Constant Volume Bars. In CQG, you can set these to show up when the preset volume is reached or for a set number of ticks as discussed recently in this thread. I only really look at charts to make sure I'm not buying into double-tops/bottoms or other S/R areas. Other than that, I keep it very simple during active trading and only refer to charts when it is slow and choppy. Price and volume are the only real indicators. DBPhoenix has a lot of info on this. I'm studying Market Profile now to take advantage of the information it gives. It will be a key tool and it is only based on price and volume. Just remember, almost all indicators (Stochs, MACD, MA's, etc) are based on price or volume or both. If you study those enough and watch them long enough as a scalper, you will probably be able to double your initial margin every month as discussed above (even if initial margin is 25k.... it is all relative in trading with diminishing returns no size). I hope that answers your question.
Thanks Scientist.... I'm actually still in freezing Canada. I'm enjoying it though. I wish I was in my office today for that up move in the DAX though. I hope you did well today. Stick your toes in that ocean at your doorstep for me today while I freeze my a** off up here.
Does anyone here use divergences as a confirmation or as a tool in its own right for trading the Dax ? If so what time frame and stochastic or MACD ? with the dreaded hitorical volatility dropping steadily, finding someway of trading the rangebound days looks more attractive. Re: fake bids etc - don't know where we'd go if Dax became like Estox or bund on the heavy fake fids etc. Euro Futures ? Have to be brave to spoof there
I am rereading this thread and would appreciate yours and anybody elses input on this subject. I am continually amazed at the synchronicity of markets. You can overlay ES and YM and theyre seldom more than a tick off which would indicate, imo, some sort of arbing, yet one has thousands on the bid and ask while the other seldom has more than 20. Jack says that the smart money playing YM is a leading indicator for ES but how could this be possible when the volume is so lopsided? Wouldnt "smart money" be trading huge size? It seems to me program traders would prefer the DJI/YM as there are only 30 stocks to manage but the YM volume seems to contradict this notion. What Im wondering is if there are large transactions in DJI and YM taking place that do not show up on the tape for some reason?
Hi All I too scalp the Dax have been now for about a year. I have always placed great importance between volume, market depth and a specific chart patern. I look to make on average 10 points aday. What I am currently interested in doing is seperating the volume in Tradestation to up volume and down volume. which tradestation does not seem to do. Does anyone else split the volume in tradestation?. I also intersted in comparing the current volume with the market depth when approaching my chart patern. This set up seems to work well but I am always looking to improve it Scouse
Hi scouse, probably this link will help you http://www.tradestationworld.com/discussions/Topic.aspx?Topic_ID=33116
I use traded volume as a key factor in all of my trade setups but am also looking to bring market depth, in some automated fashion, into the equation. I'm an aggressive trader / scalper, taking perhaps 10-20 trades a day and only use MD manually to position entries and exits - when I have time. I've read many threads where some traders feel that MD / level 2 is not worth considering because of pulled orders, spoofing etc.. whereas others say they couldn't do without it. My opinion is that there is something to be gained and would like to find out more. There are APIs to access MD available from a few feed providers and I would like play around with the Bid/Ask values to provide some sort of bias to my trades. Does anyone here use MD in any mechanical fashion? What would be useful functions to apply to the MD to give it relevance in this context - Bid/Ask Ratios, relevance to traded volume etc..? Any outright trading strategies (ever hopefull!), hints, documentation or thoughts in the right direction would be much appreciated.