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Neophyte in Futures looking for advice.


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Neophyte in Futures looking for advice.

  #1 (permalink)
 Endgrainjim 
Austin, Texas
 
Experience: Beginner
Platform: Currently using ToS and Dough.
Broker: Morgan Stanley. Only because that's where my IRA resides.
Trading: Currently stocks, hope to learn about e-minis
Posts: 9 since Jun 2015
Thanks Given: 67
Thanks Received: 3

I am new to the forum. I have traded stocks ( and for a short time stock options) with mixed results. I am newly interested in eminis but know next to nothing about them or the trading process. I am looking for advice, up to and including "Run for your life". Topics I would appreciate advice on: Minimum hardware, OS used, trading platforms' positives/negitives, data feeds, any services that you use and vouch for. If you use multiple screens and or computers, specifically why. i.e. what are you running/watching on each screen. I will close with a request for best book titles dealing with futures trading. I know that there is a thread re: books, but I could read one of the listed books in the time it would take to read that "War and Peace" length thread. Thank you in advance for any and all responses.

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  #3 (permalink)
 
Sg7JR's Avatar
 Sg7JR 
Baltimore, MD
 
Experience: Intermediate
Platform: Sierra Chart
Broker: Stage 5/DTN IQFeed
Trading: ES
Posts: 91 since Jun 2015
Thanks Given: 88
Thanks Received: 168


I will preface my response by saying that I too am a relative newbie as well but I'll tell you some things that I wish I had taken to heart when I had started out.

First off pay attention to what the more experienced traders on here say. A few pieces of advice I ignored and wished I hadn't were to avoid trading more advanced markets like crude oil (CL) as a newbie. I donated a lot of money to the market in a short period of time doing that. Now I only trade Euro futures (6E) and the NASDAQ 100 (NQ). NQ is a good market to trade for newbies in my opinion because it trends rather well, and at $5 a tick its more forgiving than others. I've heard Big Mike say he is a fan of new traders starting out learning to trade Forex so that during your growing pains as a trader you don't blow all your money, but have real money on the line unlike in sim. At the time this didn't sound very appealing to me, but in retrospect it's a great idea. I also never believed that the difference between the simulator and live trading real money was going to affect me until it did.

As far as strategy goes I don't have any specific recommendations but I will say this, become a specialist of a certain type trade not a jack of all trades, master of none. Don't be the guy who says his strategy is a trend/counter-trend/retracement/fade/arbitrage/breakout/Fibonacci fan master. You will see setups everywhere and be firing off trades left and right. Figure out one setup that works for you and master it inside and out. You should be able to rattle off your exact entry, exit, stop, and target rules like you were reciting your phone number. Once again, I learned this the hard way.

Finally I would recommend checking out the webinars on youtube. These are what brought me to the forum in the first place. Very good information in there, and I've only watched about a third of them. I can't post a link yet but just go to youtube and type in bigmiketrading.

Good luck to you and hopefully someone more qualified than myself can chime in.

-JR

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  #4 (permalink)
 Endgrainjim 
Austin, Texas
 
Experience: Beginner
Platform: Currently using ToS and Dough.
Broker: Morgan Stanley. Only because that's where my IRA resides.
Trading: Currently stocks, hope to learn about e-minis
Posts: 9 since Jun 2015
Thanks Given: 67
Thanks Received: 3

Thank you for responding Jr. I would still be interested in hearing any other responses, such as what platforms /feeds are more commonly employed to trade which markets, and why the use feels so. Also if they use multiple monitors, why? I.e. is it a necessity, or just a convenience to avoid the hassle of refocusing the screen. Finally, which one book influenced you the most/provided the most useful guidance.

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  #5 (permalink)
 
HumbleTrader's Avatar
 HumbleTrader 
Vancouver Canada
Legendary , Always learning
 
Experience: Intermediate
Platform: Investor RT
Broker: IB & IQ DTN
Trading: Oh what a tangled web I weave, When I want to take profits in trading
Frequency: Several times daily
Duration: Years
Posts: 1,722 since Nov 2014
Thanks Given: 3,379
Thanks Received: 2,961


Endgrainjim View Post
I would still be interested in hearing any other responses, such as what platforms /feeds are more commonly employed to trade which markets, and why the use feels so. Also if they use multiple monitors, why? I.e. is it a necessity, or just a convenience to avoid the hassle of refocusing the screen. Finally, which one book influenced you the most/provided the most useful guidance.

I will answer your last and easy question first. Books - There was no 1 book for me but rather layers of knowledge. I had Aha moments with many books but only recently realised that books complement each other. More importantly it should resonate with your personality and style. For instance, if you like auction profile theory like I do, then Jim Dalton is the obvious place to start with but you have to supplement with video webinars and teaching by real traders lke FT71 and L2ST. If you are a moving averages and momentum sort of guy, then Alexander Elder is a good place to start with. Psychology is HUGE. I MEAN HUGE. I liked Ari Kiev's Trading to win. I wouldn't know about Automated strategies and writing codes but I have a suspicion that they don't work, not consistently anyways as Market is a living organism and it changes and adapts.

