brownsfan019

The days of 20/20. A really rough day could call for some 151... :p

I've never been into hard liquor, but just curious what are some good quality liquors of choice among traders? Not sure where this came from, guess I've watched too much Boston Legal where Denny and Alan sit on their high rise porch drinking some quality liquor. I wouldn't mind a drink or two after some days of trading, but don't want to buy junk. Give me some ideas... cost not a consideration, I'd much prefer a quality drink over cheapness.

I agree with Cooter - any newbies need to be careful when trading contracts that can lock down. That's a dangerous proposition if you don't understand fully what's going on. I would consider the 'best' US indexes to trade as: 1) ES 2) NQ 3) ER2 4) YM ES is the most liquid and I think you don't see as many volatile swings since it's an efficient market. NQ is a nice market and I'd go to that in a heartbeat if the ES wasn't available. ER2 at times is on crack. When you are right, feels great. Not so great when you are getting beat up. YM is just slow and low liquidity. If you want to pop a 30 or 50 lot trade, good luck on the YM w/o some nice slippage and/or getting on someone's radar screen. Drop 50 on the ES and no one bats an eye.

Nick - I would say big is at least 100. And that's probably a very low number to start with. Just my opinion. It's all relative.

Nick - it just depends in what capacity you are 'trading'. Just trading your own account, have at it w/o licenses. Want to trade prop and/or OPM? You'll probably need to be registered in the US.

Cooter posted a great youtube video in the Series 7 thread, so I thought it would be good to have a thread on the Series 3 since it pertains to futures trading. Hopefully we can make this thread a comprehensive resource on the Series 3. Q: First, why even consider getting your Series 3? A: As a trader, you may be interested in the 3 for a couple reasons: 1) If you plan to trade OPM (Other People's Money) you may have to register with the NFA/CFTC by LAW. It's important you understand the rules and requirements when trading OPM, even if it's just family and friends! 2) You want to broaden your knowledge on the futures biz as a whole. Q: How do I know if I should register? A: I suggest always directing questions to the NFA as their support people are very helpful and friendly. Here's a good link on the NFA site about who needs to register: http://www.nfa.futures.org/registration/who_has_to_register.asp For sake of discussion, it's safe to assume that if you plan to become a CTA, CPO, etc. that you will need your Series 3. Q: Do I need to be sponsored to take the Series 3? A: NO! As of July 2007, you can take the Series 3 without being sponsored by a member firm. This is VERY different than other tests administered by the NASD. Q: How do I study for the Series 3? A: There's a handful of companies out there that sell Series 3 study material. I used Securities Training Corporation http://www.stcusa.com/ Q: Once I know I need to get my 3, how do I sign up? A: Trying to do this on your own is a pain the butt b/c the NFA does the test through the NASD. It can get very confusing; however Cooter found a great YouTube Video that walks you through this!!! I suggest just watching this! Helpful links: NATIONAL FUTURES ASSOCIATION (NFA): http://www.nfa.futures.org/index.asp COMMODITY FUTURES TRADING COMMISSION (CFTC): http://www.cftc.gov/

And the nice thing about the 3 is that you do NOT need to be sponsored to sit for the exam. With the 3 you can just signup on the NASD website. Even though the 3 is really governed by the NFA/CFTC, the NASD is where you schedule it. I know, a word mumbo jumbo there. In other words: SERIES 7 - REQUIRES that a member firm sponsor you. This can be a brokerage firm or a prop firm typically. The 7 is for stocks, bonds, mutual funds, etc. except commodities and futures. SERIES 3 - you can schedule on your own with no affiliation of a member firm. The 3 is for commodities and futures and is required for certain designations such as the CTA or CPO.

http://www.investopedia.com/professionals/series7/ This exam is administered by the National Association of Securities Dealers (NASD) that provides an individual with the qualifications necessary in order to make different types of trades with all types of corporate securities, except commodities and futures. It is also one of the steps necessary in order for a member firm associate to register with the NASD. The Series 7 exam must be passed in order to take many other principal exams offered by the NASD.

Firefox here.

James - the site is back to not remembering login info. I have it set to remember my info and today when visiting had to re-enter it each time. And after clicking login it still appears to not see that I logged in. FYI.

On this one snapshot, looks great!

James - on other thing I thought of - there was quite a bit on muni bonds when I took it. Make sure you get good study material and if muni bonds are highlighted, study them pretty hard!!

It wasn't worth the effort for me I guess. Trade my risk capital and invest my retirement money. Seems like a good combination to me. I could not imagine daytrading my retirement dollars. It doesn't get much more risky than that... If that's all you got, I guess you could trade a small piece of it, but I still would be leary of that. I've traded and been in the markets for quite awhile now and would not suggest using futures for retirement dollars, ESPECIALLY IN THE BEGINNING. Odds are that you will lose a good chunk of that money and when it's your retirement at work, those losses are a tad harder to swallow.

