Scalping books and/or advice

J

jjj1000

Hello everyone,

This is my first posting here at ET but I have been reading it for 8 months now, and I love it! Well done guys, you keep it real and made me laugh (and learn) many times. :)

Now, I have a question: Could anyone please suggest me books about scalping (or web resources, or advice please)?

A little about me: I have been trading for 11 months now; I think that scalping is what fits my personality the best, by far; I have lost money since I started (about 5k), but 4 months ago I started to at least have flat months, and on the last 2 months I made some $500 per month on average.

I scalp only the SPY and ES (for 12 cents on the SPY and 1.25 point on the ES), with mostly equal stop win and stop losses (but not all trades hit either stops, only 50% do), and make about 200 to 300 trades per month.

I was able to get about 63% right (money winners) consistently for 2 months - the problem is that I don't have a system, I just trade by feel (with help of charts, patterns and indicators, but no system); so, being purely discretionary is a big problem for me, because I DON'T KNOW WHY I ENTER A TRADE, and that bugs me, and makes me feel insecure. This month, due to "reasonable" results in the last months, I decided to increase my bets and, sure enough, I got nervous and lost money 3 days in a row.

That's a little about me. I love scalping and I would really appreciate any help/tips about books or resources or your advice about it. Criticism and compliments are equally welcome.

Warm Regards!
 
Quote from jjj1000:
....I just trade by feel....being purely discretionary is a big problem for me, because I DON'T KNOW WHY I ENTER A TRADE, and that bugs me, and makes me feel insecure.
More...
1) You seem to be trading for fun and excitement.
2) You prefer not to have a "method" because that would be boring and compel you to become disciplined.
3) You have to stop scalping as you are now and develop some type of method where your signals are well-defined so you can have a better idea of how effective the new method is instead of randomly taking trades and producing random results.
4) It would help if you were making fewer trades so you don't generate a lot of trading fees and it will reduce your stress level from making so many impulsive decisions.
5) There are plenty of books mentioned and rated on this site. :cool:
 
A member of ET, Hubert Senters, is a great scalper and I think he may have a DVD or book out on his method. His DVDs are not cheap.

Hubert is part owner of TTM which is a trader training business (or snake oil salemen per 98% of ET).

I was in their room a few years ago and listened to his method on scalping. He used time and sales along with years of practice. His mentor trained him on scalping.

I know two people (one being my brother in law) who took TTM's "in person" mentorship and both sat next to Hurbert and watched him make an incredible amount of money scalping the YM in a very short time period (I think it was around 30 to 45 minutes).
My brother in-law said he made over $30K and I can't recall the exact figure for the second guy but it was over $20K.

He was scaling in 30 to 50 cars. I never could understand why he didn't trade the ES.

My brother in-law said that Hubert was physically drained from the concentration level and stress from his short scalping session. I recall Hubert mentioning that he could only scalp for short periods of time due to the strain.

I also recall that damn near everyone in his room tried to duplicate his method and I do not recall anyone having much success. He did say that if you don't have top tier everything (connection, platform, computer, etc.) then forget it.

I know most of you will call BS and I can't blame you. IMO probably .05% of the population would be able to duplicate his results.
 
Jjj1000,

With all due respect, if you have been reading for 8 months and think trading without a plan is a good idea then you were not paying attention to any threads of value and not thinking about what you were reading. First, about 90% of ET is worthless trolling and entertainment for people. The rest has some useful information. It is your job to figure out which category all posts fall into, including this post.

If you don’t have a trading plan, you are gambling. Without a plan, those who have one will slowly or quickly take your money. This is inevitable I am sorry to say. As to books on scalping, I have never found one that will spell out exactly how to make money. You learn with screen time and if you are really lucky, with a mentor who is already successful who is a friend and is willing to teach you a few things. That is pretty rare. Probably not what you want to hear, but the truth nonetheless.

If you want advice, I suggest learning an edge and a writing a trading plan (mine is 19 pages) covering all your strategies, covering why you are trading, contingencies for equipment failure and so on. There are other threads on writing a trading plan. Remember, if it were easy, everyone would be successful. Once you have an edge, the most important part of trading is mastering yourself, i.e. having the discipline to follow your plan, whatever it is. You will see many threads saying I have a plan and follow it most of the time but I just can’t help myself sometimes and shoot myself in the foot. It is all too common.

