Navigating Volatility: Maintaining Your Calm with the Storm w/ John471
A few months ago during the holidays, we did our annual Fireside Chat. The title was Day Trading Trump’s 2nd Term. The key expectation was the potential for increased volatility—wider ranges, news-driven swings, and tweet-induced spikes. So far, that part seems to have played out.
The potential implications of tariffs and/or a trade war have shifted our day-to-day environment dramatically. If you’re an intraday trader in the equity futures markets, there’s a good chance you’ve had to revisit core elements of your trading plan—your setups, trade size, stop placement, and risk management.
For newer traders, this kind of shift can feel like a full-on existential crisis. Suddenly, what used to work doesn’t. Not entirely, but just
enough to knock you off balance—triggering stops on good ideas, second-guessing solid setups, or worst of all – tilt.
Let’s all take a breath, step back, and try trading through the storm from another angle.
Picture This
You’re learning to play guitar. You’re not very good yet, but every weekend a few friends let you sit in with their garage band. You strum some chords to familiar songs and start to get a feel for it.
Then one weekend, you show up and everything’s different. There are more musicians, new instruments, and people watching. The tempo is faster, the group is improvising, feeding off each other, and constantly shifting. Just as you figure out the key, it changes again.
Now Ask Yourself
Is it smart to just keep playing like you always have, even if you’re out of tune? Or is it wiser to pause, be humble, and observe? Maybe take a step back into that beginner’s mindset, and simply listen—so you can adjust and learn how to navigate this new tempo.
Before maybe you could confidently sit in on 5–7 songs (trades) a night. Now? Perhaps it’s just 1–3, or you only play the parts you know well. This is where patience and observation become your edge. You turn your amp down (reduce risk) so those inevitable wrong notes don’t blow everything up.
Perhaps you just don’t know these songs yet, or the pace is too fast. So the right move might be to sit back, listen, and wait for your moment. Watch the open or certain times of day, and only step in when the rhythm suits your style. This is what maintaining your calm while trading through the storm looks like.
The Markets Haven’t Changed
I was hired as a clerk at a Chicago proprietary trading firm in 2004. I took time to mature as a trader, but by 2007, I’d found some consistency. I thought I had things figured out. Then came 2008.
Volatility spiked in ways that feel familiar now. The instructions were simple: cut your size in half, wait for clean setups, and if you don’t like the trade—don’t take it.
We’ve seen this kind of volatility before. The Tech Boom and Bust. COVID. Further back: Black Friday, the Great Depression, even the Tulip Bulb Mania in the 1600s. Every storm feels new in the moment, but the underlying cycles are the same.
I bring this up to push back on a phrase that’s probably floating around your chat rooms right now: “The markets have changed.” In my opinion, they haven’t. In fact, the volatility we’re seeing is proof they haven’t. These are the same auction-driven phases and emotional patterns that have always been there.
“These are the same auction-driven phases and emotional patterns that have always been there.“
– John471
The sky isn’t falling. Your oscillator might not work anymore, but that doesn’t mean the market is broken—it means your view might need an update. This is why I believe your trading worldview should start with the Auction Process, the foundation of what we teach at Convergent Trading. Indicators are the echo, the auction itself is the sound.
Closing Thoughts
In relationships, people say you don’t really know someone until you travel with them. In markets, I’d say you don’t really know your system—or yourself—until you’ve traded through a crisis. Until you’ve had to navigate volatility when it’s real, fast, and emotional.
That’s when all the surface-level confidence disappears. What’s left are the raw drivers: fear, greed, discipline, and self-awareness.
Just like in any emotional, crowd-driven environment, those who can stay calm—those who can maintain their head trading through the storm—are the ones who will prevail.
John471
CT Head Trader