You can read my journal about my methodology,hardware and software issues. Bear in my mind that there is plenty of useful information in many journals (hopefully in mine too) but it's not always easy to unearth them. Part of the reason is that people's approach and methodolgy evolves. I suggest reading the 1st page or origin of a thread and if strikes cord with you, then spend the hours to go through them. I would treat them like treasure hunt rather than a guided bus tour

Now to specific answers.

I trade ES with IB brokerage account. I dabbled with stocks for 18 months but seriously giving trading a try for the last 4 months. I bought Ninja license after leasing for 3 months mainly because I live in Canada and Ninja is the only option that links directly with any charting platform. I now think it's not essential as I can place orders within IB and use a small second computer. But I don't mind having 2 charting platforms, just in case.

I also have Investor RT which I have grown to like and love but using them only for 2 months. Advantage is monthly manageable cost less than 100 dollars and works well even on i3 computer. I see this as my platform in the near future.

I use tradervue to analyse my trades and trying to get a pattern of my behaviour - Great tool and worth trying free for a week.

Now hardware - I have a 27 inch imac which was bought for personal purposes but installed Parallel so that I can run windows softwares too. WOrks great. I also have a Microsoft pro 3 which I use to just observe and not trade the market when I am mobile i.e on my way to work.

I just ordered a Gigabyte brix barebones PC and decided to dedicate a computer to trading and ordered HP xi 27 inch and also AOC 29 inch wide monitor but will use only 1 monitor. I am hoping to use just my laptop in the future and NOT a fan of multiple monitors. I think it's a distraction, especially for a beginner like me.

I don't use more than 4 charts in total when live. (I may use more after hours just to analyse and learn)
Longer term i.e daily chart, 10 k or 30 mins for medium term to get the context.
Main trading windows are 1500k tick chart and 1 minute chart for close up look.
I add usually 2 indicators for every price chart and they are usually volume based like Delta.

My goal is to trade 3 ES contracts max with 2 trades a day. I am trading 2 and 2 now.

The BEST BEST BEST advice I received was from mike in one of his earlier webinars 2-3 years ago. Start with a 'I don't care if I loose or win money' account and instrument. For me it was trading SPY ETF. I think he suggested microforex but I feel more connected to and hence a part of ES. I cannot over emphasize this (other trader mentioned this). Sim practice is just that. Practice NOT real.

Take everything with a pinch of salt. Feel free to go through my journal and then judge for yourself. The proof is in the pudding

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  #6 (permalink)
 
Big Mike's Avatar
 Big Mike 
Manta, Ecuador
Site Administrator
Developer
Swing Trader
 
Experience: Advanced
Platform: Custom solution
Broker: IBKR
Trading: Stocks & Futures
Frequency: Every few days
Duration: Weeks
Posts: 50,397 since Jun 2009
Thanks Given: 33,173
Thanks Received: 101,537


Endgrainjim View Post
I am new to the forum. I have traded stocks ( and for a short time stock options) with mixed results. I am newly interested in eminis but know next to nothing about them or the trading process. I am looking for advice, up to and including "Run for your life". Topics I would appreciate advice on: Minimum hardware, OS used, trading platforms' positives/negitives, data feeds, any services that you use and vouch for. If you use multiple screens and or computers, specifically why. i.e. what are you running/watching on each screen. I will close with a request for best book titles dealing with futures trading. I know that there is a thread re: books, but I could read one of the listed books in the time it would take to read that "War and Peace" length thread. Thank you in advance for any and all responses.

The advice is don't look a gift horse in the mouth. You have everything you need to educate yourself at your disposal, but you have such a poor attitude that you can't be bothered to read it.

With this attitude, you will never succeed at trading or anything else I can think of in life. Trading is one of the most cutthroat jobs in the world, yet you think everything can be summed up in a quick post? Well, my post is as close as you are going to get to that. My advice: quit now and find a different hobby.

Mike

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  #7 (permalink)
DrewDown
Kansas City, MO U.S.
 
Posts: 211 since Mar 2015
Thanks Given: 301
Thanks Received: 122

Read everything you can, until you feel sufficiently mindfucked. Then start making sense of it and looking for an edge. It'll be simpler than you think.

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  #8 (permalink)
 Endgrainjim 
Austin, Texas
 
Experience: Beginner
Platform: Currently using ToS and Dough.
Broker: Morgan Stanley. Only because that's where my IRA resides.
Trading: Currently stocks, hope to learn about e-minis
Posts: 9 since Jun 2015
Thanks Given: 67
Thanks Received: 3


Big Mike View Post
The advice is don't look a gift horse in the mouth. You have everything you need to educate yourself at your disposal, but you have such a poor attitude that you can't be bothered to read it.

With this attitude, you will never succeed at trading or anything else I can think of in life. Trading is one of the most cutthroat jobs in the world, yet you think everything can be summed up in a quick post? Well, my post is as close as you are going to get to that. My advice: quit now and find a different hobby.

