imo ES is one of the harder instruments to scalp. There are so many people involved that it is wiggle city and a two point move is pure noise so how can you play for a point without getting stopped out 50% of the time in which case the cost of doing business eats you up. There are some people doing it but they have an uncanny sense for short term direction that us ordinary beings do not possess.
what size can one trade and not experiecne big slippage? i know it is easy to scale up in your mind, if you are averaging 5 points a day on 1 contract, to think about what you could make if you traded 10 contracts. how does this move up in size really work out? i know the larger size is morey money at risk and it affects the mind and mental side of it? but besides that, what do profitable es traders get up to in size?
Finally, someone in simple terms describes wiggle that you have no chance of scalping. Period. End of sentence. Do you short term/scalpers understand? Just 1% percent here, mulitplied by hundreds of operation around the world, plus all the good friends down in the pit who scalp all day long at their ATM ARB machine between the Pit and ES. Hope springs eternal...Good Luck! http://www.siliconvalley.com/mld/si...ley/6858310.htm
boomer, there are usually hundreds if not more, contracts on the inside bid and offer. You theoretically could take them all. I'm not sure what you mean by slippage? the market is electronic and first come first serve. You can take or hit whatever is there, which is a quite a bit. If you try to buy on the bid or sell on the offer you of course may never be filled if you are never hit and the market moves away from your order.
Trend Fader said it all, man. I know you've been around for a long time, you must be leaving something out of your post.
That .25 spread is criminal. Should be .10 increment in ES. I think they keep it wide so they can give CEO Jim McNulty his multi-million dollar Grasso-like payout. I wonder if he owns a $6000 shower curtain like the Tyco guy.
I modified my strategy to take advantage of the ES tick increment by using limit orders instead of stop orders (I still use stop loss orders for losing positions). So far so good.
How often are you using limit orders? I used all market orders for a long time and then I got pissed at all the money I was giving away. I changed to using limit orders as much as possible. It took a few months for me to get used to using limit orders, but I feel it is the only way to trade the ES (for smaller point profit grabs). I have numerous 1 to 2 pt trades during each trade day, so IMO I have to use limits to enter and cover as much as possible. There is too much profit erosion if you trade small moves with market orders IMO.
i follow the sp500, and was wondering how es mirrored it? i know the es is in .25 ticks. so, when i see a short term move in the 500 from 996 to 992, does that equate to a 4 pt. move in the es also? what would be the differences in trading the 500 vs. the es? (besides capital required)