Musical Chairs

...or, "it ain't over till the fat lady sings".

I'm going to take a little break/long weekend from trading to get my head clear. I've been wanting to rant, or whine, the last couple days...actually the last few weeks, about what I believe to be Market Manipulation. At the risk of sounding like I'm into some weird conspiracy theory, in over ten years, I haven't seen this kind of bizarre behavior since the Bush administration, and just before The Crash. The economy is in the toilet, news is repeatedly poor, unemployment is hideously high....just about all the independent business owners I know are still struggling mightily...times are really really hard. The Market is screaming higher; traditional patterns that have worked for years get gleefully broken/disrespected, 75% of volume is said to be controlled by machines....charts are repeatedly painted on low volume after hours..it all smells fishy to me. Yesterday, for example...we are ridiculously overbought....every indicator/indication I had going yesterday was for the market to break lower. The AD Line was staying negative, averaging -700...the breadth was 2.5 to 1 negative...net selling on the tick for the first time in 10 days...extreme highs at important resistance....major trendline break, and the end of the day, when most traders have cleaned their desks and headed home, 'they' run it up to new highs. They say it takes too much money to manipulate the Market. It actually takes very little for after hours trade, where the next day's seed can be planted. I'm beginning to think that thru collusion amongst brokerage houses, the Plunge Protection Team, high frequency trading, the Rockafellers, the Illuminati, even another country like China, the middle east, whatever/wherever.... can influence the Market.

I consider myself a decent trader.
A really good trader would say, "So what? Get on board. Lose your attitude. Trade what you see, not what you think. Be nimble. Be flexible."
All traders biggest challenge is exactly that concept; what makes it difficult is that we are hardwired to behave in accordance with the way we think and believe. This means it's always going to be a game of musical chairs, and as far as a top or bottom being put in, it's when the fat lady sings, and no sooner.
So I'm gonna take a little break, and instead of pointing my finger at the Market, I'm going to point it at myself, and focus on being ok with running merrily around the circle of chairs, keeping an eye on the one I'm gonna hit when it's time to sit down, and keep my ear tuned for the throaty melody.