Friday was a difficult day for me. The market seemed to irrationational in a logical way.

Last week when Cramer came and talked on video about how hedge funds manipulate the market, people seemed shocked. im Cramer described in a Wall Street Confidential segment on The Street.com, how hedge fund managers basically juice the market to close out their quarters in good positions. Well, IMHO, that is what happed on Friday.

You can read more a the WSJ, Painting the Tape, My Money Blog, and Trader Mike.

In the morning when good news hit the street, the market did not go up. We had some bad news and the market fell. Funny thing, in the afternoon the market started to rise on light volume. Just like Thursday. Hmmm. Could it be that the funds were trying to “window dress” before the end of the quarter. I suspect so.

In the after noon on Thursday and Friday, the market went steadily up. Strangley so considering the news that was on the street.

Of course we do not have any evidence of market manipulation, since that would be illegal. Cramer’s words do ring a lot truer these days.

For Friday, I am looking at support at 43.15 / 42.75. I am looking to close another position at 43.15. Support at 43.95 / 44.25. The only report that may have a big impact is the Department of Commerce’s Construction Spending report reported at 10AM. So I am going to to be looking for a trade around then.

The construction spending report reports residential, non-residential, and public expenditures on new construction. usually, this is not a big deal, since monthly reports are subject to friggin’ huge revisions month to month.

The Personal income report comes out before the open. It is an indicator of future consumer demand. When consumers stop spending, it is bad for growth.

Mar 30 reports
8:30 AM Personal Income, Personal Spending
9:45 AM Chicago PMI
10:00 AM Construction Spending

Friday QQQQ support 43.15 / 42.75 Resistance at 43.95 / 44.25

The Yahoo economic calendar is where I go to see what events and WHAT TIMES these events are going to hit the market.

Yahoo Economic Calendar

They actually crib it from briefing.com so you can read it there also.

For Thursday, I think all bets are off. I am looking at a tighter range around the market. I will probably take a directional position based upon which line ( support / resistance ) is broken.

There are some reports , Initial Jobless Claims , and Gross Domestic Product , that are coming out at 8:30, so I cannot expect that information will have been factored in as analyst will have time to read, studied and analyze the reports.

I am thinking more about 1Option’s position that the small trader should take directional bets. I cannot predict the market with 80% accuracy yet, so I have a while to go. But I do think I will have to go more directional to increase my returns. I would have made a lot more if I had bracketed my orders yesterday. When the market was making a triangle, one order above and below with a trailing stop would have made me some money.

I will have to practice those in my paper trade account today.

~squid

Thursday QQQQ Support 43.35 Resistance 43.90 / 44.25

Another trading diary is An NYSE Scalper’s Tale – A Trader’s Diary pretty cool. About a CBC ( Canadian Born Chinese ) scalping at a prop shop.

I usually check in on the weekends since he does have a Weekend Reading List.