Think of the market like a private jet circling the runway. No crash risk. No green light yet. Fuel is fine. Passengers (capital) are shifting seats. Earnings season is the landing strip. Jobs data is the air traffic control tower. Until then, pilots fly tight patterns and smart money pre-positions.

Dow got a great Santa clause rally ( last five days ) but the S&P missed for the last 3 years in the red. ( not Santa red...)  AI agents are creeping into private software markets, quietly threatening large-cap incumbents. Oil money is sniffing around Venezuela like sharks who just smelled blood in the water. And everyone’s watching the Fed Rate Tool like it’s a crystal ball that occasionally lies.

— Jesse Livermore

PRE-MARKET STATS

The tape says “meh,” but the internals say “pay attention.”

• DOW: -0.08%

• S&P 500: -0.01%

• NASDAQ: +0.13%

• RUSSELL: -0.20%

• VIX: 14.98 (still sleeping)

• BITCOIN: $94,045

• GOLD: $4,468

• SILVER: 79.10

• OIL: $58.80

• 10-Year: 4.170%

• DOLLAR: 98.39

Monday’s Aftertaste

The Dow printed another record after the U.S. capture and ouster of Venezuela’s leadership. Markets heard one word and one word only: oil access. Energy names ripped, capital rotated, and geopolitics reminded traders that catalysts don’t send calendar invites.

Big Oil smiled. Bitcoin caught a bid. Defense tech popped. 

This wasn’t fear buying — it was positioning.

Energy & Defense — Follow the Money

Oil services and majors moved as Venezuela re-enters the investment modeling universe.

• SLB

• Marathon Petroleum

• Chevron

• Exxon Mobil
  
  

Defense-adjacent drone names lifted on operational success optics.

• AeroVironment +16%

• UMAC +14
  
  

FIGR — Tokenization Is Not a Meme

Figure Technology Solutions ripped over 20% as tokenized private credit narratives hit escape velocity. No single headline. Just fundamentals, flow, and shorts getting politely escorted out.

Volume tripled. Options volatility stayed elevated. Translation? Momentum funds showed up late and paid retail tuition.

Semiconductors — Memory Is the New Oil

The AI trade rotated into memory, and memory prices are still climbing.

• Micron +9% YTD

• Samsung Electronics +15.9% YTD

• SK Hynix +11.5% YTD
  
  

Memory shortages aren’t easing. DRAM pricing is expected to climb another ~40% into mid-2026. AI doesn’t run on vibes — it runs on silicon and memory.

NVDA at CES — Robotaxis Aren’t Sci-Fi

Nvidia teased its robotaxi roadmap. Level-4 autonomy. 2027 timelines. Robotics as the #2 growth pillar after AI.
This isn’t hype — it’s infrastructure being quietly assembled.

IPO Watch — Private Giants Eye the Exit

Markets are circling potential IPOs from SpaceX, OpenAI, and Anthropic.
Valuations are massive. Appetite is split. Translation: volatility will return — just not today.

Strengths
Markets are holding above key levels with volatility compressed and liquidity stable. Energy, semis, and defense flows suggest institutional confidence rather than fear. Sideways markets with low VIX often precede expansion — not collapse.

Weaknesses
No near-term catalyst means chop can punish over-trading. Breadth is narrow, leadership selective, and impatient traders are donating capital one bad click at a time.

Opportunities
Pre-earnings rotation creates asymmetric setups in semis, fintech disruptors, and energy infrastructure. Memory, tokenization, and AI adjacency are where capital is quietly leaning.

Threats
Jobs data can flip the Fed narrative fast. A surprise print risks rate-cut expectations for 2026 and could reprice equities in a hurry. Stay tactical, not emotional.

January favors rotation over breakout chasing. Institutions position before earnings, not after headlines. The tactic:
Focus on pullbacks within leadership sectors and call spreads instead of naked calls to control theta while VIX sleeps.

Surprising Stat:
Since 1995, stocks in leading sectors that retrace 3–5% before earnings outperform post-earnings chasers by ~18% on a risk-adjusted basis.

