Futures Day Trading by Technicator

EC - Short on first retrace

2010-03-16T03:43:00.002-05:00

Today after the euro show down trend at the open
i took short near the moving averages after price made the first retrace
i took 5 ticks of scalping profit

EURO - short on retrace

2010-03-15T04:37:00.003-05:00

Hello all today i took short on EURO
after EC changed trend to the downside i waited for entry at the first pullback
near the upper area of the channel, i took 5 ticks profit.

EC - long on retrace

2010-03-10T06:20:00.004-06:00

Today i took long scalping on the retrace to the area
of the lower band took 6 ticks profit.

The 12 Golden Rules for Successful Trading

2010-03-08T17:41:00.006-06:00

1. Adopt a definite trading plan.

Because of the emotional stress that is inherent in any trading situation, you must have a predetermined method of operation, which includes a set of rules by which you operate and adhere to, thus protecting you from yourself. Very often, your emotions will tell you to do something totally foreign or negative to what your market trading plan should be. It is only by adhering to your trading plan that you can resist the emotional temptations and stresses that are constantly present in a speculative situation.

2. If you're not sure, don't trade.

If you're in a trade and feel unsure of yourself, take your loss or protect your profit with a stop. If you are unsure of a position, you will be probably end up taking a loss.

3. You should be able to be right 40% of the time and still show handsome profits.

In trading, you can't expect to be right every time. An individual with the proper trading techniques should be able to cut his losses short and let his profits run so that even being right less than half the time will show excellent profits. This point is re-emphasized in Rule Four.

4. Cut your losses and let your profits ride.

The basic failing of most traders is that they put a limit on their profits and no limit on their losses. A man hates to admit he's wrong. Therefore, an individual will often let his loss ride, becoming larger and larger in hopes that eventually the market will turn around and prove him correct. Then after a while, he begins hoping for a small loss and gives up hoping for a profit. Human nature also dictates that an individual wants to take his profit right away and thus prove himself correct. There is an old saying, "You never go broke taking a small profit." But you'll certainly never get rich that way. Being satisfied with small profits is the wrong mental approach for making money in trading. If you are correct when entering a position , you will know it almost immediately and will show a profit quickly. However, if you are wrong, you will show a loss and you should remove yourself from the situation quickly. Taking a small loss does not necessarily mean you were wrong in your thinking. It simply means that your timing was perhaps incorrect and that you should wait for the correct timing and situation to allow you to reenter the market. Remember, in any trade, the market is the final judge. Trader should let the market tell him when he is wrong and when he is right. If you show a profit, ride it until the market turns around and tells you that you are no longer right, and, at that time, you should get out...but not before! On the other hand, the market will also tell you if you are wrong and it would be a serious mistake to argue with what it is saying.

5. If you cannot afford to lose, you cannot afford to win.

Losing is a natural part of trading. If you are not in a position to accept losses, either psychologically or financially, you have no business trading.You should be trading with extra money that not vital to your daily expenses.

6. Don't trade too many markets.

It is difficult to successfully trade and understand a specific market. It is next to impossible for an individual, especially a beginner, to be successful in several markets at the same time. The technical, and psychological information necessary to trade successfully in more than a few markets is more than the individual has either the time or ability to accumulate.

7. Don't trade in a market that is too thin.

A lack of public participation in a market will make it difficult, if not impossible, to liquidate a position at anywhere near the price you want.

8. Be aware of the trend. ("The Trend is your friend")

It is vitally important that a trader be aware of a strong force in the market, either bullish or bearish. When this force is at its height, it would be folly to attempt to fight against it. However, Trader must learn to recognize when a trend is near a period of exhaustion. By an ability to recognize the early signs of exhaustion, the trader will protect himself from staying in the market too long and will be able to change direction when the trend changes.

9. Don't attempt to buy the bottom or sell the top.

It simply can't be done unless you have the aid of a crystal ball or some other tool which could be peculiar to the mystic. Be content to wait for the trend to develop and then take advantage of it once it has been established.

10. Do not allow your position to control you.

You must control of the situation and yourself. It is a mistake to find yourself in a position larger than you can reasonable handle. When this occurs, you will find that the sheer size of the position, rather than the facts of the situation itself, affects your judgement.

11. You can usually sell the first rally or buy the first break.

Generally, a market which has just established a trend either up or down will have a reaction and good profits can be made by recognizing this reaction and taking advantage of it. For example, in a bull market, the first reaction will generally be met by investors waiting to buy the break. This support generally causes the market to rally. The reverse is true of a bear market.

12. Never straddle a loss.

A loss by itself is difficult enough to accept.
The market does not know that you own it. You must remain impersonal in your trading. When you take a position and you are wrong, remember it is better to get out immediately! The market will not feel badly about it if you do, but you will if you don't.

One final note:

The market always looks its worst at its bottom, and the best at the top. It is important to remember that before the market turns around, it is at its very worst. Therefore, be prepared to treat each day objectively by not allowing the emotional fever to carry over and cloud your judgment.

