Mastering Market Awareness is Easier Than You Think Nate Bear, Lead Technical Tactician, Monument Traders Alliance Hey gang, Over 90% of traders wash out in their first year of trading, none of them for lack of determination. In fact, most had viable trading strategies. So, why did most of them never make it? Quite simply, they lacked market awareness. And it's a problem I want to help you fix. You see, most traders find a setup that works and hold onto it for dear life. They refuse to change what's worked, even after it's clear something is wrong. To them, making any adjustments is akin to starting over when, in reality, they don't need to jettison their strategy; they just need to calibrate it to the current market. This misconception held me back for years before I became a millionaire trader. However, I want to show you an easy way to overcome this that doesn't require much effort. What is Market Awareness? Markets and stocks move in cycles, from bull to bear, up and down, and even sideways. But these cycles aren't limited to one timeframe. Cycles exist on 5-minute, 60-minute, daily, weekly, and even yearly charts. And they don't always agree. Our goal is to analyze the relevant market cycles, the individual stock cycles, and the relationship between the two. To help you visualize this, let's go back to March, 2020. It was evident to any observer that markets were in a freefall. We were in a bear market. However, Zoom (ZM) was having the time of its life. While everything else was cratering, Zoom's stock kept moving higher. So, how did I trade during that time? Since my strategy is to buy high and sell higher, I leaned extensively on Zoom. And it worked well for months. Eventually, that gravy train came to an end. Any bull or bear cycle, whether it's in the broader market and individual stock, on a 5-minute chart or a daily chart, eventually ends. You have to always be aware of this, identifying what's working and what isn't, and applying your strategy accordingly. As an example, let's take a look at Costco (COST). Yesterday, I locked in a nice +45% winner on Costco (COST) in Daily Profits Live in less than two hours: This started with the S.A.M. AI-Powered Scanner that zeroed in on four A+ setups (as noted above). One of those was an hourly chart that I've copied below. Costco's 60-minute A+ setup contained all the elements of my TPS setup methodology: - Strong uptrend
- Consolidation pattern
- Squeeze indicated by the red dots at the bottom
The A+ setup also meant that the 8-period exponential moving average was stacked on top of the 21-period, which was on top of the 55-period exponential moving averages. All of this is pretty much the same as any other trade I might take. But here's where market awareness comes into play. Over the last few weeks, a notable rotation has been in favor of 'safer' stocks over riskier tech plays. In fact, two of the top-performing sectors have been utilities (XLU) and consumer staples (XLP). Costco is part of that second group. You can actually see this on a ratio chart of consumer staples to semiconductors (SMH). Since mid-July, consumer staple stocks have outperformed semiconductor stocks as a whole. In a market context, stocks like Costco should have relative strength while tech stocks like AMD are probably struggling. And in fact, that's exactly what's happening, with Costco reaching new all-time highs as we speak while AMD is well off its all-time highs. Since my strategy does best with stocks showing relative strength, and particularly those making their way to new all-time highs, it makes sense to look for a trade in Coscto. At the same time, I have to be aware that this rotation into safety stocks will eventually end. I don't know when that will happen. But I know it will happen. | 
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