Trading stocks online isn’t about catching the exact bottom or top. It’s about hopping on the bandwagon, and hopping off again for a safe ride. Here’s a safe ride in QLD I just traded.

The 15 minute chart offered a clean trading pattern. In this sloppy, and volatile market, it’s easy to get whipsawed using the 5-minute charts. My buy signal occurred on the seventh candlestick. I set a stop at the day’s low. It’s midday, and I don’t expect much followthrough. The ETF has already dropped almost four points off the open. 1R is my goal. Hop on the bandwagon, and hop off. If I make five or more trades like this, it starts adding up. Nothing too earthshattering or exciting. I’m just looking for consistency.

With such a volatile trading environment, it’s been easier taking stabs at higher priced stocks and ETFs. I slapped some of the Proshares ETFs on my screen to track and trade their movement. UWM, TWM, SKF, DXD, DDM, SDS, SSO, SRS, URE, and UYM, joined MVV, MZZ, QID and QLD. Detailed descriptions are available.

Unless I have a setup that confirms both on the daily, and an intraday chart (TOL), I’m hesitant to take the trade. This daily SPX chart sums up the choppy action.

Volatility is great. Volatility is also dangerous in a choppy market.

I wouldn’t want to take a guess which way the market wants to turn here. With price hovering around the 50ma, and a trendline on the SPX weekly chart, I’m waiting for what will hopefully be a clear trend.

Do you try to trade without a trend?