brownsfan019

3-23-09 Glad you guys did ok today. Not a good start to the week here.

Here's the code from this thread that will plot the Globex High and Low in OEC. Inputs: Session_Start(930), Session_End(1615); vars: G_H(0), G_L(0), Globex(false); If Globex and Time >= Session_Start and time < Session_End then Globex = false; if Globex = false and Time >= Session_End then begin // Should only execute first tick of Globex session G_H=High; G_L=Low; Globex = True; end; If Globex then begin If High>G_H then G_H=High; if Low< G_L then G_L=low; end; Plot1(G_H,"G-High"); Plot2(G_L,"G-Low"); Note - as the code stands currently, it will include data from Sunday, which means your Mon charts will actually be off if comparing the high/low to what the CME is reporting. Another post made to see if there's a workaround to this by trader273. Globex High and Low.txt

Going to try something this week - turning my P/L off on my OEC Dom so that I am not staring at every tick up or down and the resulting $ gain/loss. See if that helps keep me in the winners longer or not.

Pepper - look around here and see if anything interests you but bear in mind that the forum is really built around traders (hence the name of the forum). I didn't mean to give you a cold shoulder or anything, just letting you know what to expect if you decide to stay w/ us. As for where to start, not sure as that depends on you.

Pepper, There's an old saying that floats around trading boards and books that goes something like - you start as a day trader but if you are unwilling to get out of a losing position you turn into a swing trader and finally you turn into an investor when you just know a position will come back... If you want to DAY TRADE, this is a good site. Anything else and I personally would say you're barking up the wrong tree.

I wanted to answer a few questions about the account being presented here that were asked throughout my time in the chat room: What size account is this? $10,000. When do you plan to increase the # of contracts being traded? I think I will bump it up at $20,000. Is this the only account you have? While I am trading in a few accounts, I am presenting the account that is a realistic starting point for many people. Funding an account w/ $10k is very reasonable and something that most can follow.

Week update 16-Mar 46.88 17-Mar 328.13 18-Mar 203.13 19-Mar 281.25 20-Mar -93.75 Total 765.64 Overall an ok week. Nothing to write home about. Looking to step it up this coming week.

Welcome pepper! Just a heads up - this forum mainly deals w/ trading of stocks, futures and forex. Some guys hold their trades for SECONDS. If you are looking for a long-term investment forum, you might be better served elsewhere. Otherwise, enjoy yourself as there's a lot of stuff here.

BF - I watch those areas on the bonds and indexes for sure. If nothing else, good to know where the highest high and lowest low held in overnight hours. To me that shows that the bulls or bears were willing to step in right there and there's a chance they'll do it again. As w/ anything, see how it works for you first.

I personally never got into the YM, so not sure on slippage there. The volume is quite a bit less than the ES so that could impact the orders depending on what time they are placed.

I agree, if it can get some volume and head wind, could make for a possible market to trade.

Good stuff here guys as this is something I am going to test out as well. Thanks for the contributions.

Hmmmmm So your very first post on the forum was going to share w/ everyone how to become filthy rich trading automated systems? And it was taken down? That's messed up man, I'm going to complain too. What an outrage. I hate having to get up and trade myself, much easier if a system you found on the internet can do it for me!!!

Forex e-micro futures at CME Neat idea of a product and Open ECry will be offering the CME Micro FX at $0.50 per side plus fees. My understanding is the CME will be discounting the exchange from $0.16 per side to $0.06 per side for the first six months. This would make the total per side only $0.56 all-in. This is the best I have found anywhere. Will keep you posted. http://www.openecry.com

3-20-09 Not the best way to end the week. Unfortunately a few trades that seemed intuitively obvious to me (as discussed in chat room) did not confirm on my charts and while it's nice to have 'gut feelings' I don't trade that way. Seemed that due to lack of morning econ news that the bonds just didn't want to give me that movement that I thrive on most days. Consideration may have to be given to avoiding days w/ zero econ news in the morning. Ben B was speaking at 12 (and markets in a nice free fall since, lmao) and that was it. Considering I try to be done no later than 12, it left me hanging a bit on the bonds. So we'll see - might be worthwhile to avoid trading days (esp Fri) w/ zero news. I also got a few questions this week in the chat room about this particular account that I will outline later or this weekend if I remember.

You have to understand what the purpose of a market order is before you get disheartened by slippage on market orders... The purpose of a market order is to tell the markets - get me in, at whatever cost NOW. I am willing to take some immediate loss/pressure for the ability to enter my trade NOW. The purpose of a market order is NOT to get you the most ideal price possible. So w/ that said, the markets will take advantage of that but that's the deal you make when you send a market order. Your other option is to send a limit order but the deal there is you say you are not willing to pay more, even if that means you miss some trades. Recap: MARKET ORDER - gets you in now / you pay for this privilege / won't miss any trades LIMIT ORDER - you wait to get in / you don't pay extra for this / might miss trades

That's the issue w/ sending market orders on the ES. You just don't know where you'll get filled. In normal, every day type situations, 1 tick slippage is going to be standard. If you throw that same order out there before a news announcement or something, then you'll more than likely see ticks of slippage.

I think the safest view would be to assume 1-2 ticks slippage on the ES, with 1 tick the norm. Also, when using limit orders you'll want to assume that price trades THROUGH that level to get filled.

That's a perfect way to do it if using TS. I no longer use TS but when I was, that's what I did - just the minimum to get the platform free and then trade through my main broker. dae - compare OEC's rates too when you are ready to get the main account going!

3-19-09 Decent day today. I got into most of the trades I should have.... but... cut 2 winning trades short of what my profit target was (and subsequently hit). :doh:

It's funny - in my head it's pretty simple. Now if someone that did not know what I was doing looked at my setups, they might think otherwise. As you noted, I moderate the candlestick corner and a lot of what I use is right there. This part of the forums is not as active as the VSA guys and stuff, but that's probably b/c my stuff is straight forward and you can actually understand it the first time. :rofl:

Note - might have to wait till the markets closed to get more replies since some are trading!

3-18-09 End result was alright. I missed one really important long earlier in the morning that hurt me. That one trade would almost double the resulting p/l. Focus still not at 100%... getting there once again though day by day.

Interesting ideas. My suggestion is to trade on sim for a bit and then go live. For some sim works nicely and others it's not effective. If you have a system that works, then trade it. Personally I see no value in limiting trades to 1 per day when starting. What if the first trade is a loser and the next 5 are winners? Talk about messing w/ your mental well-being. At some point those moving to live have to give it a go. Once you are ready, then do your best and learn from your mistakes.

I look for action to occur at what I define as support/resistance areas. I'm basically looking to get in when big moves can occur.