I use IQ Feed, the inexpensive (read: cheap) cousin of DTN IQ. Great stuff as far as data analysis information, storage and retriveival is concerned. I just spent the last hour plugging the numbers in for the EC-mini seurity into a couple of different models. Wow! You weren't kidding when you were talking about trendiness. This is great stuff, I would have to pay a little extra for the energies, but I that's OK, I can't really integrate them until get some more screen space, anyway (but it's good to know for the future). Best Regards, JJ
Bailed to get a +1.75, which with commisions added in, makes this day a scratch as far is the trading is concerned. But a real winner when it comes to info. I'm off to work. Best Regards, Jimmy Jam
Make sure you arent using the Mini Euro-Fx. Its not as liquid at the normal EC. Not even sure of the tick value on the mini ec. The regular EC is where I trade. Forgot to mention that commisions are a little higher then the mini's, but its worth it. Hope you like that market, more people and more liquidity can be good. Have a good one!
Also you could look at trading euro on a spot platform. With commission free spreads at 1.5 pips (Oanda) and pretty decent leverage (you can set the trade size to whatever you like - not dealing with "lots" or "contracts") you get virtually the same product to futures with ENORMOUS liquidity, 24 hour trading and unlimited position size. I've started to come back to good old Euro from other currencies simply because this market is the biggest, technically very nice and quite 'forgiving', why stuff around too much? Basically anyone who is anyone in the big league, trades spot eur/usd because the huge pip values that are available - the largest in the world. So if you plan on getting really big and you want to train up now- why not start with spot eur/usd from the beginning? And if your happy to eek out a small living - why not take advantage of razor thin spreads, what you click is what you get and excellent leverage?
Hi Nick, Thanks for the information. It was also interesting to read how the pivots work on the EC as well. I personally feel any good method works on any market or timeframe. However, you may need to adjust the finer details slightly to suit the market's temperament. For example, I pulled up a chart of the EC and had a look at its pivot levels for one day and the trends seem to be much smoother than the ES (ie less retracement). So, every market, like a different woman, although fundamentally the same has subtle differences you need to adapt to. I personally prefer to focus on the ES alone and stick with it through thick and thin. However, I can see the merit for those of a different temperament to trade different or multiple markets.
You've touched on a very important point here - sticking through thick and thin with a market you are comfortable with. If it ain't truely broke, why fix it? When I started off trading, I only did Eur/usd and although I have tried other things since then (other currencies, commodities) I always seem to end up back where I started. I have also tried looking at 10 different markets at once - but for some reason I work best when only looking at one thing. Not that other things don't work for me, not at all - in fact to date I have made more trading gold than euro... it's just that I find it suits my risk/return profile, my temperament and style and that is the way I have learnt. I think it is important to stick with what you like once you have decided that it is for you. It's tempting on a very crappy rangebound day to get the hots for something else, especially if that something else is moving. However, I feel that it's just like being in a commited relationship, just because you have a disagreement doesn't mean you go sleeping around with other partners to bring happiness into the relationship.
For Friday, 09/01/06 Market Status Pivot Trend: Bullish 1st Resistance: 1308 Median Pivot: 1306 1st Support: 1303 Current Trend: Down *** Well, that was a snoozer! Price Action is sitting a little below the Median Pivot, hard to call, but the Pivot Trend is currently in Bullish mode, if we get an early drop it could rebound and seek higher-highs, otherwise I would anticipate an early rise would be sold off (profit taking). See you at the open. Best Regards, Jimmy Jam *** This is the exact same post that I made yesterday, and all of the information still holds true. In all likelihood, the market won't be dropping tomorow, so I'll look to go Long @ S1 (that would be optimal, as it would give us good range until encountering resistance. On a breach of R1, I would be will to be the retrace, but that move is only good for 2-4 pts).
Sticking with what you know makes great sense. Having said that most markets seem to have multiple personality disorder! Recognising which personality is in control helps. I think probably different markets can share these broader personalities with subtle differences. More on topic the DAX has spen most of the morning chopping round the PP. Just the sort of action that I guess you want a rigid method to avoid. On its way to R1 but struggling. Cheers.
Everything you said pretty much ties in for ALL of the financials, because due to the global nature of economy (which has been around for centuries) they are all interrelated. You're going to find the same thing with congruent currency pairs, energies, ag, etc. markets - but each group has their own personality, and you have to figure it out before you trade it. A systematic approach will keep you on the right side of the markets, consistently[i/]. The thing is, the markets aren't really designed for intra-day trading, intra-day traders try to take advantage of small movements of the market to reap (often small & risky - believe it or not) profits. As has been openly stated on previous thead(s), it is the position players who have the greatest profit for their risk! ... so if you really want to become a skilled intra-day trader, learn how to initiate your postions and hold for more than just one day (a lot easier said than done, BTW). Best Regards, Jimmy
One one hand: If price action holds above R1 and the CCI Histogram goes back over the 0 Line and perfereably the inverse fisher transform goes below the 0 Line and back above it, we have a strong buy signal (however, in the longer term this is seriously looking like a gap-up blow-off top. On the other hand: If none of the above happen, price action is likely to drop all the way down to S1. edit: for this mornings' action R1 is the line in the sand ... and it looks like it's about to be breached