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After spending some time learning about Wyckoff and price action trading, I would like to start trading in demo mode and test some of mine strategies and improve my knowledge.
So far I've been testing my skills in BTC/USD market in Tradingview with some modest results.
I'm from Europe and I would like to trade futures in EU time.
As a beginner, what would be a good platform to use and what future market to trade?
My plan is to demo trade until I'm confident enough to use real money and learn as much as possible.
Mostly my style was swing trading so far.
Is swing trading a good option for futures or day trading? And what would be money minimum requirement for these styles?
I apologize for my English , its not my first language.
Can you help answer these questions from other members on NexusFi?
You can find a lot of platform reviews on YouTube. Try all of the available platforms and see which one suits your needs. I use NinjaTrader 8.
Swing or Day trade the style which most suits your personality. Both work. Does your trading plan handle overnight gaps which don't go your way? Can you hold on without spending every 2 minutes looking at your charts? Do you prefer to scalp? I day trade, and I use timeframes from 15 seconds to 15 minutes. I close all positions before the end of each trading day because I don't want my account exposed to any risk between sessions.
Start with the micros (MYM or MES, for example) regardless of how much capital you have. Keep your risk small until you have worked the kinks out of your plan and you have acclimated yourself to live trading vs. SIM.
You can trade with as little as $400USD with NinjaTrader, but I don't recommend this. I say $3000USD minimum, but $5000USD or more is better, of course. The longer you plan to let a trade breathe, the more cash you will need. Ultimately it's up to you. I also recommend you don't risk more than 1 contract or .1% (yes.. point 1 percent) of your account if your plan calls for scaling into and/or out of positions. Keep your risk small until you have worked the kinks out of your plan and you have acclimated yourself to live trading.
Bitcoin has a very high margin requirement, Just checking Tradovate (another broker option), their intraday trading margin for Bitcoin is $60,208 ( https://www.tradovate.com:443/resources/markets/margin/ ), so I imagine that is out. Bitcoin has high futures margin because it is so volatile.
The Micro stock index futures that ThemBones mentions are good (Micros have the smallest tick value/minimum increment value), but they have the most volume when the US stock markets are trading (9:30am US Eastern - 4:00pm). Another option could be the Micro currencies, such as the M6E which is the Micro Euro futures contract.
Back to margin. Be aware that with futures there is a day trading margin which is the smallest amount required in your account by your broker per contract traded if you open and close a contract on the same day. Though as said above, don't be tempted by small margins to day trade an account that is too small.
For swing trading if you hold a position from one day to the next that covers the CME futures market closing hour between 5:00pm US Eastern - 6:00pm, brokers will require their higher initial margin rate requiring a larger account size (Ninjatrader are available on this page as the platform was mentioned above: https://ninjatrader.com/Margins-Position-Management ).
You do not win as a trader, you just get to play again the next day. If that game doesn’t appeal to you then you should not trade. Gary Norden
Greetings! You need not apologize for your English. It's better than many people I have met.
Due to the overnight margin rates for futures contracts, there is a safe and affordable platform from where you can place those swing trades. Of course, if you have a very large trading account, you can disregard this suggestion.
Go to Nadex.com and get a free demo account. You can fund it at any time with real money. You can trade 5min., 20min., hourly, daily and weekly contracts. Indices, forex pairs, gold, silver etc.
Perfect for swing trades. It's not complicated and they have a trading platform that you can trade from.
There are no fees to pay for the platform.
Cost per contract is $1.00 USD to open and the same to close unless you let the contracts expire at a loss. Then no fee at the end.
Nadex will provide you with the ability to hone your skills while providing a predetermined maximum risk per trade.
After some time passes, you can then migrate to a futures platform while keeping Nadex in your tool box to place hedges or "Out of the Money" trades when we get those massive sell offs. I personally pull up Nadex and will take such a trade when we get those huge sell offs in the morning. Best trade so far netted a 8-1 Reward to Risk ratio.
I use Nadex on the side here and there as Ninjatrader is my primary platform for scalping the US100 (Nasdaq).
Nadex is US based and regulated.
There are countless videos on youtube by Nadex and numerous other sources to help you get going. If I can learn it, so can you. It is much simpler than stock option trading.
I am NOT affiliated with them in any way, shape of form. I just like what they offer.
Thank you all for your answers. I've downloaded Ninjatrader and opened a demo account. MES and M6E are on my watch list and if everything goes well after 6 months of demo, maybe I will open real account.
I reckon BTC is traded mostly with algos instead of Wyckoff. I can't really see the psychological patterns forming on that chart that Wyckoff talks about.
