Do those of you who scalp use timestops? If so, what length have you found to be most advantageous? Edit: I should define "scalp". By that I don't mean jumping back and forth between the bid and the ask, but going for those few points one can pick up when the price is within the opening range.
...over what time period are you defining the opening range? I ask because I may have a relevant opinion. - Mike
I dont think you are talking about scalping really. Do you mean daily range? I dont use stops. First of all, because thanks to the new NYSE fee, the stops get refreshed every 4 min since our firm does not want to raise fees. Second of all, I like to watch the position because you never know when you want to change your mind or something happens.
That is usually the rub, hypo. Generally the opening range is defined within the first half hour. Sometimes it's defined within the first 10 minutes! And if you're using tick charts, you may define it in an even shorter timeframe. But what I'm referring to is the sort of day - or portion of the day - that's "range-bound" as opposed to trending, i.e., you're not making higher highs nor lower lows but rather bouncing around without a lot of conviction either way. This might occur shortly after the open. Or you might get a nice move up or down for a half hour or 45m, then consolidate in a range for the rest of the morning (and possibly during the lunch hour). The reason I asked is that I use a 5m TS with my reversal and breakout strategies. This seems like too much of a wait for trades that take place in a range, i.e., it either moves or it doesn't, and if it doesn't, it probably won't. But maybe 5m is okay with this sort of play. Just wondering what others' experiences are, if any.
...thanks for explaining. All of my trades are put on between 9:30 and 10:21 ET and have a drop dead time of 10:30 unless stops or targets are hit. But I don't think that's strongly relevant to what you asked. - Mike
actually thats my recent idea.. ie. to scalp the range part of the day for a 1 point or so in ES. Sometimes it takes forever to get that 1 point in deadzone. That's why I do not think time stop for deadzone scalping is not a good idea. IMHO
I've tested that at length and it's never worked out for me (which isn't to say that it won't work out for anybody else). If I can't make at least 5NQpts off a trade, I'd rather just take the day off.