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I think that the best trading strategy is one that you understand completely and fits your personality. I use order flow as well as indicators to assist me in scalping the ES, CL and NQ. This works for me, but I don't have the patience to position trade or swing trade. I wouldn't be successful in those particular endeavors because those strategies are not a good fit for me. I believe that trading is very personal, and what works for one individual may not work for another.
The following 3 users say Thank You to achoo58 for this post:
Here's a couple of good pages of videos. One is a software provider and one sells training courses, but their information is fairly universal and they are both well respected in their product reviews on the forum.
Jigsaw Trading - https://www.jigsawtrading.com/learn-to-trade-futures/
No BS Daytrading - Videos
Trading, ideally structured, is a vehicle for expanding consciousness, not damaging it. - Brett Steenbarger
The following user says Thank You to matthew28 for this post:
Here are three screen shots from a trade I took today. I used order flow to help me with my entry and exit.
This trade was on Friday, February 8th at 9:18 PST - buy ES at 86, sell at 10:16 PST at 94. 8 points.
Chart 1: Fight Circles
The first chart is made with Sim22's Heinken-Ashi bars and the NT8 Order Flow Trade Detector. The OFTD indicator creates what I call "Fight Circles" on the chart. I keep close track of these spots, especially during the first hour, as they are often places of future Support and Resistance. That is what happened here. Around the close of the first hour of trading, there are two fight circles in the 85, 85.5 spot. This area becomes a swing low, pull back, on a large move up from the lows of the day. I mark these fight circles with horizontal lines so that I can look for other trade signals on these lines later in the day. So, Order Flow tells me WHERE to look for FUTURE trades.
Chart 2: OFA Dots & Volume Profile with a micro Fib
OFA is a third party vendor that helps me identify strong buying and selling. I draw a dynamic volume profile, everyday, the first thing in the morning. This keeps track of the moving Point of Control (shown as the yellow line . . . the POC is the price point of where the most volume has traded up to that moment of the day), and the Value Area High and Value Area Low. You can often find trades on these lines. I think these are traded by the machines. Watch them and you see price react when it hits them. In this case, ES came down to a prior fight circle area, which, at the time of the trade entry, also happened to be the POC (85.5). You can see two lime green dots at that point. This is very strong buying. It tells me that the big boys are wanting to get long on the Point of Control. I quickly glance at my more traditional 1 minute chart (which I will discuss next) for confirmation, then pull the trigger and go long. I also recognize that it looks like a fib, which I draw on the chart after my entry.
Chart 3: 1 Minute with Weis Wave, Sim22's VSA Volume, Lizard Reversal Bars (FatTails), and smaSineWave.
Here, I see that the 1 minute Weis Wave is giving me a reading of 23-6. This means the supply is waning, and there are no more sellers. I also see a red dashed line. This is the sine wave level of support. Off of this line, I have a blue Lizard reversal bar. These bars are really good on range days. These three things, together with the fact that I am at a prior fight level, and on the POC with green dots, say "buy".
Now . . . where to exit?
Because the VSA moving average was staying green, I wanted to see if I could get to the prior swing high at 93.5 (see chart 1). 94 was also the +1 standard deviation line, above the VWAP. Usually when ES moves 6 points or more, you see a PB (Pull Back) then and END (End of Trend) with the sine indicator. I like to try and hold until I see the END then kill it. In this case, the EOT came in after ES peaked at 95.25. I got out on the +1 line at 94.
Bottom line: 86 to 94, 8 points, about an hour, using Order Flow to find where and when to get in and out. This kind of set up works best on range days like today.
Hope this helps.
- Snow
The following 4 users say Thank You to snowpatrol for this post:
Favorite Futures: NQ all day every day, maybe only one 1-3 times per day.
Posts: 816 since Dec 2012
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Good answer. I like engulfing candles with a strategy. Trend lines/breaks are too flexible. As support and resistance they are great, but not for entries in my opnion, at least I get messed up when I try using them. Engulfing's are my jam for entries now.
"Small disciplines repeated with consistency every day lead to great achievements gained slowly over time."
The following 2 users say Thank You to teamtc247 for this post:
I totally agree with achoo58's comment. I have been trading futures since 1997 and after having tried thousands of approaches I have finally found one that fits my personality and thought processes. Finding something that works for you is truly a very personal thing and it takes a lot of time and thought to finding it. But once you've found it, then trading becomes very easy and much less stressful than it was before you found the "holy grail" that works for you. Mine is simply looking for retracements in a trend and looking for a continuation of the trend. Sounds simple...and it is. But it took a very long time to decide what the best time frame is and what the parameters are that work best for the market that I follow.
You just have to stay in the game long enough for all the pieces of the puzzle to come together for you. It will be worth it!!!
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