On this date, markets historically reward patience. 

Early-January consolidations have preceded Q1 trend expansions nearly 70% of the time over the last 40 years. 

Sideways is often the prelude — not the problem.

Most traders don’t lose money because the market is unfair.
They lose because they confuse activity with progress.

Sideways markets don’t punish amateurs.
They expose them.

So here’s the real question you should be asking yourself this morning:

Are you actually following a process… or just clicking because doing nothing makes you uncomfortable?

When volatility is quiet and headlines are loud, discipline becomes the edge.

This is where professionals separate from performers.

If the market doesn’t hand you a clear setup today—will you protect your capital, or will you force a trade just to feel productive?

And here’s the consequence question most people avoid:

If you keep trading out of boredom instead of conviction, where exactly do you expect consistency to come from in 2026?

The market isn’t testing your intelligence right now.

It’s testing your obedience to process.

Can you sit still while others leak capital?

Can you wait while impatience pays tuition?

Can you trust preparation over prediction?

Because this is the quiet truth:

Diligence doesn’t mean constant action.
It means controlled restraint.

Final gut-check:

If you can’t master patience in a sideways market, what makes you think you’ll master execution when volatility explodes?

This is how trader identity is built.

Not on exciting days.
On disciplined ones.

Average traders need motion.

Time Freedom Traders need alignment.

Choose wisely today.

If you’re paying for trading education but not structuring it properly…
you might be overpaying twice.

Once to learn.

Again at tax time.

Most traders guess.
The IRS doesn’t reward guessing — it rewards structure.

We broke down exactly when trading education may qualify as a tax deduction, how active traders set it up CPA-clean,
and what documentation actually matters.

👉 Read this before your CPA does:
Trading Education Tax Deduction – CPA-Ready Guide

Rhetorical Consequence Check:

If you’re already investing in your edge… 
why let bad structure erode it?

If you want 2026 to be the year you stop reacting and start operating… join Time Freedom Trading.

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• Trade the retracement instead of chasing breakouts late

• Use the 50MA/200MA like a pro (structure, bias, risk)

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Because the clock’s not ticking — it’s compounding.
And the market doesn’t pay hope… it pays execution.

Fast-forward 12 months.

It’s December 2026.

The Fed is doing whatever the Fed does.

AI is on its 7th hype cycle.

But here’s the only question that matters:

Are you still hoping rate cuts save your portfolio…
or are you calmly executing a proven trading operating system that funds your lifestyle, your legacy, and your time freedom?

You just read a full breakdown of:

• How the macro winds are shifting.

• Where rotation and reversal trades are setting up.

• How to weaponize something as simple as an engulfing candle for asymmetric entries.

The next move isn’t more information.

It’s installation.

So ask yourself — honestly:

If you keep living  the way you lived in 2025,
will you be any closer to time freedom by next December?

If the answer stings, good. That’s your signal.

Lock in a plan with Time Freedom Trading — the E.D.G.E. system, the $1K Way, the Tactics Newsletter, build a Financial Flywheel — and give your future self a very different December.

Because you’re one trade, one turn, one moment of clarity away from changing your life.

And if this hit you… you already know what you’re supposed to do next.

SEE the Market 
Like a Time Freedom Trader!

Most people stare at charts the way rookies stare at MRI scans —
lots of squiggles… zero understanding… and a whole lot of “uhhh, is this bad?”

Time Freedom Traders don’t look at the market.
We see it — in 3D, in real time, with clarity sharp enough to slice through Wall Street noise.

We see:

• Rotation before it rotates

• Catalysts before they explode

• Turns before they trend

• Opportunities while everyone else is still doomscrolling

This is the difference between traders and operators.
One guesses.
One reads the market like a playbook.

And it starts with using the right tools.

If you want to see what we see, the way we see it —
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👉 Sign up for TradingView today and start seeing the market like a Time Freedom Trader.

Your clarity starts the moment your charts go HD.

Because remember —

You’re just one trade away.

• Think like a Trader and Investor
• Build your own "consistency code"
• Grow into Profits with Providence. 

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