Welcome to NexusFi: the best trading community on the planet, with over 150,000 members Sign Up Now for Free
Genuine reviews from real traders, not fake reviews from stealth vendors
Quality education from leading professional traders
We are a friendly, helpful, and positive community
We do not tolerate rude behavior, trolling, or vendors advertising in posts
We are here to help, just let us know what you need
You'll need to register in order to view the content of the threads and start contributing to our community. It's free for basic access, or support us by becoming an Elite Member -- see if you qualify for a discount below.
-- Big Mike, Site Administrator
(If you already have an account, login at the top of the page)
Trading: The one I'm creating in the present....Index Futures mini/micro, ZF
Posts: 2,311 since Nov 2011
Thanks Given: 7,341
Thanks Received: 4,518
Bro..... you have gotta post more..... lol.... I couldn’t agree more...lol....I love it!
Screen time is sooooooo important. And like Peter Davis from Jigsaw says “ you only get one day a day” (I’m paraphrasing, but very close) meaning it takes MANY days and a long time to understand the way Mr Market moves, reacts, behaves, responds or doesn’t. And it goes without saying you can’t understand all of it.
I use orderflow. But it’s only a tiny piece. Some trades it might help .... others it won’t. Of the small amount of time it gets utilized a sizable chunk of that is for after entry. For trade management. I need other traders to enter in my direction to make me a winner (I dislike using the words winner or loser just doing it here. I see things from a, doing business, point of view.)
Everything works and nothing works is SO true. It’s all dependent on the practitioner.
The only thing I can say is universal in trading, that works all the time, all successful traders admit and gets referenced all the time, if you listen...... are virtues. I have a thread devoted to this.
Trading takes Patience it takes determination it takes self-discipline it takes decisiveness it takes commitment it takes tact it takes assertiveness it takes humility it takes courage it takes creativity it takes honesty it takes acceptance it takes contentment it takes detachment it takes devotion it takes endurance it takes diligence it takes flexibility it takes fortitude it takes gratitude it takes perseverance it takes resilience it takes discernment it takes fidelity it takes forgiveness it takes moderation it takes openness it takes perceptiveness it takes steadfastness it takes trustworthiness it takes confidence...... (not complete)
These are ubiquitous, widespread, rampant and inescapable if you want to be a trader (or anything).
It is important to always add, in some form, the words "for me" after any statement of what works or does not, even if you are certain in your own mind that it works or doesn't work as a matter of undeniable Truth For All Time, embedded by Natural Law in the structure of the Universe.... because somebody else is going to come along with a different experience that will blow your certainty out of the water. (I have learned this from a long experience of being both right and wrong, and not knowing the difference until after I was proved wrong.)
I don't use order flow. Never figured it out, and it never appealed to me anyway. But that's just me. There have been people in this thread who I know from their posts over the years, and who do use it and use it well. They are telling you the truth, for them. The person who wrote the statement on reddit that bothered you was telling the truth for him. Now, opinions aside, was he making money? I don't know, of course. Are the people who have written pro-orderflow posts here making money? I don't know that either, also of course, but I would bet that they are, some of them anyway (I won't mention names out of respect for the others. )
So, what do you believe? Sadly enough, you have to try stuff out, making and losing money on the way, and you have to find what works for you, and just let all the other things be something that may work for others. The only way to know is to try it out and see if it makes enough sense to you that you want to pursue it further.... and then be willing to spend whatever time you need to see if it is going to work out for you in the long run.
I hope I've been clear about this. If not, here's my bottom line: order flow works well for some of the traders who try it, and it fails for some others. So does every other thing that anyone tries, until they hit on something that works for them.
Simple, if maddening.
I don't know if order flow will be it for you, and for that matter if trading will be for you either. If trading is something that clicks for you, I hope you find some variation that lets you succeed at it, whatever it is.
Good luck, and I mean this -- and you also will need it. Stay connected here, and people will try to help.
Bob.
When one door closes, another opens.
-- Cervantes, Don Quixote
Bob, Ron, and others, great thread..thanks for the kind words and great info without BS.
As I mentioned order flow or anything out there works and doesn't work.
Finding your nitch takes years and when successful will align with your personality and overall approach to life.
I trade Intraday instruments like ES, NQ, CL.
I have a setup i customized (including a color theme of charts) over the years with SierraCharts. I pay attention to monthly, daily, 30 min as a guidance while trading on small time frames using Order flow, price rotations and volume profiles. At the same time I am watching world markets, currencies and Bonds. It all correlates together. Of course i also want to know whats going on with the news, upcoming reports, events etc.
As an example, If I am Long ES, i better have UltraBonds and JapYen dropping at the same time or My longs maybe in trouble. The example works, for now, until it doesnt.
My peace rests not in my setups and winning trades but rather in confidence that when I am wrong I know I will not get myself in trouble, and will easily close my losing positions without any resentment. That comes from deep scars from the past
All of this works for me and only for me, my personality, approach. I can give my setups and instructions to 99 other traders and the possibility is it would not work for them. It has nothing to do with ..if I am a better or worse trader then them. There are few great teachers out there who really know their "stuff" such as FuturesTrader71. Their value is immense and will shorten the learning curve.. and yet.. at the end one must still find their own path.
I do believe that if someone does it just for the money, the next Ferrari, it will be a tough journey. There needs to be a passion for working with the markets that is not connected directly to Money. Money then becomes a bi-product.
I have used order flow for a few years now. My humble opinion it is not a magic bullet that a lot of folks are looking for. By the way there are no magic bullets or fool proof methods. Every trader has bad days. To me the order flow traders are momentum traders and the footprint numbers can confirm that momentum. Again just my humble opinion.
I went into the jungle and pirates of OF softwares out there. Spent K's of $$$$, no success . Now went back into the old as dirt crossing MAvg. with standard free indicators like RSI ,MAcd . ,123 tops ,double tops etc. You get the pic. As long as you stick to rules and have a low risk entry, you will make more than you lose.
There are chat/IM applications that parse messages into an orderbook style format but it's heavily options focused. You'd also need to be talking connected to good brokers in several good shops otherwise it would be an extremely limited view.
There's no doubt that the patterns on the DOM have changed and are changing rapidly. I've stopped looking for the patterns I used to trade because it simply doesn't work. A lot of it is the context of the market. I prefer to trade the bonds, but right now it's impossible - every time the FED inserts capital, the futures will jump ticks, the numbers are all fake, etc.
That said, there are still benefits to the DOM. I'm using it to confirm my trades - sometimes I use my coded strategy, sometimes support/resistance depending on what the market is doing. So if you're looking for a short, you want to see some drive down with sellers generally above. The number in the upper right (see jpg) is very helpful. It's the easiest way to see the net effect of buying/selling. If big buyers/sellers come in, you'll see that number jump. If you're in the wrong direction, get out. If you're in the right direction, hold on for your target. Of course, there's always the problem of volatility, but in general, I find that watching that number gives you a very nice perspective of what's happening. I analyze my trades at the end of the week in replay. If you get the hang of watching that number, it will give you an edge.
)
Stay connected here, and people will try to help.
