thnickster

Indicators,, no indicators..ticks, minutes..Stops? get rid of emotion..What is an intra day trader to do? I have a friend who has eighteen indicators on a chart..about six Ma'S..Man..when they cross look out! I expect I'll get some snide remarks, but here's my offering..the way I trade ES (ESU2), Eur (EU2), RLM-MU2 (Russell). This is the Global Zen platform (about which I have certain entry compaints..but all in all a great platform and free.) way of naming the products. And there is also ZB, etc. Anyway..I use a ten minute chart, one stochastic indicator with my own inputs which tell me trend direction, overbought/oversold and when trend change is confirmed. Also use one MA and one EMA. That's it for indicators. I don't trade crosses of oscillators, use bollingers, or any fancy stuff. Simpler the better in my opinion. I have two trades and they both involve breaking what I call shelves. Shelves are a little different than mathematically setup pivots..but a lot of times they coincide with them. A shelf is where traders have repeatedly reversed course (yes, a pivot point..ok!) But I set up those areas by backing up the chart at first open and finding them by eye..then putting in a horizontal line at all of them hit more than once. To get to the point..when these shelves are broken or bounced from..an opportunity for a trade arises. Then I use 2nd candle entries. I normally trade short, but any break of a 2nd shelf down or up usually makes a big trend trade. It's that second one that creates monsters..and why not? It says that support or resistance be damned..we are going down folks ( or up) and the ride is strong. N

I am not a vendor. Do you see anything anywhere in my remarks where I am pushing some product? Don't understand what you mean. Do you understand what you mean? Just offering up some opinions based upon many years of experience.

I can teach people mechanically how to make profitable trades, but I cannot make them abide by what I teach them. Even when I have spent days with them and taken profitable live trades in front of them..held their hand.. it often went bad for them. Everybody has a different psychological makeup. Day trading plays into every bad habit you can have. An emini trader, essentially, must become a robot. An hour after I left my first coachee..the phone rang. "I did exactly as you showed me and I'm down $500. Well..you guessed it. They didn't. Because I was sitting and watching the same charts and saw no trades. I disagree that an emini trader has to know all the formulas for calculating the oscillators. They are mostly worthless anyway as they are all lagging. Taking crosses of macd or CCI..it is all late. Learning the inside of how MACD is created is an unsuccessful traders exercise. What you have to know about MACD (which I don't use anymore) is the divergence patterns VS price. I only trade two areas and have had days of 8 trades..and no trades. If I don't get what I exactly want..forget it. Just my 2 cents.

Only my opinion, but in my experience, for me, I have found that a longer period chart works better. I use a ten minute chart. It smoothes volatility, I can see the trend better..or lack of one, and overbought and oversold areas (extremes for cci and stochastics) are clear and believable to me. Another thing about a ten minute candle is that you can see the volatility direction within a single candle as it jumps and moves. At the ten minute mark when a new candle starts to form you can quickly tell whether this is a real breaking move. Most new traders use either 3 or 5 minute charts. I think 3 minute charts are a disaster for newbies. Anyway they were for me long ago. Calm yourself, wait for your setups, trade 4 or 5 times a day..or less. Only take the absolute best moves. Don't be fooled to jump in on sudden long candle moves. They usually reverse. Anyway..my two cents. Nick

It sounds to me, unlike others, that you have a worthy set up for trading. I just think you expect too much from that particular system. If you are trading overbought or oversold areas using a slow stochastic, cci, etc., you are reversing on a possible trend..which is ok. But this technique is primarily for scalping. 3 points on ES? Do you mean 3 points or 3 TICKS? 3 points on ES is 12 ticks. No way. No wonder you are losing money. Here's is what is happening to you. Often you get a couple of ticks on the reversal and then it backs up on you and takes a bite. I use somewhat the same technique for 90% of my trades. I go for 2 ticks at 4 or 5 contracts. Let's take 4 contracts, two ticks. Let's say you are paying 4.80/per round trip (there are places you can pay less). 4.80 includes clearing fees..everything. Your cost is then 4x4.80=19.20, ok? 4 contracts x 2 ticks is 8. 8x12.50=$100. So you net 100-19.20= $80.80. You can do that a number of times a day. Also if you trade ZB and use the same technique you can accumulate a good amnt of money per day. ZB pays a lot more per contract. In my opinion you should definitely stay away from the mini dow. It pays $5.00 per tick which starts you off upside down. It is worthless and will suck money from you faster that an Oric. Nick

I've tried volume as an indicator and find it unreliable..for me anyway. I have much more reliable signals for trend change and small moves. Quite long ago I realized that much of the ER2, ES, and EUR moves could be utilized by taking small hits with many contracts..especially ER2 as it reverses quickly. In my opinion..say..if you trade 3 contracts and only take 2 pts..that is 6 minus cost in and out..around $4.80 in some places. So you get around $72 minus $14.40..around 58 bucks per hit. You can do this all day. Mixed with some really strong longer ones..you've got a nice day. I often hit over 90% with my signals.

Regarding indicators. I trade ER2, ES, and EUR. I have used practically every indicator invented..CCI, T-3, lsma..you name it. This is only my opinion..but in my ten years of experience trading these eminis..I have settled on 2 min charts for ES and EUR..and 3 min for ER (it is more volatile). My one indicator..yes..the commonplace MACD 12,26,9..and 5,3,5 (to get out of trades and show quick divergences). When the emini candles are at a peak or at the depths..I wait for the Fast Line regular 12,26,9 hook. As the hook verifies itself by remaining hooked on a price backup..I am in. Most times this is a scalp play..but if the 353 cuts through the zero line followed by the 12,26,9 fast line..the trend has changed and you stay in. I have found these trades to be above 90 percent for at least 3 pts on many contracts. All in all the safest way to play the eminis..expecially ER2 is to take 2 pts on a lot of contracts..unless you get the zl crosses I spoke of.