Techniques for Day Trading the ES, NQ, YM, MES, MNQ, and MYM

ironchef · Mar 7, 2025

volpri said:
The SIM account could be any size. I just chose that as the figure. I am trying to show how that I would scalp a small account using small size. I am not getting into proving anything with real money accounts. People are never satisfied no matter what one shows as proof. Besides it really doesn't matter. I could have a 50,000-dollar account and any number of additional accounts smaller or larger and make money in one or say even in 3 of them and lose way more in a fourth account than I made in all three accounts. Showing profitability in one account really doesn't mean a lot. And doing so certainly should not be the factor that encourages another trader to scalp this way. It takes years to learn price action trading. It takes a lot of practice. It is not fair to lead anyone to believe they can look at a few videos and then try to copy that in their real money account.

I hope the videos do show it MAY be possible to trade a small account if one will take the time to learn price action through study and develop the skills through practice. It is extremely harder to do this with a small account than with a large account. Think about that!

So, I have decided that I will show how I like to scalp and do those examples in SIM accounts. I have nothing to defend or prove when using SIM accounts! If someone wants to watch them then that fine. If not, then that too is fine. This is a JOURNAL showing how I see scalping and how I like to do scalping. If someone wants to try the techniques in SIM that they have then great. If they choose on their own to try the techniques in a real money account, then that is 100% on them. I will not and do not recommend anyone to trade this way in a real account. I try to be quite clear about this in most all the videos I post and am also very clear that it is SIM. If one day in the future I should decide to show some videos in real money accounts I will disclose that but I simply will not get into proving anything...third party audits..statements..etc...I am just not going to waste my time doing that or defending that it is a real money account.

It is my belief that price action trading is the best way to do discretionary trading. And I believe that Al Brooks is the most thorough and detailed teacher out there on price action. And his materials are very reasonable economically if you compare them to these gurus that charge 5000.00, 10,000.00 even 30,000.00 dollars for their seminars and trainings.

I have been studying Brooks for probably over 14 years (I have the date I started with his Trilogy Nov 27, 2011 written in one of the books). Prior to that I studied his very first book before his trilogy came out. I have also bought and studied much of his video courses to assimilate the concepts into my mind. Then I practiced them. I finally adapted what I learned into a way that I like to scalp.

But understand I was scalping WAY before I ever heard of Brooks or his methods. I already had ideas about scalping. I just find that Brooks took me to another level. Many traders don't like him. They talk bad about him. Call him names even here on ET. I KNOW they are just ignorant of his methodologies and concepts when I see them doing that.

I am not a shill for Brooks but I don't hesitate to recommend his works for study and practice if a trader has a mind to learn price action trading.

Over the many years I have bought and have in my library a lot of books on trading. If a fire hit my library I would hope that four works would survive the fire:

1) All of Al Brooks works

2) The Taylor Trading Technique by George Douglas Taylor (owned and studied and traded his methodologies way before I ever heard of Brooks)

3) Some books by George Angel (years before Brooks)

4) Some articles by Linda Bradford Raschke (years before brooks)

If I had to chose only one authors work surviving the fire it would be the works of Al Brooks.

I believe Price Action discretionary trading, to be really successful, must be multifaceted to cover the many scenarios that appear in trading and absolutely no one else that I KNOW of covers that better than Brooks. But what he teaches simply cannot be learned and practiced in a few days or a few months. Not even in a few years. Not if a trader wants to be a well-rounded PA trader ready for any scenario he may encounter in the markets.

Learning Price Action Trading...REALLY LEARNING IT.....takes a lot of study and assimilation of the concepts in conjunction with practicing then to develop the skills. For scalping they have to be second nature. There is no time to look up in a textbook what should I do when I have a trade on or am looking to take a trade. I have to KNOW this beforehand. For instance, when using Trading Range techniques, I know that sooner or later a successful BO of that TR will occur and when it does if I have a position on that is contrary to the BO I MUST know what I must do beforehand and will do. If I don't know the market will leave me in the dust.

Sorry for such a long explanation but other traders looking at this journal need to read this post. Then decide if they are interested in reading it and watching the videos or not and may decide it isn't worth their time. We are all different and have different passions and different approaches to trading. Some things are fundamental and basic but there is room for modification. Usually when I fail it is because I left or skirted around one or more fundamental principles that underlie trading and scalping.

