If there was one word to define the end of 2018 and the start of 2019, that would be volatility. Over the holiday period and at the start of the new trading year we have seen extreme and volatile moves across the markets.

First was the biggest single day points gain ever for the Dow which climbed over 1000 points and delivering the largest single day points gain in history. Astonishing by any standards, even in a ‘normal’ session and not one sandwiched between two holidays. Next came the flash crash for currencies with the yen pairs plunging several hundred pips in minutes, only to recover equally quickly over the next few hours.

And all of this price action was given further impetus from the thin liquidity and low volumes. Both these moves were associated with average volume, and sending a clear and unequivocal signal of traps laid by the market makers and big operators. Volume price analysis as always reveals the truth behind price action and whether the major players are participating in such moves. At such times, thin markets present the perfect opportunities, which require far less effort than under normal trading conditions, but with volume price analysis supported by the Quantum Trading indicators we have the perfect blend of trading tools and methodology to take advantage with some nice profits developing on the US indices in the session.

In this session we follow the indices as bearish sentiment for the US markets builds once more, driven lower by the negative news from China and helped further by a shock warning from Apple after hours. Heady stuff, but volume price analysis reveals the true picture.