What kind of techniques do heavy scalpers use?

commisions and exchange fees ate up about 20% of profits,


generally they will range between 15%- 30% of profits

 

Jack,

That is a pretty good ratio. With as many trades you took I thought I would be seeing closer to 40-50% commissions.

 

If you want a basic site explaining day trading check out www.stockdaytrading.biz

 

Thanks nkhoi! That's visual confirmation of my thoughts about intermarket analysis of YM vs. ES.

 

I've been doing this a long time. That ratio has gotten lower over time. However, I still didn't even average 1 tick per contract. yesterday.

In my opinion to scalp effectively you need low transaction costs, and large contracts (contracts with large tick values). For most of the U.S. contracts you need to be an exchange member to achieve this.

 

Isn't the $31.25 /tick for Tbond and $3.60 per r/t ( a typical commission) a good combination for the retail trader?

 

Yes, but in my opinion it harder to scalp the Tbonds due to their lower volatily.

The EC, ER2,BP, YM all have alot more daily range and intraday swings.

Also, you could get at least a dollar lower commissions.

 

Do you mean a dollar lower commission on ER, etc or bonds?

 

on the bonds

 

I think it is stupendous. Remember though, when I started trading bonds in 1994, I paid 45 USD a round turn via Jack Carl futures. A year or two later I found Mann Financial and paid 20 or so USD. I tried different brokers, each lower than the first, and then finally a few years back, I can't remember the exact day, I found IB via EliteTrader. The rest is history. Seriously, if anyone is wondering about making a go of trading, you need a broker like IB or an equivalent.

I don't consider myself a scalper of the T-Bond, but my minimum desired profit target is 2 ticks. Statistically I'm good for 4 - 6 ticks, with 10 - 12 ticks being and outlier profit.

As far as answering the OP's question, to keep my answer simple, I use primarily S/R, time cycles and value. I've come to some conclusions recently about day trading. I think making day trading as routine, methodical, and dare I say boring as possible, is the only way to long-term success. I think also regarding value, it isn't only value of price, i.e. are we at the bottom or top of a range. It is also about the value of time and frequency of trades. Maximize your use of time and minimize your frequency of trades.