Like in basketball the basics and fundamentals must be practiced until one is proficient then one can work on techniques, plays, moves or strategies. I know of no really good professional basketball player that hasn't spent 100's of hours and years learning and practicing their craft. Why do we trader's think we can learn a setup or two and make a killing in the market. And to add insult to injury some of what we learn and that has become engraved in our mind is not necessarily true, often is erroneous, and may not be conducive to the way we are comfortable trading.
More...

OK, got it.

volpri · Mar 7, 2025

This is the 4th day of a 12 days Series of scalping with a small account, using small size.

The profit goal for day 4 was 255.95 I have already explained in previous videos how I arrive at the daily profit goal.

The results for day 4 were $459.50 in a little over 1 hour of trading time. The rest of the stats you can see if you watch the video LOL.

The gross balance at the end of Day 4 was a gross account balance of $4115.81. The net after commissions was $4091.81 for Day 4.

The Objective is to end the 12 days with a gross account balance of at least $5165.44. The account is starting with a gross amount of $2876.31

The purposes are to show:

1) Trading with a small account on a micro may be possible.
2) Trading with small size never more than 4 contracts at any one time
3) The power of FOT (frequency of trades..a term I have coined)
4) The power of compounding profits
6) The power of taking what the market gives quickly "when" it gives it
7) The power of "not giving back" paper profits
8) Show the proper placement of Price Action Stop Losses.
9) The power of making a substantial amount in a small account using small size in a short period of time. (usually 1 to 2 hours of trading)
10) The power of trading price action patterns such as Breakouts (BO), Trading Ranges (TR), Triangles (symmetrical and expanding), Flags, Pullbacks, Trend, Wedges, Channels (slanted TRs) etc.
11) The power of looking at and trading one time frame when scalping but knowing how to see from that one TF what is happening on smaller and larger TFs WITHOUT having to actually go to those other TFs. This takes practice but it can be accomplished.
12) The power of binary decisions in scalping. Long or short? Yes, or no? And so forth.
13) The power of keeping the larger context in mind and not just a good looking single setup. All setups as well as SL placements and PTs must take into account the larger context at all times. Being cognitive of the more immediate context as well as the larger context is imperative to scalping IMO.
14) The power of maintaining a high win rate when scalping. It is nigh imperative to do so!

The market is ALWAYS in a channel, a BO, a PB and so forth in some TF. The idea is to learn to spot and capitalize on these patterns while scalping. It happens fast so I cannot possibly draw in every pattern on my TF (time frame) chart I am trading on so if you are interested you can take a snapshot of the chart and manually draw all the patterns mentioned above that you see on today's chart. Makes for REAL GOOD practice for spotting and identifying PA patterns. Including those I don't mention in the video.

Disclaimer: The following video is on a SIM account and is a replay. All of these videos on this YouTube channel including this video are for entertainment and information purpose only that show how I like to scalp. Actual results can be different than real or even than the SIM results shown here so I am not advising anyone to use these techniques. You may not get the same results as shown in all these videos and you can even lose all your money - SIM money or real money, plus more.

PS Even though I enter in heavy and opinionated discussions about the tariffs and Mr T what I show is for all to look at. Canadians, Americans, Mexicans, Hondurans and any other group. And I am not charging and have no intent to sell any thing. But would it make you mad if I changed that intent? Just jesting! I have no secret sauce to sell. No technique or strategy to hide from anyone. My scalping techniques are an open book. I simply don't care! Enjoy if you like watching techniques unfolding live on a SIM. If you don't or despise SIM then that too is fine.

Good luck trading!

Day five... maybe will be coming up Monday is I can get my carcass in gear.

volpri · Mar 9, 2025

I will pick back up tomorrow on the 12-day series but in the meantime, I am showing a short 13 min or so video on BOs. Just what is a BO and the different kinds of BOs.

Then I will focus on one kind of Breakouts: BOs of adjacent bars. This type of BO can very lucrative if a trader or scalper like me is willing to trade for small profits using Price Action Stop losses which usually means the probability is high for a successful trade, the risk is big, and the reward is small.

Here in this video, I show a 10 sec time frame chart so we can see the market advancing as I place trades based on BOs of adjacent bars and by using a smaller TF I can avoid making the video so long. I also indicate the different levels of SLs I use. All SLs in the video are PA SLs.

