My suggestion would be to let the forum mentor you. Tell us what you want to accomplish. Tell us what you have tried so far. (What isn't working) Show us some trades you have made along with the reason you made them. See what suggestions you get.
cas, Why hasn't the OP responded to question #1, which is how serious are you and why should anybody give you the time of day? Personal attention requires commitment from both parties to any agreement, otherwise, OP is welcome to graze the wizdom of the internet. That works too. Put in more polite and precise fashion: trader30 How much time per week are you prepared to commit to this project? Who's zoomin who here caacapital? That remains to be seen. The exchange of funds, proposed by trader30 is never mentioned by easymon. again, who's zoomin who remains to be seen caacapital, and will be if trader30 continues in this thread. Nothing to lose trader30, just be honest and forthright. Stay tuned...
Love your style. Direct and to the point. Good man. Wish I could help you but got to alert you to this thing about EDGE. Here at ET everyone has the same EDGE. they all trade in hindsight. If this is the Edge you seek, my friend its FREE. Save your money.
You would be IMO the only one in this thread who can help him. If op is listening, easymon1 is highly recommended. Just the T-Line alone could get this op going nicely. Besides that op, pay attention to the dedication of this man easymon1. op needs an effervescent guy on his side to show him the ropes not some depressed loser from the graveyard. Good luck guys
Thanks MG, You're too kind, I don't know about all that. A number of guys on ET are more capable for sure, and they drop ideas around amid all the kvetching. These guys are not likely to drop the time it takes to work with someone who won't even answer how many hours a week he's willing to commit to the project. I can shine a light on an effective place to get started and if the OP doesn't resonate with that place enough to go on with it, no problemo. Is it work. Yep. Tedious too, lol. The work goes in up front. The application to the hard right edge on live chars is wayyy easier than the benchmarking. trader30 can find out if he resonates with rules based trading within the first 1-5 hours of giving it a good try. If the overall approach is not what T30 has in mind, no harm no foul. Ping me if you for real T30.
You say you're looking for edge. If you mean risk/reward there are many ways. Have you researched the yield curve and rate spreads? Did you look at trading the front month index spreads? Do you have custom volatility models? -- Do you know how to use them? Do you have API stuff? Do you know how to trade beta ratio'd or beta hedged index constituents, synthetic indexes, ETF spreads, etc.? I spent a long time messing with market data. Built a bunch of stuff like this and then started with real money. I have a math degree so the more complex stuff is actually fun for me. Statistics models and error functions are used all over these markets for algo design and management. I like TD Ameritrade for data/charting/scripting/modeling and the data fees. I like IBKR for the free API and access. My advice is to learn rate and index spreads -- NoB, BoB, and TeX and the related butterflies.
Op: Shoot me a PM. I can help you. I think it would make sense to share what I’m trading in real time (without divulging my method) so you can see it works. Only after that could we discuss what to do next. FWIW, I swing trade.
You need to find a strategy / system that fits your personality. But I'd like to introduce you to Qullamaggie. Been an eye opener for me. This guy has nothing to sell (Me Neither) Check out TradingArchive on Youtube. Books to read: Jesse Livermore's Methods of Trading in Stocks (Wyckoff) Reminiscences of a Stock Operator (Lefèvre) The Battle for Investment Survival (Loeb) Secrets for Profiting in Bull and Bear Markets (Weinstein) Trade Like a Stock Market Wizard (Minervini) How to Make Money in Stocks (O'Neil) I'd advise you to trade stocks. There are opportunities every year. Don't make the mistake to trade only the ES It's a sucker game. At least ... For me. You can't turn shit into gold. Go where opportunities are !!! Don't force the trade. Learn to assess easy dollar environments Learn to screen for the leaders, Relative Strength Learn to spot pivotal points, supports and resistances Learn to spot consolidations, patterns (TA), and tightness Learn to normalize your risk across bets Learn to take small losses and trade close to the danger point Learn to double down on your wining bets and let them run Learn to turnover your wins. 10%^10 > 100% ... In 3 months you can get the basics, In 6 months you can have a solid implementation, In 12 months you should be able to make money consistently. You definitely need to trade to learn. Start small. Get your routine set in stones. It's all about consistency and deliberate practice. You need rules and routine. There is no place for uncertainty. Check out John Boik book "How Legendary Traders made Millions" This is scalable from 1K to 1B no worries. My PnL since I implement this all. Risk is small (1% Max) NLV (Blue) SPX (Red) It's not about amazing daily returns, It's about consistent returns over years ! The legendary traders have an Annualized return of 60% ! (Simons, Seykota, ... ) Compounded over years of trading. Don't be greedy, be patient. If you make 5% per month in average for 10 years, You can turn 5K into a billion. You can make astonishing returns in a short amount of time, But obviously you're going to give it all back ! Better be a Turtle that goes the farthest. Have Fun.
In one word. Momentum is one beast of an edge. Once you understand it, you can build around it. All I said before is a derivative from that principle. You can also fade excess momentum, Qullamaggie call it … Exponential short. Look at HKD, GGII and other explosive move. You just need to build a setup around it.