[Soultrader]

Theres a couple methods to anticipate a choppy day. This is not 100% exact but gives me a good heads up. If you have pit noise this will help. The lower the pit noise, the likely the lack of interest. Hence a choppy market.

Also consecutive trend days happen on rare occasions. You can expect a market to take a breather after a trend. Fridays (Sept. 29) action was after 3 consecutive higher value placements. Usually indicates a choppy market.

Look at the opening half hour range as well. If the range is less than 20-25 points on the YM, expect a choppy market. Always better to sit tight and play the pullback of the breakout of the range.

The %TREND also helps. Try doing a search in the forum... there is a formula to obtain it.

Also notice the volume on Friday. If you are familiar with the average volume on the YM, we had significantly low volume. This also indicates a choppy market.

Remember, being flat is a part of trading. Alot of traders I know did not trade on Friday. They thought I was crazy to be trading that day. There will be days when its simply a bad idea to trade. Identifying days of no opportunity and good opportunity will be key to longevity.