Theoretically if your using the bundled pricing of IB for futures the 5-mini-dow with a roundtrip commission of 4.26...you can make a profitable trade on 1 tick/point right=0.74...but this is really break even as 15x0.74=11.1 dollars for your day`s work. whereas, 2 points 10-4.26=5.74x15=86.1x6 days trading equals 516.60 for a week. I have heard a lot of traders shooting for 20 points with a stop at 10....what are your targets for each trade....or do you prefer the "feel approach" to each trade....basically, what are you thinking strategically about when scalping the mini dow? also what do you think of IB`s data feed and charts for the ym..as I will be trading with them later this week?
if u are startin' out, use 15min charts and buy support/sell res. buy the bottom of those thick red bars when they get very overextended compared to the previous day's ones and the previous down bar itself and likely to leave a shadow[tail] behind, same for sellin', the top of green bars. should work more often than not but i suggest u get very familiar with 15min bar/candle charts and the mkt itself before makin' any trades.
Blue ... here are a couple of threads that might interest you. Both are active right now. http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=76297 http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?threadid=78069 ... rj
Come in to my chat room next week, I show you how I trade. Click on chat then go to rooms. I will be under the name, 'Buzz YM Calls'
Blue ... ib feed for YM is ok. Its free after 30$ comish for the month. But ... imo... you're gonna need an order management front end if you are planning to scalp at least part of the time. There is at least one free one that works with IB. But, if you are serious, do it right and pay for a subscription to a decent order management tool. I use ButtonTrader. Its lightning quick, solid, no fkups, developer knows his stuff and is always there. Doc are superb, very clear. Deep featured. Maybe some other posters will offer comments on some other tools you might consider. You're gonna need something that allows you to act very fast. ..... rj
Thanks guys....I only have 10,000 grand that i scraped together....but this gets me around the day-trading 25,000 requirement...but I need to be selective with my setups until I build my account to a respectable level. I am unsure of this point though which ym strike is being traded as I looked up the ym, and it has all these different strike prices...on IB....for oct, nov, dec, march 07....I am familiar with options....but i watch the cbot quotes and they have the dec 06 chart being traded....so what is the contract that is daytrading over 50,000 contracts? Is this the dec contract? A little confused about how there are different strikes....unless these are just "to be considered out of the money futures.....and nobody trades them" i.e., low liquidity futures....but thanks for the help I will read those open threads about the ym....
ok...those are options on futures contracts..i was looking in the wrong place on ib.....brain-freeze.........no....i want to daytrade the ym....and that is the dec 06 futures...and there are only 4 qtrly futures...so september.....settled....and rolled over to the dec futures contract.....why is the futures contract about 65.00 points higher than the dow.....and what is the average range for this "premium" over the last 6 months? Any other peculiarities of trading close to expiration or triple/quadruple witching expiration fridays to watch out for?
Blue .... I just think of the spread as "manuver" room. Last summer the spread stayed at about 80 pts for some time while the Dow made some big moves. There are probably better explanations that someone might offer here. The spread will probably decrease as we move foward in the qtr. unless the Dow gets real volitile. Listen to Bitstream. Good guy, he will have something to say without getting into pissing. There are others...you will find them. Listen to Trader28. ask questions on that thread. Listen/ask in the S/R thread. Mostly ES but ask them about YM they will probably help. More good people. ... rj
ok....so the more volatile the dow is...the larger the spread for mauverability.....and as the qtr and future gets closer to expiration the spread seems to narrow all things being equal with the volatility factor.....my technical analysis says that a pullback to 11,900 looks like a buying opportunity the way the money seems to be flowing out of gold and oil and into the large cap dow stocks...maybe 12,000 looks like solid resistance....but if oil supplies keep building....oil will fall....and that money will continue to move into the dow maybe pushing it higher into 12035 territory....but if we get a cold front.....oil moves higher....dow moves down......and then it is tricky picking the entry of the pullback as I expect nov, dec to be strong months for money inflows.....just not sure if and when we get one more pull back or we just keep climbing and skip the sept/oct pullback this year. Does everybody use an "order management" tool....not even sure what that does....how much it costs....and why it is so important......and if I can get by until I am trading more than i contract per order.....`i`ve never used one before....so a definite learning curve issue? Could somebody give me some more info on what purpose/advantage ths software/tool gives the trader?