Over the course of 12 minutes or so I captured 80 points. Win rate 100% 8 trades all winners. ten points profit each trade.

Please note that Price Action is Price Action regardless of the TF or the instrument. While this was on a 10s chart it could have just as well be a 1m, 5m, 15m, 30m, or even 1hour chart. The instrument could have been ES, NQ, MNQ, MES or any other index or stock. The principles apply over all TFs even though different instruments do have variations in the way they behave.

Enjoy or ROFLYAO. Doesn't matter to me! Call it whatever you want to call it but the technique is free..no charge..so don't fuss too much about it. LOL

Disclaimer: The following video is on a SIM account and is a replay. All of these videos on this YouTube channel including this video are for entertainment and information purpose only that show how I like to scalp. Actual results can be different than real or even than the SIM results shown here so I am not advising anyone to use these techniques. You may not get the same results as shown in all these videos and you can even lose all your money - SIM money or real money, plus more.

volpri · Mar 10, 2025

I have not even looked at the market yet today and it is 10:54. Don't have much desire to spend an hour trading for day 5. Not feeling the best this morning. If I get to feeling better I may trade for day 5 later. If not then tomm. I haven't even figured my profit goal for today. So I guess I will do that first over coffee and then see how I feel.

volpri · Mar 10, 2025

PROFIT CALCULATIONS FOR DAY 5 OF DAY 12
4115.82 x .05=$206.00 x .40=$82.40 +$206.00 = $288.40 My Goal for Day 5 if I decide to trade today.

volpri · Mar 10, 2025

Day 5 of 12 day Series Ending Gross balance $4,414.81

$3357.04 Net after comm.

Points gained 149.50
Gross profits Day 5 $299.00 Met goal but 19 trades.

Time 1hour 13 min.

Disclaimer: The following video is on a SIM account and is NOT a replay but a live Sim. All of these videos on this YouTube channel including this video are for entertainment and information purpose only that show how I like to scalp. Actual results can be different than real or even than the SIM results shown here so I am not advising anyone to use these techniques. You may not get the same results as shown in all these videos and you can even lose all your money - SIM money or real money, plus more.

volpri · Mar 10, 2025

That was a misprint in my post above post #2806.

The Net after comm figure should be $4357.04 NOT $3357.04

volpri · Mar 11, 2025

Day 6 of 12 day Series

Ending Gross balance (Day 5) $4,414.81 x 5% = $220.74 x 40% = 88.30 + $220.74 = $309.04 (goal for Day 6)

Results Day 6: Gross profit $321.50 in points 160.75 points

Ending Gross Account balance Day 6 = $4,736.31

Watch the video for rest of stats LOL

Again FOT...high win rate...grabbing what the market give...trading less than 30 min...etc On track to meet the goal by day 12, All six days in the journal up to this time are winners. We will see if I can keep that going or not.

Disclaimer: The following video is on a SIM account and is not a replay but live on a SIM. However, the live SIM action was recorded again at a faster speed than the original speed. All of these videos on this YouTube channel including this video are for entertainment and information purpose only that show how I like to scalp. Actual results can be different than real or even than the SIM results shown here so I am not advising anyone to use these techniques. You may not get the same results as shown in all these videos and you can even lose all your money - SIM money or real money, plus more.

volpri · Mar 12, 2025

Day 7 of 12 day Series

Ending Gross balance (Day ) $4,736.31 x 5% = $236.82 x 40% = $94.73 + $236.82 = $331.55 (goal for Day 7)

volpri · Mar 12, 2025

I will have to try and do Day 7 of the 12-day series tomorrow. My wife worked in the yard while I worked under the house. I had a sewer problem that I had to deal with. I almost got done but still have a little to do yet. However, I think I can do a little trading tomorrow morning first thing then finish the sewer work after that.

Man am I ever sore. Crawling around under the house. Then going to town to the hardware store for parts then heading back home when I suddenly realized I forgot an important part for the sewer. So, turn around and head back to the hardware. I don't like getting old. For years I have done most all my own maintenance, but I may be getting too old to do it. LOL

If I can crawl my carcass out of bed before market opens maybe I can start trading Day 7 on the open. Time will tell the tale. LOL