Anyone scalping the FTSE Futures??

[parki50]

I have been paper trading the FTSE Futures for over a year now, with occasional trades live. I would like to find other FTSE Futures Traders and compare notes.

I am consistently profitable on the Sim, averaging £400 per day allowing for commissions, but to achieve this I am doing 30+ trades per day. I trade one contract only, but add more if a trend continues. My average winner is £35 and my average loser is £20. My win/loss ratio is roughly 60% winners, 40% losers.

I am a very short term trader with most trades lasting 2 to 9 minutes.

My price targets are 6 to 10 points, depending on the price action.

My stops are usually 4.5 points if entered on a limit order, or 5 pts if on a stop order.

I use direct market access trading using the Open ECry platform. You get filled at the bid or the ask, and there is no spread to pay. Most people in the UK seem to use spreadbetting to trade the FTSE cash. They pay a minimum of 0.5 points per side in spread, which costs them £10 per trade, which makes it much harder to make a profit when you are scalping. My fees are £1.81 per trade.

As for strategy, I trade reversals, continuations, pullbacks and breakouts.

With the FTSE, a 2 point move above or below the previous 5 minute candle is significant enough to signal a change of trend most of the time.

I use support and resistance from the 60 minute and daily charts, and watch the 5 min, 1 min and 50 volume charts all the time.

As soon as a reversal is in, I look for retracements to the 38%, 50% and 61.8% levels.

I don't use pivots, but I make a rough note of where they are. They work better for swing trades, and are less accurate for scalping.

A 2 point move away from a S/R or fib level is enough for me to consider a change of trend.

I use the 5 min chart to monitor trends and the 1 minute chart to time my entries.

I watch how price action moves between upper, middle and lower boly bands on the 5 min chart, to decide my bias. This mid line is critical. Below mid bb, take short entries only. Above mid bb, take longs only, unless it bounces off a strong level. Importantly, I use an 8 period setting for bolys on the 5 min chart.

Pullbacks to the 5 EMA on the 5 min chart are good entries for a steady trending market.
Pullbacks to the 5 EMA on the 1 min chart are good entries in rapidly falling/rising markets.

I trade from 8am to 11am usually, and 2:30pm to 4:15pm, UK time. In the morning, I watch the ES and FESX for confirmation of moves by the FTSE. In the afternoon, I watch the ES for trend but trade the FTSE depending on what happens with the ES.

I am trying to reduce the number of trades I take, and cherry pick which trades to take. I also and trying to run my trades longer, but when I get 10 points up I usually close and bank the profit.

I am interested to see how many others scalp the FTSE futures like me, and if they are comfortable taking so many trades in a day. Also what set ups do they use that are successful.

I hate the FTSE, can never win on the damn thing, its a different animal to the US markets

 

[dc2000]

evening chaps the FTSE is on a five pattern which means a new low tomorrow bad news is 5354 is all thats required to satisfy that pattern

the DOW is the danger it needs to print a 11327 UK session would be fine to stay on target, if it hits 11408 and pulls back to 453 this will open a target of 11692 for next week

 

[dc2000]

I hate the FTSE, can never win on the damn thing, its a different animal to the US markets

Yes but the US markets can rip your nuts off hand them to you on a platter "you have a nice day now ya'll" at least the FTSE says please and thankyou its in the breading

 

[reksa]

evening chaps the FTSE is on a five pattern which means a new low tomorrow bad news is 5354 is all thats required to satisfy that pattern

the DOW is the danger it needs to print a 11327 UK session would be fine to stay on target, if it hits 11408 and pulls back to 453 this will open a target of 11692 for next week

Did you close out your DOW shorts or are they still in play?

 

[dc2000]

I will sign off now and be back Monday afternoon, limit orders in and off south in the early morning

 

[parki50]

if you say so

but because the markets are correlated us support is usually uk support. or at least it's some where to focus

we are due a pullback, we rallied too high too quickly

 

[parki50]

Did you close out your DOW shorts or are they still in play?

l am short from 11615 so will be holding into 11300ish

 

[parki50]

Yes but the US markets can rip your nuts off hand them to you on a platter "you have a nice day now ya'll" at least the FTSE says please and thankyou its in the breading

That's funny, it can get tough l agree and l have had some nasty losses but these days l set levels and walk away cos if l watch l jump in too early and screw up my plan

 

[dc2000]

Did you close out your DOW shorts or are they still in play?

