Day Trade the FTSE

[churchie]

Multiple time frames trading the FTSE

Using 10min with a 1min. No indicators at all. Price action only. Trading 1 minute in 10 minute direction..It works.

Hi, I have been trading the FTSE for the last 12 months or so and have experimented with different combinations of time frames. I am currently using the 1 hour to dictate price direction and 15 mins to pick entry/exits. I look at the Weekly/Daily charts before trading to get the longer term view and then use stochastics and support/resistance to assist in my execution.

I have used shorter timeframe combinations, but this suits my style and stops me from gambling as I find that anything faster than 15 mins sucks me into a gambling mentality which loses me money.

I have back tested the latest approach to good effect over the last 3 months so will be going live again soon. I think the key thing is to use meaningful timeframes for you that suit your strategy and to use sufficiently different timeframes to get perspective. So 10 mins/1 mins or 1 hr/15 mins works while 1 hr/30 mins is less effective.

Glad that others are trading the FTSE, it gets a bad press for some reason but it suits my trading day.

One question for you: Is there a free site that allows you to back test using multiple timeframe charts? I currently use the charts provided through E*Trade Spread Betting but I can only go back a month or so on the 15 mins chart?

Cheers
Churchie

 

[churchie]

12pm trade on the FTSE

I attended a free seminar before xmas and a guy who did a presentation told the audience that his strategy for trading the FTSE was as simple as putting a buy stop above the high and a sell stop below the low at 12pm each day, and claimed that it worked 3 or 4 days a week and he made money consistently. He did not say anything about targets/stops/exits but was adamant that he made money doing this. Just wondering if anyone has tried this, and, if so, is this a viable strategy?

Hello Bertie

Just did a back test and it's not at all bad. I tested over the last 3 months with a +/-10 point entry using the opposite low/high as the spread to calculate the risk. I put a stop in at 3x risk to take profit or took the high/low at 7pm to ensure no overnight risk.

It made +50% over 12 weeks averaging over a 6% gain a week which isn't too shabby.

If anyone else has had a go at this can we compare notes?

Cheers Churchie

 

[bertie123]

Churchie,

your back testing sounds promising, but I am not sure I follow what you mean by using the opposite low/high as spread to calculate the risk? Could you maybe give a chart example? One problem is targets/exits with this strategy. I am happy to compare notes with you on this and if you could post a chart that would be great.

cheers,

berti

 

[bertie123]

Churchie,

your back testing sounds promising, but I am not sure I follow what you mean by using the opposite low/high as spread to calculate the risk? Could you maybe give a chart example? One problem is targets/exits with this strategy. I am happy to compare notes with you on this and if you could post a chart that would be great.

cheers,

berti

Just a follow on from last post churchie. Some people may be happy taking fixed targets like 10 or 15 pips per trade so I suppose this method can be adapted to whatever your aims\aspirations are. One guy I know of is happy to take 15 pips per day out of the market.

 

[bertie123]

Churchie,

Grabbed 20 pts on Ftse today. Same strategy could have got you 40 pips on Dow and 60 pts on DAx, although I did not take these trades! Only problem I can see is the exit, but if you have modest targets and are nimble with your trade management this looks promising, as per your back testing. Where did you do your back testing?

 

[Chelski]

anyone out there ?

 

[minime69]

yes

 

[bertie123]

yes

Still here but what happened to churchie?

 

[datav]

Neil,

Had not thought of that but will consider it as I am about to try out this strategy with some small stakes using fairly tight stops. Only problem I can see is the exit strategy as it does seem to get you into a lot of profitable positions, but when do you get out.
Will post all of my trades\progress from next week.

berti

Getting out at the right moment is always the most difficult part of trading. Going long here at 4170

 

[datav]

wrong again

Getting out at the right moment is always the most difficult part of trading. Going long here at 4170

Wrong again, stopped out -10. I still think we'll see some up side today, but sitting quiet till we get some significant momentum. Data at 1.30 sho8ld give price something to move with

 

[salaka70]

Hi,
I'm new to this board and having had a good look round I thought I'd start a thread to see if anyone is out there. Been day trading for about a year, started on he YM, tried various markets, but ended up with the FTSE for the last 6 months or so. I'm intriuged to see so many negative posts about the FTSE futures. Its a great market to trade. It is not a leading market, but that helps. There is generally plently of volatility with at least 50 points to go at most days.
Why does everyone expend so much energy trying to predict the future? Thats a mugs game. Why is everyone looking for indicators? they are irrelevant, since they are all derived from historical data. The only thing that counts is the price action.

