bathrobe

MD is an invaluable tool if used correctly, yes it can be confusing at first but what they offer is great. I have always had quick and helpful responses to any problem (most always my fault) from any number of people at MD or Chad at linnsoft. Chris

Why ask this question here......,ask the guy you are appearantly standing behind. Did you see this trader on take your child to work day?

we use the tools in front of us to make the best decision possible, I only watch es I am unaware of buying/selling in the SP which works for me, the thread was called Dom reading, in my first post inthe thread I said how little I cared about the limit orders waiting inthe book, I am reading essentially the time and sales also, only in a different way, I do agree with you about the histogram. The chart I posted was not of depth or limit orders, but aggressive buyers/sellers at the bid/ask, or the orders that actually move the market. if you have found a way to trade the es taking into account the derivatives SP, SPY and their derivative options contracts good luck,

If I misunderstood your point, sorry. We were talking only about executed orders and not orders in the queue; that said, there is absolutely no way I can imagine to take into account orders executed above or below market for hedging purposes, etc. The es does not trade in a pit, and every print that made up the market delta chart I posted had a corresponding run in the time and sales.

I agree, I use Market Delta for charting with IQ Feed for data.

this chart shows the prints at bid and ask, you can see the buyers run out of steam and sellers come in in force very clearly in the areas I circled, this trade was from a few days ago. dsalas, I would do what blowfish said and watch this along with your normal trading if you really want to trade this way.

Well said Blowfish, completely agree that it is as much art as science.

yes, you circled the prints. keep in mind many orders are filled by algos imitating small retail traders and can really no longer be read with consistency

Please delete, sorry

no I have a level ahead of time and watch prints at the level but yes I am looking for prints to confirm the level for me.

blowfish, yes but on my platform if I place a market order it will get filled very far away. I always enter at bid/offer and always get that price, I always give up a tick on entry in the ES. dsalas, I am by no means an expert as it takes some getting used to but it is done by having a level first and then watching the prints as price approaches that level. I countertrend trade the es so I am looking for bids/offers that print to increase dramatically in size at levels or very close to them. I would recommend you look elsewhere to trade successfully because many orders are filled in 2 lots over a range of prices by algos.

I remain mostly bearish on global stock markets, my reasons are: US job situation still terrible and I dont really hear any good news (people have been out of work for much longer and are unwilling to take minimum wage jobs which are available because of ego), Commercial real estate looks iffy, trillions of dollars in US credit card debt which cant be paid (credit card debt will only get worse and massive write downs will come at some point). Govt programs (stimulus doesnt really seem to do anything) The Chinese banking system shows the same problems as the US banking system, european debt problems are not fixed just covered up. My trading is mostly intraday and I dont use indicators but looking at a historical chart I would expect a double bottom. I thought I heard on the news than Bernanke would do "anything" to avoid another crash which would lead to a propped up market which would lead to a possibly stronger crash.

The dom is heavily manipulated with fake bids/offers but if you can learn to read the prints (actual filled orders) you can pinpoint entries and catch large moves in their infancy. Also the market is moved by limit bid/limit offer orders not orders in the queue. The prints will be somewhere on your dom, on x_trader it is to the right and ninja it is in the middle

I momentum scalp around news releases at levels. I should have included that this method is far better than 50% winners, making it profitable for me. I leave the 20% on with a stop loss at the theoretical average +1 tick

I completely agree, but most retail traders enter with a 1 point stop and 1 point target or 1:3, 1:2, and never look at what the market is telling them.

Yes, but I really don't think most retail traders can use (or know how to calculate or use) dynamic stops. Most discussions I read regarding stops revolves around a 1:1 R/R ratio, some are more favorable but this is why I started the thread.

I trade only Index futures, and mostly the ES. I thought it would be a good idea to discuss trade management (given recent price swings and volatility). On a trade where I am looking for more points (greater than 3 points) I do not use a hard stop, I exit when I believe I am wrong. I am comfortable trading this way now but it took a large amount of time to get there. When I am scalping (1.5 points or less) I use a fixed stop of 1 point and take off 80% of position at 1 point-and let the rest run. I have shared this and started the thread to hear how others manage risk which is most important (IMO) to becoming profitable. I thought this could maybe become a place where ideas could be shared and learned to those who are newer, in retrospect this was one of the most important keys to me becoming profitable. I must stress that most traders should use hard stops

ND, I found this link www.traderslaboratory.com - Established Website for Sale: Financial Community - Niche, Popular, and Growing!

I think James sold the site (I know he was trying to sell) because he was starting a family and was short on time.

this site is chocked full of information many of us had to lose a lot of money before we learned, does anybody who wants to become a trader but does not have any idea where to start really care about ads?

I used the free bloomberg app for this purpose with my old blackberry when I had a blackberry and I have since switched to a droid x and the bloomberg app is also available for under $5, it comes in handy, I am not aware of what is available for the phone you mentioned. the app came in very handy when I was out and there was a news release regarding the Greek debt crisis back in the spring.

Traded personal account today, results are for @ES_F MAE 2 ticks MFE 5.25 points BSO 4.25 points

Everything about your setup -monitors, view, desk- looks great. Congrats on keeping your desk tidy by the way. I am in the market for 3 monitors and you if you don't mind what is the size and brand of monitors?

So strange you started this thread, for the last 3 weeks I have been looking into swinging spot fx, I was looking into the micro account that Thales daughter traded quite well to get a feel for the market. I look forward to more discussion on this.

Oh yes, a third!. Mods, please find a way to remove, please. Love TL, Hate the new spammers. Take Care