nope still in play (just shy of -$10k at close)with limit orders at 103 and 022 although the market has risen it has not given any upward targets just soaked up any shorts now if the DOW produces a high target tomorrow then forget a santa rally

 

[parki50]

nope still in play (just shy of -$10k at close)with limit orders at 103 and 022 although the market has risen it has not given any upward targets just soaked up any shorts now if the DOW produces a high target tomorrow then forget a santa rally

That's nice money, l tend to screw up and watch my wins turn from a reasonable amount to a crap amount cos l wont give them up if l feel we are headed lower
greed l suppose is the killer, l'll be out at 11300ish on this short

 

[DaddyJohn]

DJ - Can I ask a stupid question. Were you referring to after Cash close for FTSE or DOW?

Hi Samir , I meant the ftse futures.. And clearly that didn't happen.. But you could see today price wanted to come down.. But they won't make it that easy..so I am expecting a pullback tomorrow..but I can't see price dropping too much.

In terms of my trading style you should understand that I tend to go with the flow and that is up at the moment.. However I will put small trades on overnight like I did this week if I see potential highs...so I will let this trade run, using a trailing stop..but during the day I am scalping whatever price action I see and using bigger size. If I am not sure then I just sit on my hands..there are always better days and better trades. I take views on board from DC , Dick, Martin and others but I have to trade my own beliefs based on my own approach.. I don't post all my scalps because I might do 100 a day. But I do post my overnight trades like Did the other day. My main income though comes from my scalps.

 

[reksa]

nope still in play (just shy of -$10k at close)with limit orders at 103 and 022 although the market has risen it has not given any upward targets just soaked up any shorts now if the DOW produces a high target tomorrow then forget a santa rally

Im still lost how your get your targets. Are you using weekly or even monthly open high low close for the calcs? Or are these all on patterns.

 

[reksa]

100 scalps a day, that's insane. I would go bald in a month.

Retail sales and UoM will surely give the market a bit of conviction. The Dow daily range has been on the decline since last week (this week avg 130 last week 285). I think tomorrow buck the trend.

 

[samirs]

100 scalps a day, that's insane. I would go bald in a month.

Retail sales and UoM will surely give the market a bit of conviction. The Dow daily range has been on the decline since last week (this week avg 130 last week 285). I think tomorrow buck the trend.

he may be using algorithms ...dont mean computer programs that trigger trades but the ones that give entry / exit.....

I have high regards for DJ for his wisdom and kindness (he is quite lucid and detailed to provide reasoning)... I think he has deep understanding and experience that he can make decisions instantly....

may be a bit of both

 

[samirs]

100 scalps a day, that's insane. I would go bald in a month.

Retail sales and UoM will surely give the market a bit of conviction. The Dow daily range has been on the decline since last week (this week avg 130 last week 285). I think tomorrow buck the trend.

so you expect market to push higher tomorrow with some conviction

 

[samirs]

what impact will Spain downgrade have or thats already priced in / will be ignored.

 

[DaddyJohn]

100 scalps a day, that's insane. I would go bald in a month.

Retail sales and UoM will surely give the market a bit of conviction. The Dow daily range has been on the decline since last week (this week avg 130 last week 285). I think tomorrow buck the trend.

lol.. it is hard , which is why I am trying to change my approach to more intraday swing trading... and why I cant trade more than 3 days on the trot as my eyes start to hurt.

It is a useful skill though.. using large lot sizes but taking only high prob trades for a few prices a time. Very good for ranging markets...

 

[DaddyJohn]

I am not trading today.. this has been an ok week profit wise but not amazing.. I feel I am starting to lose track of what the market intends and am not seeing things clearly enough.. therefore time for a break and recharge. However.. for those that find them useful here are my levels for the day.. remember these are major levels there may be minor ones that provide good scalping opps too. The middle two are the prvious days high and low.. the numbers above and below represent where price could get to if there is a break of these highs or lows. Sentiment and momentum is important to help decide which way and how far. But I use these to form trade ideas for breaks or fades.

5510/5516
5475
5449
5433 - previous high
5343 - previous low
5322
5293
5264

have a good day

 

[reksa]

so you expect market to push higher tomorrow with some conviction

No i think we will get a larger range today. And the data out of the US will help.

Direction, i would like to think down, but who knows what news is going to break today.

 

[Splitlink]

The news at 0500 was bleak for Europe. Shorting the Dax before the FT open was a no brainer.