I want to try out a scheme to purchase stocks doing relatively well against the S&P on one day only to turn around and sell them at a profit the next day, with the first test crop consisting of the following...
At the moment MOSY is up 8.12%, CPE is up 3.29% and LPI is up 8.81%; whereas PAVM is down -3.03%, LFMD is down -5.62%, and UONEK is down -1.93%. At first glance, the only difference between these two groups appears to be the slope of a key moving average. So then, making the corresponding adjustment, the crop of stocks I get for today are... FUBO $33.18 CHS $6.38 CPE $57.09 DOMO $82.39 JYNT $81.52
I forgot to check these stocks yesterday. But, if this filter does indeed work (it didn't with FUBU) it appears that it would be risky not to sell the stocks the very next day.
At the suggestion of studentofthemarkets, I am looking into the possibility of trading futures via AMP. To get an idea of what's what, I bought the E-mini Dow at 34,418 and sold it at 34,422. For the purpose of this analysis, I am calling the digit all the way to the right a unit. Since my Profit was $25.00, it would appear that each unit is worth 25 ÷ (34,422 - 34,418) = 25 ÷ 4 = $6.25. In my book, $25 for 30 seconds of activity isn't all that bad. But trading in this manner would mean I would have to time all my entries just about perfectly, at least in the beginning. Because if I were to give myself just 10 units of breathing room and ended up getting stopped out of the position, I would incur a loss of $62.50. For some reason, when I tried to buy the E-mini S&P 500, the platform kept telling me that I was entering an invalid stop loss or take-profit target... I bought the E-mini NASDAQ at 14,645.75 and sold it at 14,647.00... a difference of 1.25. So, given that my Profit was once again $25, if I consider the digit preceding the decimal point to be one unit, each unit is worth 25 ÷ 1.25 = 20. Again, this will demand near perfection, because a stop loss of just five units would cost me $100 if it were hit. Unfortunately, I will have to wait before analyzing the E-mini Russel given that this index is bearish, meaning I'm going to have to let it climb first, and then start coming back down in order for me to maximize the probability of my entering a profitable short position.
In the futures world, they are called "ticks" (and each tick in YM is a point, but four ticks to a point in NQ. YM messes with newbie future traders that way). They are equivalent to "pips" in the FOREX world. Your YM exit trade filled at 34423, so you made 5 ticks. It is $5 per tick. That is where you get the $25 profit from. Learn how to read MetaTrader first before you trade with real monies. Your NQ trade was worth $5 per tick. You made 5 ticks. That also equals $25. Stop with the "units" thing. Then you will get into "cars" and "handles" and confuse other budding newbie future traders out there. The pits are gone man. Stick with FOREX, you seemed to be doing well with that.
All of a sudden at midnight Pacific the indices got all spastic and crazy acting—very bizarre. Then, when I tried to buy the NASDAQ, I got the Invalid S/L or T/P message that I was getting before with the S&P 500, so I had to buy the DOW instead. Am I setting my stops and/or targets too far away from the current price for the amount of capital I have in the demo account?
Once again, if I consider the digit directly to the left of the decimal point as representing single units, with my Profit from selling the Russell being $110.00, it would appear that each unit is worth 110 ÷ (2120.8 - 2118.6) = 110 ÷ 2.2 = $50. So to review, I calculate each unit of the DOW being worth $6.25, with the NASDAQ being $20 and the Russell being $50.
As O pointed out each miniDow unit, known by everyone else as a tick, is worth $5. not $6.25 Don't believe either of us, check with CME website.
I don't know who O is, but yes, it says it right there on the chart... Nonetheless, when I divide the profit by the change in price, $6.25 is what I get. As for ticks, as best as I can tell, they mean one thing when dealing with this asset, and yet, another thing when dealing with that one. Consequently, when conceptualizing ideas so that they make sense to me personally, I use terminology that does not change in my mind—hence my analysis in terms of units. For example, Investopedia states that: "Point, tick, and pip are terms traders use to describe price changes in the financial markets. A point represents the smallest possible price change on the left side of a decimal point, while a tick represents the smallest possible price change on the right side of a decimal point." However, when I look at the numbers along the right side of the e-mini Dow candlestick chart, there is nothing on the right side of the decimal point. So, what is Investopedia talking about? No need to answer... I'm just saying that this is why I use, and will continue to use, my own vocabulary, at least for the time being.