Mike

Wow, that was pretty harsh to read. I am at a loss to understand when or how I so badly pissed you off Mike, but regardless, I apologize. It's your website, so I guess you get to choose whether to follow your rules about how members treat each other. I thought that this forum (a collection of quick posts) was where we new people were SUPPOSED to ask questions, without being judged and told they "will never succeed at this or anything else in life". Especially by the founder of the forum.

If it was my comment about reading the length of the thread on recommended books, then again my apologies. I guess what I should have said was that with a thread spanning multiple years regarding the topic of 'favorite book(s), that many of the early thread contributors might have changed their minds, i.e. decided that a new book published after their thread post from years before, might now be more relevant to current-day markets and practices than their earlier recommendation(s). Be that as it may, I can only hope this well of knowledge hasn't been poisoned for me.
Jim

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  #9 (permalink)
 Endgrainjim 
Austin, Texas
 
Experience: Beginner
Platform: Currently using ToS and Dough.
Broker: Morgan Stanley. Only because that's where my IRA resides.
Trading: Currently stocks, hope to learn about e-minis
Posts: 9 since Jun 2015
Thanks Given: 67
Thanks Received: 3


DrewDown View Post
Read everything you can, until you feel sufficiently mindfucked. Then start making sense of it and looking for an edge. It'll be simpler than you think.

Thank you for the encouragement, DrewDown. With the cornucopia of information on trading, it is much like trying to drink from a fire hose except with all the different media formats available today it is more like being dropped in the ocean and trying to drink your way to the bottom. I am a favorite customer of Amazon's for all the trading books I have bought, and when not reading them I am watching webinars on the subject. I can only hope that one day all the info will congeal into something approaching knowledge.

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  #10 (permalink)
 Endgrainjim 
Austin, Texas
 
Experience: Beginner
Platform: Currently using ToS and Dough.
Broker: Morgan Stanley. Only because that's where my IRA resides.
Trading: Currently stocks, hope to learn about e-minis
Posts: 9 since Jun 2015
Thanks Given: 67
Thanks Received: 3



Narcissus View Post
I will answer your last and easy question first. Books - There was no 1 book for me but rather layers of knowledge. I had Aha moments with many books but only recently realised that books complement each other. More importantly it should resonate with your personality and style. For instance, if you like auction profile theory like I do, then Jim Dalton is the obvious place to start with but you have to supplement with video webinars and teaching by real traders lke FT71 and L2ST. If you are a moving averages and momentum sort of guy, then Alexander Elder is a good place to start with. Psychology is HUGE. I MEAN HUGE. I liked Ari Kiev's Trading to win. I wouldn't know about Automated strategies and writing codes but I have a suspicion that they don't work, not consistently anyways as Market is a living organism and it changes and adapts.

You can read my journal about my methodology,hardware and software issues. Bear in my mind that there is plenty of useful information in many journals (hopefully in mine too) but it's not always easy to unearth them. Part of the reason is that people's approach and methodolgy evolves. I suggest reading the 1st page or origin of a thread and if strikes cord with you, then spend the hours to go through them. I would treat them like treasure hunt rather than a guided bus tour

Now to specific answers.

I trade ES with IB brokerage account. I dabbled with stocks for 18 months but seriously giving trading a try for the last 4 months. I bought Ninja license after leasing for 3 months mainly because I live in Canada and Ninja is the only option that links directly with any charting platform. I now think it's not essential as I can place orders within IB and use a small second computer. But I don't mind having 2 charting platforms, just in case.

I also have Investor RT which I have grown to like and love but using them only for 2 months. Advantage is monthly manageable cost less than 100 dollars and works well even on i3 computer. I see this as my platform in the near future.

I use tradervue to analyse my trades and trying to get a pattern of my behaviour - Great tool and worth trying free for a week.

Now hardware - I have a 27 inch imac which was bought for personal purposes but installed Parallel so that I can run windows softwares too. WOrks great. I also have a Microsoft pro 3 which I use to just observe and not trade the market when I am mobile i.e on my way to work.

I just ordered a Gigabyte brix barebones PC and decided to dedicate a computer to trading and ordered HP xi 27 inch and also AOC 29 inch wide monitor but will use only 1 monitor. I am hoping to use just my laptop in the future and NOT a fan of multiple monitors. I think it's a distraction, especially for a beginner like me.

I don't use more than 4 charts in total when live. (I may use more after hours just to analyse and learn)
Longer term i.e daily chart, 10 k or 30 mins for medium term to get the context.
Main trading windows are 1500k tick chart and 1 minute chart for close up look.
I add usually 2 indicators for every price chart and they are usually volume based like Delta.

My goal is to trade 3 ES contracts max with 2 trades a day. I am trading 2 and 2 now.

The BEST BEST BEST advice I received was from mike in one of his earlier webinars 2-3 years ago. Start with a 'I don't care if I loose or win money' account and instrument. For me it was trading SPY ETF. I think he suggested microforex but I feel more connected to and hence a part of ES. I cannot over emphasize this (other trader mentioned this). Sim practice is just that. Practice NOT real.

Take everything with a pinch of salt. Feel free to go through my journal and then judge for yourself. The proof is in the pudding

Thank you Narcissus for your response. I most certainly will avail myself of your kind offer to share your journal.

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Last Updated on July 11, 2015


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