TICKS, not POINTS! You silly. Because 4 ticks on ES is one point ($50,) but that equals 10 ticks (and 10 points) on YM at $50. Just stick to ticks, forget the points. Especially the Five Points.
I got 7 good scalps this morning on the MNQ. The market is faking out a lot of people these days. I don't want to be one of them. I think DAY TRADING is the only sane way to trade. These short trades were taken near the high of the day after a stall on all 4 of RTY, ES, NQ, and YM. Look at the exits, and you can see why I have learned to take small trades. 6 of the 7 were perfectly timed before a pop. I really wish I were always this successful. Most recent trades near top: Of course I have to subtract $.78 per trade for fees, which really sucks, but I keep reminding myself I am laying the foundation for real trading with the NQ and YM down the road. I had some other trades as well, and am up about $41 for the day. And since I am trading 2 contracts I am also calling this "41 ticks" because each tick is 50 cents and with 2 contracts it's $41!
Gain Capital just lowered their RT costs on the new Micros from $2.00 to $1.00. I think they saw the overall market volume and decided to stop being a jerk about it because they were missing out. While it is still costs a bit more than AMP, I will start trading micros in my Striker account (Striker is an introducing broker for Gain/OpenECry). Striker has a great subscriber system, and if I can keep up a decent run, then I might be able to get some subscribers. Imagine that.... There are three big challenges: (1) They need to charge a bit extra on the execution and subscriber fees. In order to justify this, a follower would need to see really great results. Is 40+ MNQ ticks per day enough? It looks like it would surpass the best system on there right now. But who knows if I can keep it up???? (2) They don't have an account category smaller than $10,000. So I may never even be seen, even if I do keep up my current good stats. (Maybe Striker has a way around this) (3) Unless Striker tells me otherwise, I can't scale the system on Striker because new subscribers will probably want to start with just one micro contract until they feel comfortable and safe with my style. So I will have to keep it at just ONE MICRO forever. So I won't be able to grow my account, just do my best with single trades, and hope for subscribers. But the single contracts are really very close to what I am doing now. OF course, if a subscriber is happy, then he or she can elect to follow each of my trades with 2 to 4 or more micro contracts. If any readers have a decent system, I do recommend reaching out to William at Striker. If you trade well and with low risk, you could make a lot of dough.
I am in the UK. Never traded FUTURES before. Assuming I wish to trade intraday Indices (Dow/Russell2000) how would Init./Maint./Day Margin relate to trading one Micro contract (Dow)? At what point would I get a margin call? Thanks in advance for your patience.
Toby, If you have never traded index futures before, then the Micros are certainly perfect for you. Depending on your broker, you can get $50 to $100 margin per contract. So seriously - you can begin with just $500. But I strongly recommend $1000. And $2000 is even better, because the market is SO VOLATILE right now. But before you fund an account and jump in, PLEASE do yourself a big favor and go at least 2 weeks on sim (4 is better), adding least 25% to the value of your proposed live account size. Once you go live, I recommend no scaling in or out. Just have clean trades. I think someone new should start on the MES (Micro ES) at $1.25 per tick. Trade only with the major trend as demonstrated by the 50 SMA on the 5 min chart. Make you daily stop equal to 1/20 (5%) of the value of the whole account. Make the per-trade stop no more than 2% of the value of the account. Find your edge and work it, work it! I wish you success.
I mentioned the ability to follow futures systems on Striker.com. You can have trades automatically placed in your account. This is my last post about it because I may soon have my own system on there. Of course, I have no clue how I am going to do! But seriously, if you have an edge in your own trading, then talk with them about trading your own live account there.
I finished the day strong with 55 NQ/YM ticks. It was a strange day as we seemed to wait forever for the FOMC minutes. And then the craziness began near the close with huge swings both ways. But it looks like we are still in a big range and to me this means "trade the edges" until there is a true breakout up or down.