My Facebook feed consists of political blowhards vs. snowflakes this week.
If the statement offended you, it was intentional. Emotions are high. I tend to keep my opinions very apolitical and I don't intend to change. The challenge will be accessing and managing emotions.
It doesn't matter how you voted, or where your political opinion lies in terms of trading. The key will be maintaining a separation of that emotion from your trading.
Your social media streams are likely going to have views that differ from yours. I'm guessing everyone has that one follow or that one Facebook "friend" who will post something daily that gets your blood boiling.
Forget the next four years; if you want to survive trading the next four months, you'll have to learn to maintain a distance from political emotion. Trading is difficult, and managing emotions ranks equal to, if not greater than, managing capital. It is often the single greatest risk and enemy of a trader.
My suggestion would be to avoid Facebook while trading. Learn how to use the mute button on Twitter. Fun fact: the same button works for television. The emotions of others will create opportunity for you, if you remain stoic. Regardless of what you believe politically, from a trading standpoint the next four years should offer some fantastic opportunities.
We're marrying earnings with the new presidency, which should add to this fire. If the results from American Express (AXP) , which look pretty decent to me, bleed over into Visa (V) or Mastercard (MA) , I would view it as an opportunity to add some financial exposure.
And speaking of insurance/money center banks, I would avoid any names under their 50-day simple moving average (SMA). You'll find names like Bank of America (BAC) , AIG (AIG) , and Wells Fargo (WFC) over their 50-day SMA.
WFC doesn't have a bad look with the recent bounce off that average, since it can now be used as a stop. I would avoid names that have the look of Citigroup (C) here.
Most importantly, check the political angst, political excitement and political emotion as a whole at the door before you enter whatever trading floor you call home on a daily basis.
As far as today goes, I wouldn't do much in the way of chasing. We're seeing some signs of a breakout on the SPDR (SPY) and Powershares QQQ (QQQ) , but it's the first day and early morning at that, so watch how the day plays out as we get closer to the big moment.
If the breakout holds, then early next week should offer a similar upside opportunity with a clearer stop level.
