Exhibition of usual mood swings by markets are at full display. Following the price action tick by tick will make you schizophrenic. In current market conditions, following a trend will leave a big hole in your portfolio because instead of smooth trend, there are tough to predict spikes and gaps. Besides the loss of mental tranquility is a byproduct.
In order to trade such market, one needs to pick up a theme and then wait for the opportunity like an eagle. Catching a trade from appropriate level is also not an end of the game, rather just the beginning of 'to hold - not to hold' travail. You need to constantly evaluate the parameters of the trade and make fast decisions.
But first thing is to have a grasp of reality and finding appropriate theme resonating though market, perceived through price action. Of course that's not an easy task and here experience and analytical abilities come in handy ! Here are the examples based on which we were able to capitalize on big trade in S&P futures ( which stopped going down exactly at 2100 and bounced back gleefully ! ) and other Forex trades in AUD/USD, NZD/USD and GBP/USD, ( Pls check the links )
1. To earn from equities - Innovation is needed
2. NIFTY - Don't be fooled by weekend volatility
3. USD buying - Fool's paradise
Combining the theme with appropriate solid technical levels, you can at least manage few pips here and there with occasional big wins. There are no secrets of success in trading. Only thing matters is ability to sniff the opportunity and then expertise to exploit it as much as possible.
In conclusion, broad based themes are still intact and we need to trade accordingly. And that theme you can summarize in one sentence as - ' Buy solid dips in equities and sell USD on spikes ' !. Of course until the parameter changes. What parameters? well, that's your weekend homework ;)