Hi folks, I have decided to start a journal on the Nikkei 225 Mini, which is traded on the Osaka Exchange. The main purpose of this journal is, because I need help in understanding how to trade this instrument. The Nikkei Mini is a very different animal, when compared to the US eminis. First of all, it's range is very limited, due to 5 points per tick increments. Secondly, the tape is very wierd, as there are times, when someone dumps 1000 - 1500 contracts out of no where, then resumes it's course, as if nothing has happened A little info about me; I have been on this board for about 4 years, and I have learned immensely from the past, and present memebers of the ET community. I'm your typical 9 - 6 blue collar worker, I'm doing this on the side, with an ambition, that I would be able to do this for a living one day. The down side is that, I learn a lot slower than a person who's doing this full time, day in and day out. The upside is that, I'm under no pressure to make money, this could be my hobby after work, as long as I limit my losses . I have a small account with IB, and have been with them for a few years, and very happy with their services. I also have another account with Infinity for trading the US eminis. But it is not very active as, I could only trade during slow times at work. A little info about my system. I use QuoteTracker for my charting, and Zeroline Trader for DOM, and order entries. I'm also very happy with their services. As I have matured, albeit slowly, as a trader, so is my charting applications. I basically use only three charts, the 144 tick chart with Bollinger bands, and volume as my main anchor chart. The Range bar chart for overall market structure, as it is cleaner looking than the traditional charts. I sometimes use Renko chart as well. The last chart is purely for timing entries, and exits, the 34 tick Heikin Ashi chart with WTSI, and Hull moving average. The strategy is quite simple, as I follow the basic price action indicated on the anchor chart, timed with the fast 34 tick chart. I follow the basic rules of price action, such as higher high, higher low, lower high, lower low, double top, bottom, triangles, patterns etc. with a lot of emphasis on volume. The stop losses, and profit targets as follows: Stop loss: 4 ticks 1st Target: 4 ticks 2nd Target: 7 ticks Daily stop loss: 12 ticks Daily target: 3 well executed trades Contract size: 1 - 3 contracts with the trend Contract size: 1 only for counter trend. A lot of traders would think, this risk/reward is a joke, but it's not. In the world of the Mini, 4 ticks is a lot. Eventhough, stop is 4 ticks, most of the times, I'd be out before the stop reaches 4 ticks. Profit targets, however are not etched in stone, I would adjust them as I see fit from the price action. Other traders, especially Kiwi have suggested me to trade other more trending instruments, such as, STW, SPI etc. But I would much rather have success on this instrument, as margin requirements are perfect for my piker account. The limited range also works both ways, as my losses are also limited. http://individuals.interactivebrokers.com/en/trading/marginRequirements/margin.php?p=f&ib_entity=llc Special thanks to Learner2007, Stealth Trader, NihabaAshi, Freewilly, and many other contributing traders to the ET community. I also have at least half the active posters on ET, on ignore list
Schaefer, Sounds great. Look forward to growing with you as I'm just taking up the N225M as well. I've tried it for a few sessions with the goal of only trading the 2 hours from 7pm to 9pm EST (lunch break). I don't want to dedicate any more time than that since I already trade enough during RTH. The action on the N225M is slow as molasses, so patience will be a virtue. I've taken a look at STW, there is a little more movement but it doesn't seem to correlate as well with the US markets. I think a good N225M strategy would be to play the continuation of any momentum from the earlier US markets.
Hi, thanks for joining the party Thanks to the DST, now it's from 8 to 10 pm EST for morning session. Unfortunatlely for us, most of the moves are in the afternoon session. Usually, if the morning session is flat, then the afternoon session has more movement, and vice a verca. Will post charts tomorrow, got to go to bed now. Schaefer
I'm looking forward to reading this journal. I'm going to begin trading at night here too. Best of luck!
I look forward to reading your journal as I primarily trade Japan(simex n225, TSE listed stocks, ADRs). I like to trade events and news as much as possible. I do also take technical trades(primarily on the index) and for charting I look at 1, 5, 30 min, as well as daily charts, no indicators, just make use of trendlines and observe setups like HH, HL, etc. Volume isn't too important to me but I also watch the book pretty closely. Sometimes will scalp a tick or two but I think it's best to avoid that. Best of luck,
also keenly interested. have been searching for another small accounts broker besides IB for this enigmatic ose mini contract but has yet to find one. I've been demo trading it through a metatrader broker in russia. Pretty good way to learn but would never put any real money with them to trade live, just too many unknown variables. Keep posting on this one guys!
Hi Learner, thank you for dropping by, and please post here, before you buy, and sell Please keep an eye on my progress, once in a while. Schaefer