how to start futures trading (emini)

[Surprise]

One of the main reasons why traders lose is over-leverage , they just want to make a living with a 5K account by having "just a 2 ES points" as a daily target ! lol thats 2000 monthly = 40% return !. Is that sustainable ? no .
They don't think bout the downside , drawdowns , consecutive losses ... etc . They just think about the upside and that a 1 point tight SL will save them , ofcourse in reality the story ends up differently .
This stuff is only found in blogs , forums , and marketeers materials .

 

[baro-san]

... Now how is my math wrong? ...

It's not the math, and you should watch the volume too.

 

[Surprise]

If you're referring to the earlier discussion of the NQ, it's not a stop. The trade is scratched if price doesn't do what's expected. If two successive trades are scratched, then it is highly likely that one is entering chop, so he backs off and does nothing until price starts trending again. Monday and Tuesday, for example, were particulary bleak. But Wednesday and today more than made up for the earlier bench-sitting. That's to be expected.

haha a zero tick SL , what could go wrong ?! Nothing , and we are talking about the NQ not shorsterling or Euribor .

 

[dbphoenix]

haha a zero tick SL , what could go wrong ?! Nothing , and we are talking about the NQ not shorsterling or Euribor .

Incorrect. Sometimes there's a gain of a few ticks, sometimes a loss of a few ticks. But this is considerably different from sitting there like a post and watching the trade move 20pts against you.

Of course, if you haven't learned to divorce your ego from the trade, the latter may be a default position for you.

 

[k p]

It's not the math, and you should watch the volume too.

Thanks for your feedback, here are my thoughts.

A - I think this little arrow should be a couple of ticks below the blue line as I'm fairly certain that what I was thinking was breaking the overnight low and hence shorting based on this fact.

B - I think its too early here to say the trend is up. We just bounced off of the high in the previous bar. What you don't see here is a RET on a 15 second chart, so this trade gets placed below the crest of the RET and continues going down which would have triggered the short. Although we failed to go below the level at C earlier, getting into the short early here would have given me some space to see what price does when it hits that low at C again. We see on the next bar the price does in fact bounce off, so the short can be scratched for most likely a loss if not even a gain of a point.

D - Yes, late entry. The double bottom I don't think I saw clearly at the time, so I was perhaps waiting to clear the highs of the previous high, and this was the first opportunity I saw on the 15 second chart.

Shame that none of these trades were actually taken as the day would have ended up quite good indeed!

 

[Tonkadad]

If you're referring to the earlier discussion of the NQ, it's not a stop. The trade is scratched if price doesn't do what's expected. If two successive trades are scratched, then it is highly likely that one is entering chop, so he backs off and does nothing until price starts trending again.

I was referencing this by KP, " Some days may not go as well, but as long as you know to get out for a 2 point loss, you can see that mathematically/statistically, you can go through quite a bit of 2 point losers in the hopes of catching a 30 or 40 points winner which happen on many days. "

I guess I don't follow you in regards to saying it is not a stop?

Whats the difference between a stop and a scratch?

I thought a scratch was basically getting out at break even.

Don't worry I already filtered out "the hopes of".

 

[Surprise]

I was referencing this by KP, " Some days may not go as well, but as long as you know to get out for a 2 point loss, you can see that mathematically/statistically, you can go through quite a bit of 2 point losers in the hopes of catching a 30 or 40 points winner which happen on many days. "

I guess I don't follow you in regards to saying it is not a stop?

Whats the difference between a stop and a scratch?

I thought a scratch was basically getting out at break even.

Don't worry I already filtered out "the hopes of".

Exactly to scratch a trade is to exit at BE ...

 

[dbphoenix]

I was referencing this by KP, " Some days may not go as well, but as long as you know to get out for a 2 point loss, you can see that mathematically/statistically, you can go through quite a bit of 2 point losers in the hopes of catching a 30 or 40 points winner which happen on many days. "

I guess I don't follow you in regards to saying it is not a stop?

Whats the difference between a stop and a scratch?

I thought a scratch was basically getting out at break even.

A stop is placed at the time of the trade, either mentally or literally. The amount of the stop is generally determined in advance via all sorts of routes, and the trader leaves it up to the market to decide whether he stays in or not. These stops can be quite wide.

With the scratch, the trader maintains control of the trade and doesn't leave its future to anything or anybody else. Clearly he has some notion of what he wants to see happen before he transmits his order. If it doesn't, he gets out, usually for a few ticks. These can be on either side of the ledger depending on the criteria he uses to end the trade.

If you're interested, do a search using "scratch" and "niko".

 

[Schaefer]

A stop is placed at the time of the trade, either mentally or literally.............................If it doesn't, he gets out, usually for a few ticks.

That really depends on the volatility. Sometimes, price comes back and gives you a chance to get out, IF you're lightning quick. But sometimes, it just takes off, in the wrong direction, and you won't be able to get out with just "a few ticks".

I think, it's just a mis-communication, as when traders say, "scratch", it means getting out at "break even". I believe, your version of, "scratch" means getting out with a few ticks loss.

In my case, being a candle stick trader, I couldn't really get out until the candle has been formed, and completed. Sometimes, I get out with a 4 - 6 ticks loss, sometimes I get hit with catastrophic stop, which for me is 16 ticks.

Schaefer

 

[dbphoenix]

That really depends on the volatility. Sometimes, price comes back and gives you a chance to get out, IF you're lightning quick. But sometimes, it just takes off, in the wrong direction, and you won't be able to get out with just "a few ticks".

Depends on where and how you enter and what instrument you're trading. They each have their unique characteristics.

I think, it's just a mis-communication, as when traders say, "scratch", it means getting out at "break even". I believe, your version of, "scratch" means getting out with a few ticks loss.

Over a series of trades, it'll come out to breakeven. But if it's a few ticks to one side or the other, it just doesn't matter. Even a few points is trivial.

Time to focus on the market.