johnnycakes78704 

See the blue bars? Big money. Relating to volume. The average volume is what, 300-500 contracts per min bar? When big money (professionals) come in, the volume spikes to 1000+. The highest I've seen is about 4500 contracts traded in a 1 min period. Compare that to the ES, the number of contracts traded per minute average 4000-6000 and when pro's come in it can spike the number of contracts traded to over 40,000 per minute.

There does appear to be some movement after the blue bars. Is that an Elite Indy?

Looks like a day of chop thus far. One or two bars up, one or two bars down. 2 point trading range for the last hour and a half. Looks like it MIGHT be a 1 trade day, towards the EOD movement.

I feel as though today is a day for scalpers. I see where I could easily get 3-6 ticks, reverse to get 3-4 more, then reverse again. But I'm not interested in that type of trading at the moment.

johnnycakes78704 

Looks like a day of chop thus far. One or two bars up, one or two bars down. 2 point trading range for the last hour and a half. Looks like it MIGHT be a 1 trade day, towards the EOD movement. I feel as though today is a day for scalpers. I see where I could easily get 3-6 ticks, reverse to get 3-4 more, then reverse again. But I'm not interested in that type of trading at the moment.

Any chance to add the time on your charts? That way I can follow along better.

Each bar = 1 min. Although I'll be sure to add in the time chart to the screenshots in the future.

A nice short developed, but given market chop I was out of the market. Perhaps if I'm not swamped with work I'll be able to watch and get in on the swing up.

Looks like no trades today.... Been watching it when I had the time and all I see is crazy chop today. One move, which I missed. Not interested in scalping a few ticks here and there, so I stayed out. Even EOD is just bouncing around. Oh well. Today was a day of protecting capital against everything except inflation.

johnnycakes78704 

Each bar = 1 min. Although I'll be sure to add in the time chart to the screenshots in the future. A nice short developed, but given market chop I was out of the market. Perhaps if I'm not swamped with work I'll be able to watch and get in on the swing up.

Yes, no worries, just trying to figure out which minute is the 'start' ..

Today is the quadruple witching day. This means that stock index futures, stock index options, options contracts and single stock futures all expire. Some people don't trade this day. Also, it is a Friday, typically not a great trading day. Overnight, there was a 10 point jump on the TF due to the Libya ceasefire and power being restored to the water pumps in the Japanese nuclear power plant. I've never traded a day like this so I am unsure as to what to expect. Overall, not impressed. There seems to be a very short trading range for the past hour or so and the HOD reached. Appears, from first glance, to be similar to the scalp trading of yesterday.

So, sticking to my method, signals indicated a short. And so I did. Most ticks gained from it was 6 ticks and I was at least expecting 8-9. That said, my entry was off and should I have gotten in where I wanted to (lack of order management is akin to slitting my accts throat at this point), I would have had the 8-9 ticks. I jumped the gun though, so it is my own fault. Trade was stopped out. Could I have left it in and let it come back on me? Well, the thought crossed my mind. Given the top being reached and seeing it reached and bouncing off, I have reason to believe it'll come back to me. But, sticking to my rules, I was stopped out.

So today, thus far, I'm seeing a 3 point-ish trading range, from around 792 to 789. Given that the 50 SMA is smackdab in the middle of that, I know at the MOST, I'd be able to eek out a 1.5 point gain, but more likely 8-9 ticks, depending on trading conditions. I saw a trade forming and got in on a short. Calmed down on my entry, sticking to my entry point as today's trading is fairly slow moving so if it didn't fill right then, it'd come back to me and fill. Which is exactly what it did.

The entry was good, but the exit was just about perfect. Was shooting for 8-9, pulled out 10.

Couldn't get in my 3rd trade for the day, but it's fine. Looking at the chart, I see the set up but couldn't take as I'm getting a new person up to speed. Can't really tell them what I love and want to do, now can I? Given the low volume today, there just wasn't a dramatic end to the day. Looking forward to next week's trades. I think it'll be a bullish week see as the world is recovering from foul news.

Big move up this morning and saw alot of sideways action with a punctuated with a short move up. Short came into play for me and I sold off. The market promptly went 1 tick in the money then decided to get choppy. I decided to get out of the market with a loss of 5 ticks as I didn't want to get caught out. I feel very indecisive about this trade and don't want to stuck out.

So far, it has just been chop with lots of shadows. The last hour and 15 minutes or so has had less than a 15 tick range.

Today is a busy Monday, so I haven't even had the time to feel comfortable with a trade.