I didn't play it but, like you, am learning from it. Start with Nitro's statement, "I had NQ and ES in my sights - by them time I moved the mouse to lift the offer on NQ, it was 3 HANDLES HIGHER!" Keep in mind his first instinct was to trade the QQQ's. The move up on the NQ from 1228 to 1235 took 20 seconds. From 1228 to 1231 took 8 seconds. Unless you are sitting on an entry then the only way to enter is a market order. If you are absolutely sure you can get in and out in that environment, then you have a more prepared mind than I did. I was scared silly by that much volatility. A chatroom participant profited fully from piling on the short side on the way down but had the advantage of the slide from 1252.50 to prepare his entry. You have to be ready to eat the loss if you are trading by the gut in that environment. Bruce
Puffygums summed it up perfectly. No chart could have told you if your ES trade during that time would have been busted or not - leaving you in a position you didn't want to be in. That is more than enough reason to stay away from moves like that.
Gordon, you are right...it was easy to see that it was a spike. But you have to be willing to place a long stop market order for the ride back up so you can get in line and actually get filled. Place it one point above the bottom as soon as it prints. As it passes by it will trigger it and then keep the long until it at least retraces the whole down candle then peel off 1/2 of the contracts. This way you have a good probability the price is going back up a little beyond it, but you locked in the profit in case it does not. Stops here are a very good idea. If it was a true downward plunge the entry will not get triggered and then you can cancel it. Do not chase this if you miss it. It is only likely to retrace the spike not continue. This is only for very quick or prepared people. You might not get the whole pie, but a good slice is nice.
Exactly. On the 100 tick chart of ES, which is the main chart that I watch, the chaos looked much more orderly than on the time interval charts. Tick charts meter price in conjunction with market activity instead of price in conjunction with time. Happy Independence Day, Traders. PEG LEG JOE
I use time charts, not tick. Both work fine. You can tell the bottom printed because the chart moved over one. If the trade is busted, no harm done. Now I am not saying this is easy to do. You have to be a LOT quicker than me. I placed it, but did not get it.