Techniques for Day Trading the ES, NQ, YM, MES, MNQ, and MYM

Volpri, I think some of the confusion with your charts regarding entries and exits can be fixed by changing the color of the exit marker. I have mine set to mark the exit in black. Green is entry for a long, red is entry for a short, and black is exit. You can even choose to have the exit from a long be a different color than the exit from a short if you so wish.

Here is the menu in Sierra that allows for this.

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I never got around to making some comments on the previous charts shown. I still haven’t finished the project I am working on and have a deadline for today by the evening. However, I did take a few trades this morning. maybe...maybe I can make some comments tonight on these trades taken today and post a few charts. I will not be making any more trades today as I am to the project. So I am done trading by 10:50 a.m. central time. Gross $405.00. Comm 39.20 Net after comm 365.80 I had 20 Rt trades. With this particular account My comm is .98 per side. Way too much but it is what it is. The instrument traded was MES.
 
wrbtrader said:
Price moving averages are indicators. :D

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/m/movingaverage.asp

wrbtrader
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Lol I said “no indicators BUT two MA’s.” In other words, that IS the only two indicators on my charts. I never mean’t to say they were not indicators. Maybe the way I worded it came across that way. Of course, they are indicators. However, I use them differently. No cross over signals..etc.. I use them to visually see quickly the immediate trend and the intermediate trend of the day. I use them to gauge potential reversals as being strong or weak. I use them as a means to measure gaps especially in reversals and BO’s. I use them in small pb bull and bear trends to see where price is staying in terms of it’s average..and I use them in a few other ways too.
 
volpri said:
Lol I said “no indicators BUT two MA’s.” In other words, that IS the only two indicators on my charts. I never mean’t to say they were not indicators. Maybe the way I worded it came across that way. Of course, they are indicators. However, I use them differently. No cross over signals..etc.. I use them to visually see quickly the immediate trend and the intermediate trend of the day. I use them to gauge potential reversals as being strong or weak. I use them as a means to measure gaps especially in reversals and BO’s. I use them in small pb bull and bear trends to see where price is staying in terms of it’s average..and I use them in a few other ways too.
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I remember Al Brooks and many (e.g. NoDoji) in his camp saying the same thing...

No indicators but one MA’s.

Then when I question them about the MA's while calling themselves price action traders...they specifically stated that MA's are NOT indicators. Therefore, they are price action traders that do NOT use indicators.

Thus, I assumed in error that you were doing the same as them that MA's are NOT indicators when in fact they are indicators.

wrbtrader
 
They are, without a doubt, indicators. But it is generally the only two I use except for an occasional 60 min MA that at times I might throw up on the chart. Everything else is PA. I rarely look at vol but will occasionally throw up some volume bars. I generally can get a feel if volume is increasing or decreasing just by looking at the bars.

Back to the project...
 
Here is 5 min chart with trades. 4 trades. All shorts. All averaged in but trade #3 which was a straight short of 2 contracts. Followed by a chart with some comments. We get an ORBO that closes the opening gap quickly. This of course is showing weakness since bar closed very near its low tick. Range of the bar was larger than last 45 bars and it’s close lower than the low of the last 8 bars. That is there are gaps between it’s low and the low of the last 8 bars. Next bar a good follow through bar (FT) for shorts and a give “up bar” for any bulls still holding “long” as it breaks below low of last 45 bars. Bulls are covering .... bears are selling so we get this push on down. Ok to short anywhere on this give up bar. Next bar still bear bar but smaller in size. Some profit taking by bears. Also indicates a possible PB forthcoming. If there is a PB coming (and there was) it was a great opportunity to start shorting and averaging down selling more as the PB continues.

So, I start shorting on this bar. If no pb emerges then my entry has me short ( trade#1) anyway 4 contracts. So I am “in”. However PB does happen and I add two more so now short 6. Bears push back and I exit all 6 with a profit. Profit LOCKED IN. Pb continues so I short 2 more. Then averaged down two more. This trade #2 is basically compounding my previous profits in a sense because I exited 6 contracts with a profit in Trade 1 then sold again higher vs holding the 6 thru a pb and selling the 6 contracts later.

Then I straight short 2 as BO of pb emerges. Covered very quickly on next bar (trade#3). Then short again near the low on the same bar? Why? Well if trend south continues I am in two contracts. If a PB emerges (and it did) I will average down. Why average down? Look at bars to the left since open. Big bears bars. Gaps between low and or close of present bar and the low of the prev bar. Every attempt by bulls to reverse PA fails. So, I am adding on the pb averaging down expecting a measured move down. So by time THE PB is done I am short 8 contracts (trade#4). Price makes makes the MM down and I actually exit just a little before it reached the MM. There again compounding profits from trade #3. DONE FOR THE DAY.

This is how I trade this sort of PA locking in profits ..entering again on PB’s..averaging dow..etc. The context supports averaging down by shorting more and more. Extreme weakness. Gross $405.OO net $365.80. Little Mes.

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Volpri, for the above examples, what is your risk like ? Trade 1, at what point would u exit for a loss if it decided to continue on up. Would u wait for it to pullback 75% before exiting for a loss ?
 
I don’t remember to the tick but had a hard SL on trades 1&2...around 2978.50 if I remember correctly ...PA SL above that “give up” bar. On trade 3 around 2973. Trade 4 around 2970 but not sure on this one it could have been 2973. Anyway, I use bracket orders and adjust SL and PT as the trade evolves.

There is usually a place for two or three potential SL locations. These above were not the max SL but just reasonable SL’s based on PA. Also, I would not necessarily wait for my SL to get hit. The dynamic of the PA as the trade evolves influences me as to whether or not I will take an earlier exit with a smaller loss. I make a distinction between initial SL and actual SL as the trade unfolds. The actual risk Is the amount it actually went against me before it went in my favor to my exit. And it is the figure I use for R:R.
 
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0ct 2, 2019

Done trading for Day. MES $440.00 gross. 25 SOLD 25 BOT. Will post sone charts tonight and comments. Some good examples of how to make money on just about any bar if I manage the trades correctly.
 
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