New guy intro

A

AntonZ

Hi all,

Firstly, I really appreciate that this forum exists and the fact that there are people willing to help each other out. I hope to soon be able to contribute myself.

Now a bit about me. I'm 20 years old, currently in college (doing Business and Economics), I'm from Bulgaria, and I'm interested in trading. I started trading a demo account when I was 17 but stopped after several months. This summer I got an internship (2 months) at a prop firm and I learned a lot about day trading futures (ES,NQ,CL,TF,ZN). I learned about market/volume profile, order flow, depth-of-market, psychology, support/resistance, AD, tick and so on. I also traded on a demo account using these tools. At first I wasn't really good but during the last 2 weeks I was net positive and, most importantly, I had reasons for getting into a trade and getting out of a trade. Finally, I loved trading, especially when I saw absorption setups on the DOM, got in, was correct, and made a nice profit.

Having said that, could you please give me some advice? I am thinking of continuing trading the ES (mainly) on my own (still can Skype my mentor at the firm) using a demo account for 1-2 more months. After that I plan on starting to trade with 10k and 1 lot per position in order to really get exposed to the psychological challenges of trading. Do you think this is a good idea? Moreover, given my situation, can you suggest some learning materials (books, courses, videos etc) so that I can continue on my own now that my internship is over?

Sorry for the long post and thank you all in advance!

Have a nice day,

Anton.
 
Besides real trades and lots of chart time, I can't think of a better teacher. You'll sink for a long while and most likely never swim. You can defy the odds through persistence, observance, and adaptation.
 
AntonZ said:
Hi all,

Firstly, I really appreciate that this forum exists and the fact that there are people willing to help each other out. I hope to soon be able to contribute myself.

Now a bit about me. I'm 20 years old, currently in college (doing Business and Economics), I'm from Bulgaria, and I'm interested in trading. I started trading a demo account when I was 17 but stopped after several months. This summer I got an internship (2 months) at a prop firm and I learned a lot about day trading futures (ES,NQ,CL,TF,ZN). I learned about market/volume profile, order flow, depth-of-market, psychology, support/resistance, AD, tick and so on. I also traded on a demo account using these tools. At first I wasn't really good but during the last 2 weeks I was net positive and, most importantly, I had reasons for getting into a trade and getting out of a trade. Finally, I loved trading, especially when I saw absorption setups on the DOM, got in, was correct, and made a nice profit.

Having said that, could you please give me some advice? I am thinking of continuing trading the ES (mainly) on my own (still can Skype my mentor at the firm) using a demo account for 1-2 more months. After that I plan on starting to trade with 10k and 1 lot per position in order to really get exposed to the psychological challenges of trading. Do you think this is a good idea? Moreover, given my situation, can you suggest some learning materials (books, courses, videos etc) so that I can continue on my own now that my internship is over?

Sorry for the long post and thank you all in advance!

Have a nice day,

Anton.
More...
What's your strategy?
 
gkishot said:
What's your strategy?
More...

Thanks for answering. I have tried several approaches:

1. Slow range days (Euro session in July) - Wait for a small range to form (2-3p) and then use the DOM to scalp the range for 1-2p profits. I don't scalp it from both sides because I find it a bit difficult. Instead, I only short or only long. In this type of day, I use almost exclusively the DOM and volume profile.

2. Trend days (strong initial drive from the open - US session) - I wait for the trend to make a correction and get in on the side of the trend. I use the DOM+volume profile (profile shape, VPOC) to choose where to get in. I also make my own support/resistance levels using the volume profile and compare them to professionally done levels. I also look for a relationship between NQ/ES/TF and ES/ZN although in slow range days they aren't very pronounced.

Overall my strategy is: Have support/resistance levels. Wait for price to reach a level. Then look at the DOM and tape and look for signs of reversal or continuation (Is there absorption? Are the big orders short or long? Is the buying at the current and previous prices much more than the selling?). I also look at the Advanced Decline and the Tick to look for divergences and strength of the trend. If the signs of a reversal/continuation are there, I make the trade. If not, I stay out. I always aim for a 1/2 risk/reward ratio, although in some cases I have made nice profits with worse risk/reward. If I trade 2 lots, I scale one out at 1.5-2p profit and let the other one run.

