Monday Notes - Reality Day

4:00pm Before I get to today's trade, I knew the moment I wrote Friday's post that I should have passed on the comment about the market not going up on good news and possible implications on volatility, as it bordered on trying to read tea leaves like most of the industry pundits do (and they're usually wrong anyway). Simply put, we're traders and attempt to react to the true action directly in front of us ... not possible action around the corner. Plus, the "why" never matters. So going forward, I'll leave tea leaf reading to those who are much better at opening mouth and inserting foot.

In terms of today's trade, I wasn't particularly focused or sharp early in the day due partly to a couple of personal interruptions at inopportune times, and as a result chose to stay on the sidelines for parts of the day. And while doing so admittedly continued the pattern over the last decade of putting in a rather placid Monday performance (in today's case, a scratch as the result of an early morning loss as I was feeling things out, offset by a later gain once it was clear the bias was to buy pullbacks) -- and I've never had a clear answer as to why Mondays and I don't seem to get along -- the day ended with some solid reads, and I'm not too concerned about it.

Sounds like a lazy excuse or self-fulfilling prophecy Don! OK, perhaps for today, as I fully admit I just wasn't that "into it" as is the case on many Mondays as I restart the week's engine. Reminder to diary onlookers, this is simply my diary ... not a magical recipe book which I'll leave to the non-trading vendors who have 365 perfect days a year with all the answers.

As I've said before to onlookers, you see me "buck naked" here ... with all the blemishes, scratches, and imperfections. Today's post clearly won't go on Page 1 of any Million Dollar trading book. But maybe on Page 61 under "Reality Day". This is after all, a non-fiction account.

Back at it tomorrow. Hint, post-trend day!