Use <a href="http://www.datatime.eu/public/gbot/GBotScreenshots.htm"> this </a> free folio application for futures: it will help you develop a good feeling about what trading futures entails, before you can master the art of trading and making money. Tom
Experience has taught me that the futures market can be extremely tricky and unpredictable. Especially when the market is volatile (as it is now), prices of the index futures can change very quickly, up or down. True, you can start with a smaller account, because you don't have to put money up front, as when you're buying stocks (assuming you have the margin requirement for whatever future you're trading). But if you're not careful, you can blow up your account in a very short time. I would start with the Nasdaq index futures (NQ). Since for NQ tick 0.25 = 5.00, if you trade only one NQ contract (which is advisable if you're not acquainted with how futures trade), then for each tick up or down, you make or lose only 5.00. If you set your stop so that your maximum loss is, say, $75.00, that gives you a "play" range of 15 ticks. Compare with the S&P index futures, which has tick 0.25 = 12.50. This is a larger contract, so that with the same loss tolerance, your "play" range is only 6 ticks. And again, if the market is volatile and fast-moving, you can get stopped out fairly quickly. To be sure, with NQ, you won't make a fortune in a single trade, especially if you limit yourself to one contract; but the earnings from several good trades add up. And even though you'll have losing trades, it's much easier to recover from a small loss than from a large one. If you want to stick with the index futures, that's a good choice, at least in the beginning. If you're looking at commodities, and have a limited account, I would advise avoiding silver futures (SI) altogether. For silver tick 0.005 = 25.00. That's a huge contract! What's worse, for much of the trading session, the volume is low, and thus liquidity is just not adequate. You'll get a large bid/ask spread. This means, if the trade turns sour and you use a market order to exit your position, slippage may be considerable. In short, finding yourself on the wrong side of a silver futures trade really sucks. Better to stick with the index futures at first; for ES, liquidity is excellent most of the time. And they're much more forgiving than other futures. I use the ThinkorSwim plaform, which I find excellent for futures trading. I don't recommend cluttering up your chart with a lot of useless indicators, which, given the pace at which the futures move, lag behind and are thus virtually useless. I use two moving averages (20 and 40), volume, on-balance volume, and the RSI. I use a 5-minute chart as my main one. Below the main chart I have charts for the TICK and TRIN. I start in the pre-market, about 2 hours before the opening bell. I calculate my pivot points for ES, NQ, and YM. Then I draw in horizontal lines for the previous day's close, the pivot points P, S1, R1, S2, and R2. Then I draw in other support and resistance lines. (You can learn how to do this by reading about pivot points in Investopedia.) I've found that the index futures tend to respect support and resistance lines, and so should you. Don't even think about opening a trade if you don't know where they are. Also avoid trading above the highest resistance line, or below the lowest support line. For example, if there seems to be considerable upward momentum, and price is moving up above the highest point of resistance, it's easy to get sucked in and go long, thinking that you can capitalize on the movement. But in the futures, that movement can stop and reverse very quickly, so that the 5-minute price bar ends up closing below resistance. This means that you've bought into resistance, a definite NO-NO. It's much better to wait until the bulls have run their course, and there are definite signs of a reversal. You then have a tradable void in which to go short. I hope this helps. Above all, KEEP YOUR LOSSES SMALL. Capital preservation is the first priority. And there's never any excuse for allowing a losing trade to get out of hand.
that' pretty good advice TOS, you write very well. you'd make a good journalist, or whatever it is they call people who write about the markets
For what it's worth when I started out with real money I did a lot of watching pa and only allowed myself to do 1 trade per day. I wouldn't place a trade until the action seemed so obvious to me that my brain was just like duhh go short this bitch. If you are daytrading look for setups where you'll know you're wrong right away. Trading is only as complicated as you want to make it but really if you think about it how many different plans can you have? A trade is either with a trend, counter trend, fade, or momentum. This all sounds so cliche I think I hate myself a little more... Good God I want to bang front row Amy :eek: Good luck in finding your patient state of mind.
I've been checking out some of those Live Trading Rooms of late -- what a joke. I never actually sat in one...but they all seem to preach the same nonsense with their charts. Do any of them provide trading statements to verify their performance. I've been thinking about this of late and I believe I can teach anyone to trade futures. I'm pretty sure I can turn a life long loser around in a short period of time. Right now Im hot on the idea of setting up my own IB to pursue this idea.