phoenix01

I just want to ask a general question and id appreciate some genuine answers. Is anyone here making money day trading the ES futures? Because iam quiet young (19) and everyones always telling me day trading is pure gambling and no one makes any money. Furthermore i don't know anyone that trades the markets and it would be nice to hear that it is possible. Sometimes you just need to know there is a light at the end of the tunnel to give you the motivation to continue. Thanks

Thank you for your advice.I think this type of buying pullbacks is what iam going to focus on. A few questions: 1. Is it worth buying the book you mentioned 'outliers' 2. Why should i change markets from the es?

How do you find this information? Is this even possible for futures?

Hey guys, I was just looking for any genuine advice out there for day trading the eminis After 3 years i still have not reached a level where i can make any money. Ive done the usually, learnt all the lessons about money management, emotions, implies etc etc. Currently i try to trade the 5 minute chart using just price action, with one moving average on the chart just as a reference point (quiet like al brooks). And all i seem to do is break-even, some days i believe I've mastered it and then some days i just want to give up. I just don't believe i have an actual edge. I have so much knowledge about technical analysis and price action but not been able to create the edge thats needed to change from break-even even into profit. I try to risk no more than 2 points (which i find extremely difficult) and create some type of risk to reward ratio greater than 1 to 1. Try to stick to the intraday trend and buy pullbacks and reversals in the first hour. I just feel like I've hit a wall and not sure where to go next. I'd appreciate some genuine advice for where to look or what to look for. If anyone is actually willing to provider information on how they make there living. What i should focusing on and trying to improve to gain that edge? Thanks

I waited for the market to move back above the ema, pullback and hold. Entered long after the green hammer and then was stopped out 2 candles by the red one. Then entered long again after the move up to 38 off the ema. Which in hindsight was very poor but i think i was annoyed by the fact i was stopped out on the first trade.

I will post some examples later this evening. But i think my problem is i try to trade the ES pit session so my chart displays candles from the open till close and nothing else. However i also have a 24hr chart open as well. Now the ema on both charts can be in completely different places. I get confused to which one i should be placing trades on. For example today the market gapped up, therefore the ema spent 3 hours catching up to price. Therefore i placed a two trades off the 24hr ema and both failed. Has anyone looked at this and have any advice. Which one to use and what do you do when the market gaps up?

How is everyones ema trading going? Trading the 5 minute ES using the EMA has been difficult to find any consistency.

See iam not sure if it is just the week and iam just freaking out. because normally i do quiet well and find many successful setups. Do any others experience a week in which it seem the market is just ignoring your ema? I feel that i have enough backtesting to support the 15minute chart.

Do you have an criteria the market or that pullback has to meet to buy/sell the the hammer?

Currently iam trading the 15 minute charts and am just struggling to get a decent risk to reward ratio and more than 1-2 trades in a day. I don't really want to be stuck infront of a computer screen all day waiting either. However i find the 1 minute chart slightly daunting due the large amount setups off the ema.

On the Dax do you use the 100ema like JMC?

I find this extreme difficult to do however from backtesting it seems to produce the best results.

How have you created that fixed target? Is it just from experience from watching the markets or using an indicator. How soon did you adapt to say the recent vast increase in volatility. It completely threw me, I was so set in my ways of expecting this much profit per trade on average, having tight stops and moving to breakeven quiet soon.

I trade European indices and the ES so usually two markets. Trade from the European open till the close and therefore catch the first two hours of the US session.

How would you suggest you determine that target when markets voltility is always changing. When some days bounces lead to large extensions because possibly some news came out and fuel it further and sometimes small bounces which you have to take before it comes back for your stop.

From peoples perspectives and experience do you think a fixed target or trailing stop is better? I can't see how a fixed target can work when volitilty and conditions are always changing. Iam trying to trail behind candles that go in my favour but having varying success.

I agree the small risk you take on each trade is crucial to the success of this setup.

Do you just take the morning trades on the ES, what were you reasons for not entering at the 10:45-50 test?

I think we should spent more time discussing exits and filtering the good trades from the bad ones. JMC I know you filter with times of day, is there anything else you use? I've found nothing to be a filter apart from personal experience of watching good and bad setups. And exits, well it's the most difficult part of this type of trading. Currently Iam just trailing behind each bar that goes in my favour. I'll move my stop to breakeven once a trade has gone far enough that if it came back to that point it would be invalid. That is vague but you get a feeling of that once you watched the timeframe long enough. I think we all would benefit from discussing exits.

Brownsfan have you been consistently trading the 20 EMA with a live account for a while now and been successful? Its fine if you rather not go into details.

Have you got an specific criteria which you look for to increase the probabilities of a bounce? Or do you simply enter in markets that are showing a strong trend?

Iam entering them when the bar closes. I wish I knew the setup well enough to just enter on the ema but I think its possible once you traded the setup long enough. It would give you excellent risk to reward ratio and a real edge.

Yeah I think that's the best way to do it, that's when the setup has the highiest probability of success. However that would mean I would have to watch 2-3 markets to find the trending one if I want at least one setup a day. Indices like the ES can range for two three days in a row. I know the setup quiet well so do people think that's a wise move or just trade the one market? I think it would suit me trading 2-3 markets because I get drawn in if Iam only staring at one chart all day and its ranging.

I think the white space idea is a really good way to filter out bad trades. Gives you something to actually look for when there are so many variations of pullbacks. Here is some recent price action, i thought we should dicuss some difficult setups instead of posting simple ones. The first trade i hesitated for some reason, maybe due to the size of the wick and being at the top of the range. Also iam not seeing any white space or is there? However in hindsight it was the best trade of the day, strong up move followed by a strong rejection of the ema. And the second trade was a mistake trying to sell a pullback after a big move down and there is big rejection just before. Interested what you think about the two trades.

Right well i will show you two examples of successful trades that i took last week. Now they show that ema is excellent and we should all be making huge amounts of money using simple tools. Nice strong trend, followed by weak pullbacks and perfect candles off the line (sometimes even two). However the problem lies when you have days like this. The market is giving off signals on both sides of the line. Most people will instantly say "oh its a conslidation day you shouldnt be trading" but you dont know that by the middle of the day. (Dont worry about the orange line its just another average iam testing) Do people have any advice on this problem because its causing me to lose most of the money i make on trades like the first two. I have not found any indicators that will help me filter trades or to avoid range days. The only small break through i have made is identify the range and once one trade fails inside, you dont take another one till it breakout. Is it something i can not avoid at all and just have to take the loses. Advice would be much apprecitated. (Sorry if the pictures are too large this is my first post on this website). Omar