looking to start up soon. What are the best contracts to trade now and what charting service should I use. Thanks for the help.
Starting out it's probably best to look at the 'popular' ones: ES, NQ, ER2, YM - indexes EC - Euro QM - Crude Oil I'd start there. Some may say just stick with the indexes and that is fine too I just found that sometimes the indexes are not doing much while the EC and/or QM are moving. And vice versa. Good luck!
First, make good use of ET search feature. http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/search.php?s= Secondly, learn all the formalities about your trading instrument. http://www.cme.com Your strategy will often determine what is the best contract. However, you will not determine that until later after you've spent many months backtesting, simulator trading and trading real money via a small position size prior to normal trading. For example, you may discover your strategy is more profitable and/or your much better in applying it more successfully in trading ES in comparison to NQ et cetera. Therefore, be careful about trading a trading instrument that someone else recommends when you and that trader are using different strategies. As for a charting service... Its simple, start with what you can afford and offers whatever you need. In addition, many of the software vendors offer free trials but your still going to need to pay for the exchange fees. http://www.elitetrader.com/so/ http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/forumdisplay.php?s=&forumid=3 Use only a simulator that your broker offers or a simulator that's works with your broker data/trade platform. As for brokers... http://www.elitetrader.com/br/ You should notice that all the above info can be easily found by spending a little time exploring the top of EliteTrader.com webpage. In addition, computers are cheap these days. Get two computers...one for your trade execution platform (real money or simulator). The other computer for your charting program. Last of all, get a program that records everything on your monitor so that you can replay it at a later date. Camtasia Studio http://www.techsmith.com Simply, maintain a video journal (diary) of your trading day and it will become one of the most useful tools to help improve your trading. Treat your trading like a business. If not, its just a hobby. Mark
Mark, thanks for the great advice! Can I ask what contracys you trade, your futures broker and favorite charting service? Thanks again.
Milnarf, See this post for some thoughts on why I prefer the YM for starting traders: http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=82760&perpage=6&pagenumber=6