I've traded Dax and to a smaller extent Eurostox since 99', mostly full time.
I am a trend trader, and having traded ES,YM, Dax and EStx:
1. Dax is more similar to Dow - and EStoxx similar to SP. But DAX can do it's own thing compared to Estox - ie Dax may very well retest a high whereas estoxx fall well short.
2. In very volatile conditions, have retreated to Eurostox as the Dax will blow away your stops easily, Estoxx safer. BUT, when volatility comes down, you have to work your a** off to get out of the Estoxx for a scratch, whereas Dax gives you opportunities.
3. Volumes - if you look at Value of contracts traded , Dax trades only less than 20% less size than Estoxx. ie the otherday it was 117,000 estox vs 28,000 dax or E3.1bn vs E2.6bn 90 mins in.
4. I trade the "Streetsmarts" (
www.lbrgroup.com) Grail technique using 1, 5, 15 and 30 min charts with 20 EMA and an ADX filter to get strength of trend. Added to it are time of day and range breakout filters.
This seems to have worked well over last few years, guess because of the dax's good trend moves, compared to ES etc.
But, even on a 1 min time frame I don't use less than a 10 tick stop.
good luck
