Wednesday Notes - Groundbreaking Day

5:00pm What's that ... some market pace and intraday range?? A midday 5-minute ADX over 40?? And the VIX trying oh so hard to break into a daily uptrend?? Hand me a Kleenex as I'm getting all misty eyed.

While for a moment it seemed that I almost forgot how to pedal the bike on a downslope ... the key word is almost as after pinching myself that the market was indeed showing some E-M-O-T-I-O-N, I managed to get my game face on long enough in the late morning and early afternoon session to take a couple of chunks out of the 5 & 15 minute downtrends (wholesale shorts on trend pullbacks, wholesale longs on unsustainable extensions) to more than offset some morning probe losses incurred while I was trying to position short.

And while it wasn't a home run, I did manage to close the session on my intraday equity high and didn't trade after 2pm, opting to pass on the late-day whipsaw as I didn't care for the pace and I chose to instead keep my extremely modest 2-day personal momentum in tact. Yet the pace associated with the late morning push was about as good as I've seen (and felt) in a while, and even the late day wholesale overshoots would have been prime for the taking at this end if we had just a bit more time in the day.

My only complaint ... and it's really not a complaint per se, was that I was extremely quick on covers given the market's tendency lately to tease us with trends much like Lucy pulling the football from Charlie Brown.

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Which brings us to today's edition of the daily Project Jellyfish Update. btw, it seems we've again inadvertently stirred industry interest beyond our core collection of blog onlookers. It's a small ocean indeed.

Call today groundbreaking day (btw, note the hardhats ... lesson learned) as we're quickly moving from conceptual to reality. I obtained the IRS EIN number for the new entity today, and by tomorrow evening will have filed the necessary paperwork with the state to officially launch "Jellyfish Enterprises LLC".

I'm also pleased to report that I indeed spoke with the CFTC this morning who referred me to an excellent rulemaking and case law governing trader education and seminars that's very clear on what requires CTA certification and Commission registration and what doesn't. While I passed the Series 65 and have acquired a host of initials over the years (CMA, MBA, etc.), I'm not a CTA, nor do I purport to be. What I am, is a trader.

And so with a few careful tweaks to the intended program and jellie selection process, it's clear that the effort qualifies for exemption from registration, and we can get on with the more important matter of building traders. One of the actions I'll be taking to ensure there's no question whatsoever is to select a good mix of participants. Doing so will ensure I'm not tailoring advice based on individual characteristics ... which is a key line in the sand from the CFTC's perspective.

Now to the planned format ... still subject to change, but I'm getting close. The core effort will consist of 20 traders ("Jellies") who will be locked in a virtual Internet room (the "tank") with me during the day for ten weeks. During that time we're going to live and breathe (or however Jellies survive) a trader's life hour by hour and day by day as we attempt to make sense of what the market's current rhythm ("wave") is telling us.

Our job will be to learn how to float, react, and sting -- or be stung -- essentially using live market action (the "current") as the best teacher of all. For legal reasons, I can't direct the other Jellies' trading, yet that shouldn't at all detract from what I expect will be a highly-intensive educational effort.

Now once (perhaps sometimes twice) a week at night, the Jellies will be moved to a larger tank for a mandatory 1-2 hour feeding, at which time they'll be joined by other hungry sea creatures, including those with day jobs or those who weren't able to fit in the initial tank.

OK, enough puns. Seriously, as this continues to take shape, I firmly believe the proposed format -- as crafted in part by all of you based on your comments -- is a win-win all around, and I intend on making the evening "feeding sessions" highly worthwhile, as the formal "lectures" will occur at that time and be complete with interactive Q&As. At this end, it will be the most intense training I've ever been associated with. I apologize if my excitement comes across as hype ... you know how I feel about that by now. I'm simply excited.

What's left at this end is to select the initial group of Jellies, construct both the intraday and night tanks, complete some administrative stuff that goes with a new venture launch, and finalize the participant cost for the Jellies and the other night creatures.

And a special note on cost. While I don't think your eyes will bug out, please understand that this effort requires a solid infrastrucure and large commitment from this end both during and after hours. Having said that, my plan has always been to price the Jellie effort below some of the higher-end training mentorships and "home study" courses, and the ten (or more) night sessions comparable (as a total package) to other industry one-day seminars. Simply put, I want everyone coming out of this experience feeling it was the best educational value they've ever received.

Yes, it's true that as a trader I've certainly been hard on some of the industry's "trainers". So once again, it's time for me to put up or shut up.

I intend on putting up.

Enjoy the evening.