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A couple of thoughts (1) Stops: Your stop level should take into account your average drawdown per trade. In turn, you may want to have a technical stop and a risk management stop. Risk management stop is higher and you cannot place a stop beyond this level. This should be no more than 5%...

Always produces the best trades :D

I think in any system you may have higher probability trades where if you increase size you will make more money. Increasing size in those situations can make sense. I have thought about this myself, but decided against it. I like to keep my size constant. However, I also take profits in a...

I personally think it is best to have no expectations in regards to your returns. It works for many, but to have profit targets or return expectations I find self limiting. It just adds unnecessary pressure. It is better to focus on process targets, IMHO. The bottom line is how close...

I have always wondered why we get people from time to time on ET that have to warn people against the "dangers of trading". Why do they care? Does it affect them in anyway if you lose? It is up to every trader to follow their own path. I personally believe the opposite to Brandon et...

First point, trading futures has nothing to do with investing. So, in my view, talking about % returns and comparing that to investing is way off the mark. Second point, I never worry about what other people do in trading. The only thing I need to worry about is my own trading and whether I...

You would either want to trade prop or have a grubstake of $100k min before contemplating giving it a go full-time. However, I also believe if you were available for the full morning or afternoon session, that would be enough to make a good income while still working. I guess if you live in...

I don't look at % returns on futures. I personally think that is unimportant. To me it is all about making consistent monetary risk adjusted returns every week. And over time increasing your contract size as much as possible in line with a risk formula that always makes you feel comfortable...

I don't agree with a word you say. What you say may be true to some, but it is really a psychological issue. Part of the challenge once you have a positive expectation, is can you handle the increase in contract size at every different level and the psychological challenge of that...

I have met very few successful indicator based intraday traders of futures. However, I know many price based successful intraday traders. The main reason it seems to me is the lag of indicators.

The learning curve I went through in trading, which I believe has helped me is as follows: stocks, options then futures. Futures is without a doubt the most difficult. You should start with stocks and only move up to my sophisticated products once you prove yourself. Why would any...

When I started daytrading futures I was purely a trend reversal trader or fader. I would write down the high and low for the first hour. And then look to fade that once either the high or low was breached. This method worked very well for a long period of time. But, then sometime in 2004...

I agree with everything you say. Trading both approaches probably works best. However, you should have a lot of capital and different accounts to do that properly. Also, daytrading is much harder and the learning curve is longer. As you rightly point out it is far more intense and stressful...

I couldn't agree more. I think IF, and it is a big if, you are a consistently successful intraday trader you will grow capital much faster than swing trading. A couple of points. You get to start afresh everyday no matter what happened the prior day. I love always been flat MOST of the...

Hi Gary, I was thinking about the way you trade and one of the reasons I think you are successful is you have some of the fundamentals right. (1) You focus off key support and resistance numbers giving you a higher probability trade than if you just relied on chart patterns alone. Also...

Hi Nick, Thanks for the information. It was also interesting to read how the pivots work on the EC as well. I personally feel any good method works on any market or timeframe. However, you may need to adjust the finer details slightly to suit the market's temperament. For example, I...

Not necessarily. If most do not achieve their goals and then stop trading, but are replaced by more new traders that doesn't affect liquidity. Besides, many participants in the ES are institutions such as mutual funds hedging their stock exposure that have different goals than the average...

Ahh, but does the volume suggest whether they actually profit? Second point, have you ever traded the ES? Third point, anything that isn't daytrading is easier on the psychology, and anything that isn't leveraged makes it even better. So, swing trading of stocks comes to mind in that...

It sure is. Although, I think if you get good at it, which takes many years, it becomes the easiest way to make money. IF you make it through the learning curve, that is.

I only trade the ES. But, do you find the pivots work as well on the European indices like the Dax and FTSE as they do with the US indices? Is there a difference between the European session before the US open? I have often wondered how well the pivots work on other markets I don't trade...