Scalping Technique???

[BillyG.]

Hi Walter; Well I have to say I read your links and it sounds great but way over my head right now. Put my brain on overload it did. I like the rainbow graphing and see where it will be a great tool for trading but would have to see it in action to understand it more I guess. Remember I haven't even ventured into loading a charting platform yet. I would love to try your technique when it is complete. I know you said your research is on Forex but what are you scalping? Maybe you could recommend a Stock charting platform. Thanks; Billy

[traderxman]

www.futurescalper.com anyone had any experience with this software?

[markd85]

BillyG
For stocks I don't think you could do much better than TC2007. You get scanning and charting all in one. They have unmatched tech. support. Also, for affordability Quotetracker is a good option and you can feed it real time data from almost any broker. Thanks.
Mark

[OAC]

	Quote:	markd85
	BillyG Also, for affordability Quotetracker is a good option and you can feed it real time data from almost any broker. Thanks. Mark

QuoteTracker is a very sophisticated program. The Paintbar feature is awesome. I used to play with it and my charts looked like they came off TradeStation.

[walterw]

	Quote:	BillyG.
	Hi Walter; Well I have to say I read your links and it sounds great but way over my head right now. Put my brain on overload it did. I like the rainbow graphing and see where it will be a great tool for trading but would have to see it in action to understand it more I guess. Remember I haven't even ventured into loading a charting platform yet. I would love to try your technique when it is complete. I know you said your research is on Forex but what are you scalping? Maybe you could recommend a Stock charting platform. Thanks; Billy

well Billy, in terms of scalping I have posted a lot of my methods being done on futures, here are some links to the most clasic ones :

http://www.traderslaboratory.com/for...ance-1714.html

http://www.traderslaboratory.com/for...rade-1940.html

http://www.traderslaboratory.com/for...rade-1942.html

I know it is a lot of information... only going thru the vma takes about 9 hours worth of reading and videos ....

The new scalping will be arround forex... but as vma is evolving there will be also another thread on a longer term type method thats me... I am on all alternatives getting my nose...

All the futures methods linked above can be used on liquid stocks as well... enjoy have fun¡¡ cheers Walter.

[agatto2]

Hi Billy - Great questions - It is all very confusing. Here is what i had to do to keep my mind .

The way it works for the hardware/software side of trading , after much research I decided on an asus laptop , running 4 gig ram , large hard drive , and running vista. Vista is a little quirky but seems to be working well so far, and they have an installed program that lets me upstep my memory with out actually installing memory hardware. Asus also had a 2 year part and labor warranty , is a gaming system , and has a great customer service reputation.

Next We all have to connect our computers to something to start trading. The way this works ( for me , some people connect direct to exchanges ) I used interactive brokers for my broker , my broker then feeds me information that my software programs will use to chart , and trade. I then signed up with another data supplier to make sure i always had a backup. There are a lot off good suggestions on this site for data suppliers.

Now Software - Two peices i use , many are the options. Sierra charts for charting was not to expensive and a pretty good charting program. Next i use what is called front end software , it is called button trader. The user interface on the button trader is incredable , but a little expensive . There are other front ends out there that are good as well and a little cheaper . Button trader was better for my trading style.

You put all those together with the internet , a lot of practice and tinkering and you have the trade initiation system. im no expert but thats what has worked for me.

Man long post , so much of this stuff - As far as actually trading . I keep it very simple. A chart , 8 to 11 period moving average with 5 or 1 min candles. I like the first two hours of trading , I like to play gaps. Briefing dot com has a morning report with their platinum program that reports gappers . With that style trade i watch the five minute candles . If the gap was up i wait for the first five minute candle that closes inside the last 5 minute candle , then i short . That style trade works out about 60 percent of the time , and you will have to get out of the trade if it does not do what you think it should do
( really important ) .
I also like the 30 minute bulls trade . That one you mark the high and the low for the first 30 minutes of the session. When it breaks those points its a buy signal. This is a easier trade but again money management is cruicial , if it is not doing what you think , get out.
What else has helped , I picked a basket of stocks 20, in various sectors , and just watched them all day on the one minute charts. after around six months i really started to get a feel for the stocks and the market , and the market makers for those stocks. Practice Practice Practice.
Thats all folks

[BillyG.]