6E - short on first retrace

2010-03-08T16:29:00.003-06:00

Hi all , today i entered classic retrace setup on the Euro

after range was broken to the downside i waited for first retrace

price pulled back to the 50% fib level i entered short and took 10 ticks profit.

6E-long on retrace

2010-03-03T03:31:00.003-06:00

Today 6E changed it's trend to the upside

i waited for the first retrace to the lower band and entered long for nice scalping , i took 5 ticks profit as you can see this trade made much more.

6E-long on retrace

2010-03-02T06:09:00.004-06:00

Trend was changed to the upside i waited for first retrace

to the lower band area and entered long, i took 10 ticks

profit.

TF- Longs on retrace

2010-02-24T11:36:00.003-06:00

Hi all TF made nice up trend i was looking
for entry on pullback , first trade was break even , second trade
worked out nicely.

10 reasons for losing trading dicipline

2010-02-22T06:21:00.004-06:00

Hello traders just want to point out my view on important topic
"10 reasons why traders losing their discipline"

1. Trading strategy not matches the style or personality of the trader.
for example if a trader want a system that will be wining 70-80% and he only trade with the trend, sometimes this is tough to achieve this on trend following systems (market is trending only 30% of the time , other time might be in consolidation range ) so this would be difficult for this type of trader to accept 7 losers out of 10 trades.
2. Trading in time frame that not matches the trader's style or personality i mean if person style is to have only 1 or 2 trades per day try to trade with small time frame like 3min or 1min that would gives him more signals to trade that's contradiction and this trader would not keep this process for long time this will leads to over trading and lake of dicipline.
3. Trading with small account, taking too much risk and trading with too much contracts on small account.
4. Not having clear enough or even not having a written trading plan at all.
5. Wrong trading attitude leads to frustration, and taking impulsive trades and this is lake of discipline.
6. Loss of confidence in your plan after string of losing trades.
7. Unwillingness to accept losses, losses are part of trading it's a numbers game with probabilities so this should be part of your trading.
8. Over confidence, after string of wining trades greed comes in and you start raising your contracts size this leads to no discipline and can damage your account.
9. Loss of Focus and concentration, looking at too many charts or markets the same time can lead to less focus and losing of concentration it is good advice to concentrate on one market maybe two for most.
10.Trading environment, you should trade from separate room in your home or if you have office that's better, make sure if you trade from home that you have no distractions from children or family during trading hours you need the focus to be sharp with your mind to trade at your best interest.

Technicator

TF-Long on retrace

2010-02-19T11:31:00.005-06:00

TF just breakout to new high of day

and up trend was established , i just entered at first retrace at 629.5 and price bounced i exit at 630.5 , made 10 ticks profit.

6E-Long

2010-02-19T10:20:00.002-06:00

Trend just changed to up , i entered

long near the moving averages act as support see how price just bounce

from there i took 6 ticks profit this would make a lots more.

6E-long on retrace

2010-02-18T04:58:00.003-06:00

Trend just changed to the upside i was looking to enter long on retrace this was fast scalping trade .

price just retrace to the moving averages area and the

lower band of the channel

this area act as good support to enter long i took fast 5 ticks.

6B - Short

2010-02-17T08:26:00.002-06:00

Trend change on 6B to the downside

i entered short on first retrace to the upper channel band

this trade worked out i took 10 ticks profit.

6E-Short

2010-02-17T04:10:00.004-06:00

Hi All this was my first trade for the day .

trend was down price crossed the moving averages and also the channel was pointing to the downside .

i entered short on the first retrace , as you can see this was 38.2% Fib level so this would act as strong resistance .

TF long trade on first pullback

2010-02-16T11:56:00.003-06:00

Today on TF after 45 min from open price moved up and trend was established

i waited for first pullback to enter long as you can see this trade made nice move

10 ticks and more.

6E-Short-Trade

2010-02-16T04:24:00.002-06:00

i took short on the Moving averages

after down trend established this trade made 10 ticks.

6E - long trade failed

2010-02-16T03:53:00.003-06:00

Today i took long trade based on pullback to Fibs levels

after trend was up and price start it's pullback

as you can see this trade failed and i took small loss.

TF long trade

2010-02-15T13:02:00.003-06:00

TF - long trade i took after market changed to up trend

i waited for a pullback to enter.

Trading in US holidays

2010-02-15T11:35:00.001-06:00

In days like today (president day holiday) you can trade currency futures and not US markets like ES or TF .

i do not recommend trading on Holidays market is not cooperating and you don't see follow through you can trapped yourself by taking bad trades .

Trading the futures market

2010-02-15T11:20:00.000-06:00

Hello all , in this blog i will post my trades and my trading ideas about the market

currently I'm following 4 markets British pound (6B) ,Euro (6E) currency futures and the Indexes futures : ES- mini S&P , and TF - mini Russel 2000 .

i will go over my live trades and examples with ideas .

you are welcome to join me and post your comments about trading futures and how you like this site.

looking forward to hear from you

Technicator.