Walter - when I traded the NQ, I traded 50 a clip with no problem. I would not think 100 would be an issue either. Of course, those numbers are not a problem on the ES as well.

Here's my view - my risk capital is in daytrading of futures. My retirement and serious money is in ETF's. Trying to use futures for a long-term play is rather difficult in my opinion with rollovers and the amount of leverage at play here. You can't simply just sit on a losing futures position and know that sooner or later the market has gone up, so just hang on. Different mentalities in my opinion. Not to mention, has anyone had success here opening an IRA at a custodian to daytrade futures that was quick and easy? I only attempted this once (with Millenium as the trustee) and I could not get simple emails returned. I thought since they could not return my simple email questions that trying to get actual funds there and get responses could be a pain and not worth the effort.

Jerry - good points. The initial topic was to discuss scaling in and it looks like Sharp brought up averaging down. I'm with you - I think averaging down is a loser's game over time. But to say that everyone needs to scale in I think is incorrect, as I've demonstrated in this thread. You mention that traders need to be able to reverse, and we agree there, but to scale in and be able to reverse quickly is not one in the same. As I mentioned above, the numbers can get skewed quickly if you scale in AND reverse when necessary.

Good point IS, but here are some things to consider under that strategy: 1) You are hoping the position GOES AGAINST you, so you can get a better price, but not too much so your stop is not endangered... Seems counter-productive to me - you want to lose initially, but not too much. 2) On your winners where you do not enter more, it will be too easy to kick yourself in the butt thinking your profit could have been double or triple in your example. 3) You would need a 'generous' stop level in order for this to work. Since you want price to go against you so you can buy/sell more, but not 'too' much, your initial stop level needs to be at an area where you can enter more and not get quickly stopped. This can work, but I personally have stops of 4-5 ticks on average in the ES. 4) On trades that stop out, you could easily have a FULL LOAD of contracts getting stopped out and on winners might only be able to get 1/3 of your contracts into the trade... All of a sudden those winners need to be fairly large to cover the losses even if the losses are 'small' b/c you averaged down, but it was on a full boat. I personally think averaging down is a loser's game as illustrated here. The idea could work depending on your trade setups and rules. I think your stop loss area would have to be larger (and too large for me personally) and your mentality has to accept a very counter-intuitive way of thinking.

This is an interesting thread - it appears many of your more common candlesticks are something many traders here use. Some use them mainly (like myself) and others use them in conjunction with other items (like Soul with Pivots). I think there's an important thing to note though - MANY traders use candlesticks, in some way, shape or form. There are purists like myself that are hunting for candles first and others use candles for additional confirmation. I think that's why you see candles work well at times - when all of 'us' are on board at the same time, it's easy to see why candles can be so powerful at times. In the end, candlesticks and anything else can be a self-fulfilling prophecy if enough people are using them at the same time, right? I think it's prudent of all traders to at least be aware of candlesticks and the story that is being told between the fight of the bulls and bears. Every candle print is saying something and candles can provide a quick and easy way to see who won the fight or if it was a draw. Being able to see the story being told in front of you can help your trading, even if just used as a confirmation for some other methodology.

Depends on what format you want (minute, tick, etc.) and if you are plugging that data into the OEC trader or another platform like MC. The minute data appears to go back pretty far on it's own w/o requesting more data. The guys at OEC are good guys and if you ask nicely, you just might be able to get even more data.

Tough to decide on just one... I'll take hammers under certain conditions every time (and the inverted hammer as well, since that's basically the same thing just upside down).

You can get data from ICE (and many, many other exchanges) for FREE with Open ECry. I mean, serious amount of data sources available to customers. Worth a look in my opinion.

James, I am signed in (top right says Welcome, brownsfan019) but when I click a thread, there's all this stuff to register. See screenshot for one example. I've tried to login multiple times and while it appears I am logged in, the software is not seeing my login when I click on threads.

I like the NQ, it's probably my 2nd or 3rd market of choice. I'm mainly focused on the ES now, so can't comment on the recent movements.

Study hard and take it seriously. It's an easy test to pass if you are prepared. It is not a cake walk in my opinion. When I took the test, the firm I had signed on gave us one time to pass. They provided over one month of at home study that required well over 40 hours per week in study. Good luck!

bk - here's my suggestion - do not use the words 'invest' and 'emini futures' in the same sentence or breath. When you trade futures, you are trading VERY AGGRESSIVE and HIGHLY LEVERAGED products. These are NOT your buy and hold mutual funds like you may be used to. First step is to educate yourself. Be careful, there are many co's out there that will prey on newbies like yourself. Do your homework first. Here's some FREE info out there: http://www.cme.com/edu/ http://www.cbot.com/cbot/pub/page/0,3181,1130,00.html You could spend the next few weekends reading and reading. And you need to. Lastly, I am not a fan of daytrading futures in a retirement account. Not only is it a pain in the butt to get the account opened to trade futures, it costs more and I don't condone daytrading your retirement funds (no matter the size). Good luck!