Basically price must be at key area (S&R floor trader pivot, S1/R1) I trade the price reversal pattern at time of day, with volume print pattern, and the tape to tell me when to cash in some profits.
Takes a bit of practice and you may not get a trade every day.
Can you help answer these questions from other members on futures io?
I try to treat each day trading as another day at the office. Trade to a reasonable goal, trade the easy setups, and let the statistical probability work in my favor.
Reading and actually using the T&S takes time. There is a thread here in this forum about tape reading.
For me, since I use range bars, the price is defined in a bracket of a specific spread. So, I look for initiating moves to show up on the tape. These are identified by the orders that are in blocks, or more commonly lately, by the number of orders of a specific size.
Unfortunetly, with all the HVT going on, reading the tape is tough with certain instruments. So I have been relying more on the speed of the tape for those instruments. I pay attention to the range bars and how fast they build on the up or down ticks. Also, I watch for volume increase on either the up or down tick.
As I scan the charts from left to right, I trade the setups that are immediately apparent. I try to not trade a setup that is struggling, or where price is cramped between dynamic S&R levels.
A quick question, I don't think I've read an answer in your previous posts: why do you show the "Account Performance" in ticks, and not in $ or % ?
As you trade FDAX (25€/point, ), TF ($100/point), YM ($5/point), CL ($1000/point) and maybe some other futures contracts, I don't see where is the logic of using this.
If you make 200 points on the YM (+$1000), and -15 points on the CL (-$1500), you'll still have a positive day in this "points" mode.
I only focus on $$ earned on a weekly or monthly basis. For the purposes of my trading, it is more important to have consistent performance and it's hard for me to do if I focus on the money each day. It is only confusing if you do not use the trades information to study. Its the trade entry, exit, and risk that is more helpful than the actual point values gained or lost.
