1. Trading Tips for the Market Volatility

Hello Traders,

Markets have picked up some volatility. Indices, energies, metals, grains — are all experiencing some big moves and higher volatility.

Couple of tips I want to share:

Higher volatility requires SMALLER trading size, since the trading bands are now going to be wider.
It's ok to "miss a trade" better than a bad trade, so don't chase the market...
If you are daytrading, try the following: place your entry level very close to where you were originally going to place your stop order and place your stop order higher or lower than that. Yes you will "miss" more than a few trades but this may help increase your chances of a good trades when you get in rather than get stopped out.

Below you will see two charts of the GOLD market. Weekly and daily. Gold has hit a strong support level and may be due for a nice bounce. I think if tomorrow we can have a strong weekly and daily close, than chances for a strong bounce are higher, on the other hand failure to finish the week with momentum may trigger another run at the lows and perhaps breaking these lows.

"Plan your trade, trade your plan!"

2. New Expanded Grains Trading Hours

Beginning May 21, 2012, customers around the world will have more access to the deep, liquid CBOT Grain and Oilseed contracts when CME Globex trading hours for these products are extended to 22 hours per day. With the growth in electronic volume in CBOT Corn, Wheat, Soybean, Soybean Oil, Soybean Meal, Oats and Rough Rice futures and options, market participants have expressed interest in having greater access to these key agricultural markets. Current CME Globex hours for Grains and Oilseeds are 6:00 p.m. - 7:15 a.m. and 9:30 a.m. - 1:15 pm. CT, Sunday through Friday.

New CME Globex Trading Hours for Grains and Oilseeds:
Sunday to Monday, 5:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. CT
Monday to Friday, 6:00 p.m. to 4:00 p.m. CT

These expanded electronic trading hours will provide additional time to manage risk in grains and oilseeds, and offer access to our open and transparent markets during important economic events.

Key Facts:

New hours also apply to Mini-sized Grain futures contracts
Also includes Calendar Spread Options (CSOs), Wheat-Corn Spread Options, Soybean-Corn Price Ratio Options
Although markets trade until 4:00 p.m. CT, daily settlements will continue to be based on the 1:15 p.m. CT close each day
Futures and option contract expiration times will not change

See more by clicking the press release on Expanded Globex Hours for Grain and Oilseed futures and options

3. Gold Sees Strong Price Bounce; Market Bottom in Place?

By Jim Wyckoff

June Comex gold futures Thursday traded sharply higher as traders and investors stepped in to "buy the dip" in prices by doing some short covering and bargain hunting. The gold market was also oversold, technically, and due for an upside corrective bounce, which it did indeed see Thursday. If Thursday's strong price gains can be held into the close, and then some decent follow-through buying interest can occur Friday, then technical odds would be high that the gold futures market has put in a near-term bottom and that prices could then at least trade sideways in the coming weeks.