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Not sure where to begin, but this seems like a great site. Have been in and out of trading for many years, but futures.io seems like a unique experience.
I would like to take a more thoughtful approach to the creation of strategies and perhaps some automated trading. In addition, would like to find some solidarity among kindred spirits and perhaps become confident enough to share some ideas. I'm not experienced with programing but look forward to learning where I can.
If you've been day trading, scalping using price action full time for a year, you should do fine with micros. Keep in mind that the micros are just a derivative of the e-mini contract (1/10). The volume of the micros are probably not very indicative as the e-mini is what has the volume, trades all night and is widely traded. Just keep your workflow and size as close to what you would do when trading a stock. These are all leveraged products so don't go hog wild with position size!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Also, I don't trade micro contracts but when I looked at them they seemed to me not very commission efficient. I prefer the ES e-mini S&P.
By all means, go ahead and start with the Micro's.
I've traded stocks, Forex, Nadex and now Micro's.
Do not be put off by the higher commission rate. For example, with Ninjatrader the commission rate for an e-mini ES contract is $3.88 and 10 Micro (MES) is $8.20.
For some that make their money on the ES combined with their strategy, they would prefer to save that $4.32 per contract. However, if your strategy and combined account size is more effective with using Micros, then just do it. So what if your cost of business is higher? There are those with modest accounts that can outperform using Micros each and every day. The goal is " just make money"! Why avoid Micros, when there is plenty of money to be made using them. Kind of like having a car that uses premium (micros) vs. a car that uses regular (e-mini).
Look at it as just paying a bit extra to your broker. If paying out $4.32 extra and gleaning higher profits works, just do it. Liken it to appliance stores who sell their products with a smaller profit margin but beat out their competitor who sell for more money.
In regards to liquidity, don't give it a second thought. Get full market depth and watch the DOM. When their is a wider spread, just place limit orders.
Margin: be aware that during the evening sessions that the margin rate goes up considerably and you will not get a $50.00 per contract margin. It will be close to 25 times that amount.
FYI, Ninjatrader has a replay option that allows you to do simulated trading based upon historical data and simulated trading during live sessions too. It gives you plenty of time to test your "edge".
Taxes on futures: You will find the tax reporting WAY simpler and kinder. Who does not like the 60/40 rule for capital gains. No self-employment tax.
Scalping: Try out the MNQ. You can exit a trade in just seconds/minutes depending on your own strategy.
Your style: I must add the following suggestion: In this business, I have found that some fellow traders give advice that limits others potential. Some believe that if something does not work for them then it should not work for anyone else and they then warn/advise other to follow them. Well meaning advise often hinders people. Yes, it may initially be good advise, but don't cast others advise in concrete. For example: "Never trade without a stop"! Someone else would say: "That's stupid advise". Trader number one should definitely trade with their stop, but trader number two would not make money if they used a stop. You have to come to your own conclusion and you will!
Others advise can be useful. Take it for a test drive. Use it. Abandon it. Come back to it. Abandon again. Give it another try and maybe now it works for you. Don't fall for...."Oh, that won't work".
Or, "you shouldn't do this or that".
The beauty of trading futures is the simplicity of it. Price is generally moving. Can you identify the value of the movement of each tick/point? Can you translate that into boosting the value of your account?
If you know all of this, just chalk up this reply to the "Social Distancing" going on these days!
Have fun! We do! That is... My little Wifey trades the MES and I trade the MNQ. Best regards, Vern
Ps. Cudos to those that trade the e-mini's and have an account large enough to fit their strategy. Some of us have to pay that little extra premium to trade.
My name is Noel and between 2007-2009 I was a very successful day trader at the ripe age of 24 after several years of honing my craft out of college. It was a very different time period and when algos began to slowly take over volume things started to become more difficult. I never adjusted my game because of ego and confidence as I was one of the top traders at the firm and I was young and naive, I ultimately stepped away in 2014.
After a 2 year hiatus I was doing fairly well with my swing trades and opened a prop account with a brokerage for higher leverage. But within a couple of months I fell back into looking at level 2s and not sticking to my rules. I repeated this process 2 years later in 2018 with another firm.
Before the current Covid 19 market collapse I was trading my own personal acct with only 2:1 leverage and staying away from any intraday trades, purely following my swing trade setups and sitting on my hands for only "GREAT" trade setups. My goals were reasonable at 10% quarterly on my max BP, I would easily reach my goal and surpass them for 6 straight quarters.
But with the recent crash I knew bases would be tougher to come by and volatility was upon the market so I fell back into day trading again. At my highest point in the first quarter I was up 25% on my BP which was well above my goal but I was breaking rules and justifying bad behavior. Ultimately I have given those profits away and down about 4% YTD as of now.
I know what consistently works for myself and my trading technique I just haven't disciplined myself into solely sticking to that and not deviating. I have never been a part of any type of online community before but I'm here and I hope it will help me as well as being able to possibly help others.
I am no expert by any stretch of the imagination, but I have a lot of experience in terms of multiple education packages teaching technical analysis. From the classes I have had (and a fair amount of experience, too), my understanding is that volume is an important indicator with futures, especially stock index futures like the S & P 500. After all, they are stocks as well, just a group rather than a single stock. And Level 2 data is very important as well.
There are various brokerages that provide paper trading capability. You may already be familiar with Think or Swim (ToS). If you have the ToS platform, it would be worthwhile for you to set it up to paper trade futures contracts and see how it feels using the 5-minute charts you are accustomed to using and note how volume provides indication of price changes and/or confirms price movement. Of course, when you are ready to try live trading, there are better options than TD Ameritrade in terms of fees and margin requirements. There are many discussions of brokerages on futures.io and the video section is well worth the price of admission. I get no compensation for plugging any product, but I can tell you that the value I have received from the elite membership on this forum has far surpassed the cost. Take a look at the vendor discounts for elite members.
im new to the trading community and was looking to learn about FOREX. This site seems almost too good to be true. But, i am intrigued at the amount of conversations going on here.
Well this site came up in a search while I was trying to find a way to make my TOS SMAs and EMAs with 2 colors as in Green for up and Red for down. I had to join to get to the answer but unfortunately the movie file wouldn't play. Hopefully someone can help me out. This looks like a great place to find answers !
Hopefully someone can help me out. This looks like a great place to find answers !