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

wmwmw said:
Hi,MACD,
I am curious that ,since you got the edge, did you make winning trades based on this edge now?
My self simply could not understand what OP says.
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Exactly what was it you didn't understand? Maybe I can clarify.
 
volpri said:
I want to now post a chart of todays price action. And show a technique I use when trading BO's when the market is in the larger BO phase of the cycle. This is not the same as trading BO points so don't get confused about it. However, it can be used in trading any successful BO, not just phase BO's. But it is NOT the same as trading BO points in my recent previous posts. Those techniques were simply capitalizing on price probing by institutions. And remember those techniques are used in broad channels or ranges. However, in successful BO's I am betting on BO continuation. Hope that is clear.

OK, first the larger contexts. That is, what the phase of the market cycle? From the far left of the chart until bar 8:20 we see the market cycle is sideways or in a range and has been for several hours. On bar 8:25 an up move starts. RTH's open at 8:30 Chicago time and price begins what looks like a possible BO of the range. By bar 8:45 ..a large bull bar closing on it's high and higher than all the bars to the left makes it apparent that strong buying is taking place. Institutions are buying. We get a small implied PB on bar 8:50. Look back several of my posts to learn about implied PB's. They are simply an actual PB on a smaller TF. The intermediate context here (a trend BO..which is a chart pattern) and the more immediate context i.e. strong bull bar closing near its high followed by an implied PB. So, it is appearing that we are heading into a BO phase of the cycle.

By the next bar 8:55 this is a FT (follow through) bull bar enough to convince me we are in the BO phase of the market cycle so I begin to trade it as such. I took 4 trades. All winners. This is a technique I like to use in strong BO's, especially, when it is a BO of the market cycle. I will trade in the direction of the BO using a wide SL and add to the position, if price moves against me. Then I will exit once price continues the BO direction and price action gets my first entry into the money. If it is especially strong after my first entry is in the money I will even let it run a bit more before locking in profits. Once I lock in the profits I repeat the process over and over. Why not just hold and let it run reducing commission costs? Because BO's can have deep PB's. And often will have strong reversals. I just prefer working price in increments as price is moving, locking in the profits in case we see a deep PB or reversal. I will do this over and over. Plus my brokers get to eat ribeye steak instead of bologna sandwiches (aka as round steak) ROFLMAO. So they are happy and me too as I am locking in profits. I will trade it this way until the BO goes into a channel phase or into a range phase skipping the channel phase. However, it actually went into the channel phase on bar 9:05 with the first ACTUAL PB of the BO on this 5 minute chart.

I don't know how far the channel will go but eventually we likely see a range or some sideways action as bull take profits. But I quit trading here so I could type. As long as it is a strong BO even if in the channel mode (as in a steep channel) I will trade it more like a continuation of the BO. If the channel broadens before getting into a range then at that point I will use channel trading techniques. All my trades on this chart were using BO techniques.

As you can see I will, over and over, average down on PB's (implied or actual) and exit on surges in the direction of the BO locking in profits. I do this over and over keeping a wide SL in the event of a deep PB. If a PB gets over 70% of the previous (in this case bull move) then I will dump the position and entertain the idea that a reversal may be starting and I may need to double and go in the direction of the reversal, getting back any loss quickly, and soon be back in the money.

I think the chart with the entries and exits is pretty self explanatory. This is basically momentum trading in BO's locking in profits. Should there be a reversal or deep PB any loss will be less because profits already made will somewhat offset them. Another alternative is just use a trailing SL and ride the momentum. That too is ok but not my preference. I am a scalper and I like scalping and will grab my profits, as the market hands them to me. If it keeps giving them, I keep grabbing. Brokers are happy. I am happy. Those shorting (in this case) are unhappy.

I like trading BO's this way because it gives me the opportunity to compound. That is, I am locking in profits on a price move north (in this case) then exiting with a profit followed by another entry again at a better price when the market pull back from my previous higher exit. Thus in essence, I am sort of compounding by using the profits made in the previous trade to make more profits. More $$ can be made doing this than just holding with a trailing stop as price runs. J.M. Hurst talks about this in his book. "The Profit Magic of Stock Market Transaction Timing. It only sells for around $900.00 dollars on amazon! ROFLMAO. I paid way way way less, years ago. Anyway, he proves that by many entries and exits, more money is made than holding and riding the wave, or momentum. He convinced me years ago and well... it suits my love of scalping 1 to 8 points in the ES, over and over, locking in profits, and compounding while at the same time keeping the brokers eating ribeye steak. Win win all the way around!

I got to go work in el garden but will check later and see what phase the market morphed into after my last trade. I have not checked yet and here it is 12:25 as I was typing most of the morning then eating breakfast so as to have some energy for my gardening. Maybe will post another chart later on describing the phases that evolved but I doubt any more trading today for myself.

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Where is the price going tomorrow? When one does not know, just average into the losers. Seems that is your backup MO, which is what you used before the pandemic.
 
chaim said:
Hi Volpri,
Im inspired by your journey you share with us, you have a lot of experience, and a sharing heart!


I'm new at trading, a few weeks trading MNQ100.
You have a whole lot of info, and I'm a little lost, where to start.

Can you direct me to a post or rather a few posts, here in your thread, for a newbie, with a simple strategy i can start with ?

