Tim,

I follow top traders at Slope of Hope. It is easy to do. Simply sign up, etc...

The top traders are routinely buying at the end of a down day and selling at the close of an up day. A simple reversal strategy. See the EOD MF from yesterday to see it is not only a few traders. This is a major pattern.

Will this pattern persist into the future indefinitely? Probably not. What I see is that the top traders have a nose for the goal, even if the goal is being shaken around.

It makes me wince to see a top trader indicate a long/short GDX or IWM position when the robot dictates the opposite. Are these folks better programmed than the bots? No. But are the more flexible? Probably.

Does this situation make me doubt the robots? No. But, I sure don't like to be hemmed into bad trades.

What do I do?

E.g., today I went short at the opening and then reversed the GDX and made back 1/2 the losses. Now I''m short again. I also am long TNA until the IWM short price is reached. I call this style: "trading into a robot position."

Perhaps others will have a laugh at this. I don't know.

But I do know that I like to have the robot directions and prices in place and trade my way into them.

This has worked the best for me during the choppy market over the past couple of months.