And for today, cash is the position that I will have. Being consistently successful in the markets is a tough job and there are many factors which contribute to whether you find success or failure. One of the most important factors is to know your personal strengths and weakness and leverage them at the appropriate times. A calm, rational trending (up or down) market is where I can leverage my strengths, but when the markets become wildly volatile I do not trade very well, so I will not be trading today. I am sure that I will come back from skiing later today and look at the markets and see some opportunities I missed by not trading, but the risk of not trading well is not worth the potential rewards if I trade in an environment where I typically do not perform as well. As I’m sure a lot of people were reminded yesterday, it is better to be on the sidelines wishing you were in than it is to be in the markets wishing you were out. With close to 30 inches of snow in the last 3 days and 6 of them coming last night, my risk/reward favors going to Vail for the day. Good luck if you are trading today.

If you are not going to trade but are going to be in front of your computer today, be sure to watch today’s wacky episode of WALLSTRIP