I would love to start somewhere with a simple strategy but unfortunately, i don't know where to start.

I assume im not the only newbie wandering into this amazing thread, not knowing where to start.

Can you give me some guidance,
God bless you for all the sharing you do here!
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What I do is price action (PA) trading. There is a lot to learn. First, you need to learn about the 3 contexts. The first context is the market cycle. You can find posts of mine below that discuss this context. Study them. Practice identifying them in the MNQ using the overnight or Globex session and the RTH’s (regular trading hours session from 8:30 a.m. to 3:15 p.m. Chicago time). These posts will help understand the market cycle. 1188, 1191, 1212, 1227,1229,1235,1239. Interspersed throughout these threads are other post showing examples of trades I took. I wouldn’t pay too much attention to those because some of them are techniques you probably do not need to learn yet. Understanding and being able to find or identify the cycle phases on a chart are foundational to ALL PA trading.

After that study the posts on Ranges. There are several posts but you can begin with these: 1153, 1156, 1168. Don’t try to understand all the ways or setups to trade when price is in a range. Just focus on one concept of trading the ranges of the market cycle. That technique is fading the outer limits. Don’t try averaging down. Not at first. Only take short trades that are in the top 1/4 of the range. Cover on any move to the middle. Only go long on trades in the bottom 1/4 of the range and exit on profitable moves towards the middle of the range. There are many other posts on trading ranges and some that use averaging down on entries but do not do that yet. Learn to just straight scalp without averaging down. And instead of top or bottom 1/3 use the top or bottom 1/4 of the range for your entries.

Since the market spend way more time in ranges than BO’s you will find enough trades on a 5 minute chart. Just focus on identifying the cycle phase then if you find the market in the range phase of the cycle then use the technique above for entries and exits. Train yourself to execute the trades when price reaches that upper or lower 1/4. It is counter intuitive because often price will race to the top then back to the bottom. When it races to the top traders want to go long when they should be going short. When it races to the bottom they want to short when they should be going long.

Follow the rules for range trading that are in the posts above. The range must be broad enough. The rules will explain.

Train yourself on a SIM. All of the above is for SIM trading only. You need to see if it will work for you. I cannot and will not tell you to use real money.

Again, focus only on this one technique of fading in the top and bottom 1/4 and no averaging down. Use a wide stop loss outside the range and scalp on any profitable move towards the middle of the range. You got to use a wide SL (stop loss) because price will often go against your entry and move outside the range but within 5 bars come back towards the range.

Good Luck,

Volpri
 
Overnight said:
Where is the price going tomorrow? When one does not know, just average into the losers. Seems that is your backup MO, which is what you used before the pandemic.
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I don’t know where it is going tomm but whenever it does go I will know what to do. Will you? There are directional possibilities and probabilities of those possibilities. I’m sorry you cannot understand averaging down the way I explain it. You seem stuck on it as a hideous technique. My experience has been it can be a very useful technique, if used correctly and when scalping.
 
volpri said:
I don’t know where it is going tomm but whenever it does go I will know what to do. Will you? There are directional possibilities and probabilities of those possibilities. I’m sorry you cannot understand averaging down the way I explain it. You seem stuck on it as a hideous technique. My experience has been it can be a very useful technique, if used correctly and when scalping.
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Because when the indices go from ranging from 0.3 percent day after day, to ranging 3% the next day, that can wipe out an account with an average down technique. There is no allowance in the method if money is withdrawn, because if at end of day you lost 100% of what was gained in the past week through the method, it disheartens people.

Has anyone on this forum posted a journal utilizing your techniques?
 
Overnight said:
Because when the indices go from ranging from 0.3 percent day after day, to ranging 3% the next day, that can wipe out an account with an average down technique. There is no allowance in the method if money is withdrawn, because if at end of day you lost 100% of what was gained in the past week through the method, it disheartens people.

Has anyone on this forum posted a journal utilizing your techniques?
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Clearly Volpri knows what he is doing. Its obvious he averages down based on trade type / context.

Most shouldn't. He can because he understands PA well enough.

Nothing more nothing less.

Fair enough?
 
Relentless said:
Clearly Volpri knows what he is doing. Its obvious he averages down based on trade type / context.

Most shouldn't. He can because he understands PA well enough.

Nothing more nothing less.

Fair enough?
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We could get into the details in a PM. Volpri has posted in my journal, and I have posted in his.

I just don't want to see people get into trouble. Volpri started his journal after the micros were introduced. I started mine before the micros.

One must never throw caution to the wind with the average-down technique.
 
Overnight said:
Because when the indices go from ranging from 0.3 percent day after day, to ranging 3% the next day, that can wipe out an account with an average down technique. There is no allowance in the method if money is withdrawn, because if at end of day you lost 100% of what was gained in the past week through the method, it disheartens people.

Has anyone on this forum posted a journal utilizing your techniques?
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You must not have even read my posts that indicate how I average down. Otherwise, you would know that I would be out of an averaged down position way before it would wipe out my account. But your journal, if I remember correctly, has instances of you holding through horrendous drawdowns. If I were you I sure would not average down, if holding through huge drawdowns is your MO for trading! That is all I am going to say about the matter. Overnight..you sure you want to hold overnight? ROFL

P.S. maybe you should warn people about your way of trading??
 
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