I also don't trade 15mins before and after major news announcements, although for fun once I tried putting STOP Buy and STOP Sell orders for the CL 10 seconds before the Inventories news and made a nice profit.

This is it. This is what I have tried and what has worked for me. What do you think?
 
profitlocker said:
Besides real trades and lots of chart time, I can't think of a better teacher. You'll sink for a long while and most likely never swim. You can defy the odds through persistence, observance, and adaptation.
More...

Thanks for answering. Yes, I know that the odds are against me and that most traders fail. However, I am willing to put in the work. And yes, I 100% agree with you that I should make real trades simply because in demo, my risk is essentially 0.
 
AntonZ said:
Thanks for answering. I have tried several approaches:

1. Slow range days (Euro session in July) - Wait for a small range to form (2-3p) and then use the DOM to scalp the range for 1-2p profits. I don't scalp it from both sides because I find it a bit difficult. Instead, I only short or only long. In this type of day, I use almost exclusively the DOM and volume profile.

2. Trend days (strong initial drive from the open - US session) - I wait for the trend to make a correction and get in on the side of the trend. I use the DOM+volume profile (profile shape, VPOC) to choose where to get in. I also make my own support/resistance levels using the volume profile and compare them to professionally done levels. I also look for a relationship between NQ/ES/TF and ES/ZN although in slow range days they aren't very pronounced.

Overall my strategy is: Have support/resistance levels. Wait for price to reach a level. Then look at the DOM and tape and look for signs of reversal or continuation (Is there absorption? Are the big orders short or long? Is the buying at the current and previous prices much more than the selling?). I also look at the Advanced Decline and the Tick to look for divergences and strength of the trend. If the signs of a reversal/continuation are there, I make the trade. If not, I stay out. I always aim for a 1/2 risk/reward ratio, although in some cases I have made nice profits with worse risk/reward. If I trade 2 lots, I scale one out at 1.5-2p profit and let the other one run.

I also don't trade 15mins before and after major news announcements, although for fun once I tried putting STOP Buy and STOP Sell orders for the CL 10 seconds before the Inventories news and made a nice profit.

This is it. This is what I have tried and what has worked for me. What do you think?
More...
Not sure if this is going to work or not. I never traded DOM. Are you based in the US?
 
AntonZ said:
...After that I plan on starting to trade with 10k and 1 lot per position in order to really get exposed to the psychological challenges of trading. Do you think this is a good idea?...

Anton.
More...

If I could start over in live? I would have started with MGC. It has more price action than ES in my eyes, and while it has less volume, by a long shot, and it's only $1 per tick, the pain of making a bad decision will be muffled.

Go bad in ES on a trade and you lose 20 tics? You've lost $250. Go bad on MGC and you lose 20 tics? You've lost $20.

With only $10K, those 20-tic losses in ES may accumulate and before you know it you're down $2K. Sux.

Live is a whole different animal. The "psychology" is gonna' eat you up when the real money is on the line. So go gentle into that good night, as softly as possible. You'll be better off for it.
 
Your method is personal, and I hope you find a viable one. Can't help you there, but I highly recommend you avoid trying to learn with high capacity instruments. Stick with lower capacity instruments, and watch how they move after key news events. You'll learn more about volatility and how to position yourself around it.
 
There are a lot of intelligent guys who will give you great advice, so I will resort to one: don't over-leverage. Just because we (brokers) allow smaller margins for day trading, does not mean you should max out on any given contract. If you stick to this rule, you will (potentially) ride out bad periods (draw-downs) which could be lengthy and painful. I can't emphasize enough the importance of this rule. Sadly, I have seen good methods accompanied with over-leverage that the capital could not survive. Grow your contracts size slowly and incrementally.
 
Overnight said:
If I could start over in live? I would have started with MGC. It has more price action than ES in my eyes, and while it has less volume, by a long shot, and it's only $1 per tick, the pain of making a bad decision will be muffled.

Go bad in ES on a trade and you lose 20 tics? You've lost $250. Go bad on MGC and you lose 20 tics? You've lost $20.

With only $10K, those 20-tic losses in ES may accumulate and before you know it you're down $2K. Sux.

Live is a whole different animal. The "psychology" is gonna' eat you up when the real money is on the line. So go gentle into that good night, as softly as possible. You'll be better off for it.
More...
What is MGC?
 
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