So I recommend books on psychology or books like Trading in the zone. Poker books also can be useful if you read them from the perspective that from a math standpoint, you should do certain things at certain times based on the odds either for or against you (ignoring reading your opponents for now). That is a start. Search ET and you will find many threads listing books people recommend. There are no consistent shortcuts to success.

But stop trading until you have an edge.

Good luck

TM
 
Scalping = recreational activity

unless you are very sophisticated, you have a HFT algorithm that is well-tested, light speed direct access and a win rate more than 80% for R:R 1 or more. At some point you will have to cover unexpected losses.

IMO, scalpers are noise traders. The longer-term expected return from such activity is zero. Others have different opinions. I respect them but I am speaking from experience. I scalped index futures for some time and I was doing very well until one day rhe market gapped down so fast right after I went long and I lost 3 months of profits. I decided to move back to normal intraday and swing trading. I think it was a right decision. Again, I am not disputing some people can make money scalping but I personally know several that have lost their capital doing it and nobody that has made a lot of money.
 
hey intraday, you make an interesting point, but dude, how do you lose 3 months on one trade?

you must have been trading during the CrAzY TiMe. Your mistake. You cant scalp when its hitting the fan. Thats position trading on a very short timeframe.

Your bad kimosabe

ExplorePAHistory-a0h6a8-a_349.jpg
 
Quote from nazzdack:

1) You seem to be trading for fun and excitement.
2) You prefer not to have a "method" because that would be boring and compel you to become disciplined.
3) You have to stop scalping as you are now and develop some type of method where your signals are well-defined so you can have a better idea of how effective the new method is instead of randomly taking trades and producing random results.
4) It would help if you were making fewer trades so you don't generate a lot of trading fees and it will reduce your stress level from making so many impulsive decisions.
5) There are plenty of books mentioned and rated on this site. :cool:
More...

1) no, I am trying very hard to make a living out of this
2) I did never found a method for this, specially scalping; but maybe you have some reason here.
3) I am trading lightly meanwhile, but I certainly want to have a method, that is why I am looking for good materials in this area (not the holy grail, just good materials)
4) Could be; but then again, I think I need a method, a system
5) COULD YOU PLEASE SHOW ME ONE?

Thanks Nazzdaq
 
Quote from Big Money:

Jjj1000,

With all due respect, if you have been reading for 8 months and think trading without a plan is a good idea then you were not paying attention to any threads of value and not thinking about what you were reading. First, about 90% of ET is worthless trolling and entertainment for people. The rest has some useful information. It is your job to figure out which category all posts fall into, including this post.

If you don’t have a trading plan, you are gambling. Without a plan, those who have one will slowly or quickly take your money. This is inevitable I am sorry to say. As to books on scalping, I have never found one that will spell out exactly how to make money. You learn with screen time and if you are really lucky, with a mentor who is already successful who is a friend and is willing to teach you a few things. That is pretty rare. Probably not what you want to hear, but the truth nonetheless.

If you want advice, I suggest learning an edge and a writing a trading plan (mine is 19 pages) covering all your strategies, covering why you are trading, contingencies for equipment failure and so on. There are other threads on writing a trading plan. Remember, if it were easy, everyone would be successful. Once you have an edge, the most important part of trading is mastering yourself, i.e. having the discipline to follow your plan, whatever it is. You will see many threads saying I have a plan and follow it most of the time but I just can’t help myself sometimes and shoot myself in the foot. It is all too common.

So I recommend books on psychology or books like Trading in the zone. Poker books also can be useful if you read them from the perspective that from a math standpoint, you should do certain things at certain times based on the odds either for or against you (ignoring reading your opponents for now). That is a start. Search ET and you will find many threads listing books people recommend. There are no consistent shortcuts to success.

But stop trading until you have an edge.

Good luck

TM
More...

Hi BigMoney,

I read your post, thank you for your input, I really appreciate it. I do want to have a method, and I am working to have one. But I have a question for you, just out of curiosity: Do you think that it is possible to be a discretionary trader and be successful? Do you know any trader who is purely discretionary and makes money consistently?

Cheers!
 
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