My thanks to everyone that replied to my questions and posts. Since the last post I have been checking out the Russel 2000 emini and the S&P500 emini as scalping territory because of the popularity at this site. Given the lesser cash required to start with I'm leaning in that direction. I'd rather test my skills and ability to learn with 3K as opposed to 25K. I have been in contact with Infinity Brokers. My contact is Patrick. They offer Sierra charts $25/mo. and free live feed with no monthly fees. I think I'm gonna start with them. Sierra is free for the first 2 weeks to paper trade it. Not sure If I need any other paid services yet. I'm looking to scalp now with the trend; up or down; and using a simple set-up with just 2 moving Avg's. for the Russell (The 20 and 5 simple) and just the 20sma for the S&P. I'm leaning strongly toward starting with one contract until I can profit then adding another and another as I grow more confident. However quicker scalps with multiple contracts is a very tempting thought. If I can make this work and learn from it I will stick with the eminis for however long it lasts. This seems to be the road of least resistance for me now. I want to keep it as stress free as possible. Thanks for reading, Billy

[brownsfan019]

Billy,
If costs are a factor, you can get FREE charting and FREE data with an account at OpenEcry. All things being equal, this will save you money.

I am going to venture to say that the commissions will be lower as well. I could be wrong, but OEC is very competitive and I have never received good rate quotes from Infinity. It's just my experience so take it for what it's worth.

OEC site: http://www.openecry.com/
OEC rates on their site: http://www.openecry.com/rates/rates.cfm
Note that those are the published, public rates. You are probably going to pay these or close to them in the beginning, but they can be negotiated down from there over time.

OEC review here at TL: http://www.traderslaboratory.com/for...html#post12570

[BillyG.]

Hi brownsfan019; As far as costs go I am referring to the initial start-up account funding. 3K as opposed to 25K for stocks. I was impressed with Infinity by the way the broker answered the phone and not someone who knew zip about trading. I'm not saying OEC brokers don't answer the phone---that I don't know. I do know that when I was with TD Waterhouse I sometimes waited for 20 minutes to get one on the phone. The costs I think are about the same as compared to OEC for a round turn trade but $0 for softwear is hard to beat compared to$25/mo. for Sierra. However I don't know enough about the softwears of each to compare them. Do you have or know anyone on here that has had any negative first hand experience with Infinity? They also have live training using their order system which sounds helpful for me. I am not going to fund for a few weeks until after I am caught up with my outside chores. This winter will be my time to learn. Thanks for reading; Billy

[brownsfan019]

	Quote:	BillyG.
	Hi brownsfan019; As far as costs go I am referring to the initial start-up account funding. 3K as opposed to 25K for stocks. I was impressed with Infinity by the way the broker answered the phone and not someone who knew zip about trading. I'm not saying OEC brokers don't answer the phone---that I don't know. I do know that when I was with TD Waterhouse I sometimes waited for 20 minutes to get one on the phone. The costs I think are about the same as compared to OEC for a round turn trade but $0 for softwear is hard to beat compared to$25/mo. for Sierra. However I don't know enough about the softwears of each to compare them. Do you have or know anyone on here that has had any negative first hand experience with Infinity? They also have live training using their order system which sounds helpful for me. I am not going to fund for a few weeks until after I am caught up with my outside chores. This winter will be my time to learn. Thanks for reading; Billy

Billy,
As an experienced futures trader myself and having demo'd many, many software products over the years, I would say that the OEC platform and fee structure is really hard to beat. I think the charting is sufficient depending on what you need and the fact that you get tons of FREE data is amazing to me. Not sure how infinity is with Sierra, but you may need to pay for your data feed as well. Maybe they include a limited set of feeds. But let's say one day you want to take a look at bonds, or mini gold, maybe the DAX or the STOXX or some other foreign markets... With OEC you just open the software and off you go. The data is there, in real-time for free to customers. You'll want to know how that works with Sierra and Infinity - ask about the data fee(s), if any. Ask how many market(s) you get for free if they say it's free. The free feed may only be the CBOT, which is free to everyone for now.

You can get a 2 week trial from OEC and if need be, you can request it be extended as well. I suggest taking it for a test spin and compare. See how it feels and reacts to Infinity. You will want to be comfortable, so go with your gut.

Good luck.