s.

Who can use this site? Anyone who would like to take a more active role in their 401K retirement, individuals wanting to supplement their income and those who would like to trade for a living.

If you have a 401K you probably are offered a few funds to choose from and most likely one of them closely tracks the Standard and Poors 500 Index and a Government Guaranteed fund that will pay guaranteed return no matter which direction the market moves. You could actively take charge of your investments by placing your money in the S&P 500 tracking fund in a bullish market and in a bearish markets in the Government guaranteed fund.

If you want to do some stock picking you need to know the direction of the market. You will find that buying in a bear market will prove very difficult, the same would be true selling in a bull market. When you make your stock picks in the direction of the market you quickly become a stock picking genius. For the those who would like more risk and reward, one could trade oex options.

If you want to trade for a living, you could trade S&P 500 Emini futures. They are very commonly traded, very liquid and highly leveraged. Each 1/4 point move represents $12.50, each point $50. A S&P 500 Emini futures contract moves almost precisely as the S&P 500 index, if the S&P 500 index is up 5 points most likely the Emini contract will be up 5 representing $250. It normally takes about $3,500 margin to trade S&P Eminis some brokers will allow you to trade with $1,500 margin if you liquidate your position each day at close.

From the conservative to the highly speculative most anyone’s objectives can be met trading the Standard and Poors 500 Index alone.

This site is not about recommendations or advising (there are quite enough people willing to do that), just the opposite, it’s about empowering the individual investor to make their own decisions.

In the light of recent events it should be more evident then ever that the public needs take a more active role in managing their own investments. Everyone is free to use the indicators and information on this site as they wish, but until one is able to draw their own conclusions drawn from their own knowledge, system, or criteria don’t expect things to change.

You may look at this site and some of its indicators and think trading looks easy. You can easily gain a understanding of the market but how well do you understand yourself. As Sun Tzu said in the Art of War over 2000 years ago, know your adversary, win half your battles, know yourself win half your battles, know yourself and your adversary you will win all your battles. Winning only half the battles will prove futile you will soon go broke after paying slippage and commissions, even more costly will be the emotional toll taken arriving there.

You need to build a relationship with your system to have the proper state of mind to trade it. Healthy relationships are built on trust, faith and confidence the same emotions you will need to have towards your system. It is very difficult trading someone else’s system, like adultery its destructive relationship. Not having your own system also leads to fear and greed, greed may being trying to gain with out doing the work, and fear, may be not having the confidence in your decision once any adversity appears.

This site is free to use as you would like, but the most valuable answers will be found within once you have set perimeters and guideposts to measure yourself. Know yourself. This system is based on the triple screen method, first introduced by Dr. Alexander Elder in Futures Magazine in 1986 then later published in his book trading for a living in more detail. The premise being that trend following indicators and oscillators often give conflicting signals, the trend may be up and showing a buy signal while the oscillators may be overbought and showing a sell signal. In the same way different time frames will give conflicting signals, the trend may be up on the daily charts while down on the weekly.

The Dow theory states there are 3 trends (1) the long term, the tide, (2) intermediate term, the wave and (3) short term a ripple. Dow states you should trade in the direction of the tide.

The Triple Screen System is a forum of triangulation, a method of survey. For thousands of years, from pyramids to satellites, 3 points have been used to construct measurements. It seems to be law that to get any type of measurement 3 points are required. The measurement of time requires 3 points, past, present and future, so too to find a location or area you need 3 points X Y and Z. The 3 points that can be used to survey the market on this site by utilizing the monthly, weekly, daily, and the 15 min intraday charts depending on the time frame you are trading.

The anchor of the Triple Screen System is the weekly macd slope, trade in the direction of the slope and use the other weekly charts for confirmation. Use daily charts to confirm the weekly trend and trade against daily countertrends that go against the weekly trend. Monthly charts are used to gauge the economy and 15 min intraday charts are used for entry points.