I have learnt at a high cost, that the key to successful trading is my personal psychology and discipline in trade management, entries, and exits. All markets are the same in this repect, only the FTSE is more forgiving, less erratic and trends are more reliable.

The YM pre market or otherwise does not influence the FTSE or anything else. The YM is at the bottom of the pecking order in my experience, with the Nasdaq and or Russell 200 being number 1.
If anything does pull the FTSE it is the DAX in the am, and then the Nasdaq in the pm session. THis is a significant advantage, as it often gives me forewarning of a move.

So I'd like to put in a good word for the FTSE !

My trading strategy? using candlesticks and support and resistance levels. Nothing more. Oh and support and resistance levels ARE reliable in the FTSE. at least asmuch as any other market. Mind you, you have to watch the price all the time. This is a full time profession, not a hobby. Some people seem to think that its possible to place a trade at the beginning of the day and come back at the end to see 10K in their account with no effort. If that were really possible, if any automated system was reliable you could, in a short space of time, collect all the money in the world, literally. I suppose that its the British love of gambling that makes people think that futures trading is like horse racing. All you need is a good tipster!

I guess you can tell its a quiet day on the FTSE today. Went short at 5985 at 9 am and currently looking at 5974 at 11 am.

Love to hear from any other full time traders out there.

hi
good to see someone trading FTSE and posting it here and for us starting out it is great help good luck, what is thoughts on using the Spread betting arena to trade the FTSE?


thanks

 

[mEmmerrr]

Anyone about? First day spread betting the futures.



Lost a couple trades getting size of position right, but all settled now. Dont want to be getting in in this flat bs, waiting for a break of trendline and hopefully into the 4175 region.

I feel a bit cautious going long into this market, but there seems to be no downward momentum and a complete failure to make any lower lows.

 

[wallstreet1928]

welcome , welcome my friend........

i will be posting live trades, keep an eye on them if interested............

http://www.trade2win.com/boards/uk-indices/48390-message-ftse-traders-121.html#post644938

http://www.trade2win.com/boards/us-indices/51426-scapling-calls-indices-forex-22.html

 

[churchie]

Still here but what happened to churchie?

Sorry got lost in thought for a day or two there!

I haven't posted charts before, do I just cut and paste?

 

[bertie123]

Churchie

Just do printscreen and then paste into windows paint, then attach to your post.

berti

 

[churchie]

Churchie

Just do printscreen and then paste into windows paint, then attach to your post.

berti[/QUOTE

Thanks Bertie, eventually got it sorted! This is a 1 hour chart for showing three trades using the 12pm tactic.

So if you have a look at 30/01/09 near the vertical line is the 12p - 1pm bar. The horizontal lines show the high/low.

My back test rule was to apply an OCO order using the buy as the hour high and the stop loss as the hour low and vice versa for the sell. i.e. buy 4171 stop 4138 OCO sell 4138 stop 4171. Risk is therefore 33 points. Using a £100 stake that gives me £3 a point to play with. My target is 2:1 with a stretch of 3:1. I move to cover my trade after 1 hour. I then take £50 increments by moving my stop loss up to the increment/or previous low whichever is higher.

Playing out the trade it opens as a buy at 13:30 makes a move which stalls at resistance of 4225. After 1 hour I move my stop to 4188 which covers my trade and gives me £50, which then gets taken out.

The subsequent two trades show the weaknesses and strengths of this approach. Between 4 and six the sell is initiated and is taken out for a loss of £100. So far I am down £50. at @ 8pm the sell triggers again and this time it moves into 3:1 win for an overall gain of £200.

The following day 1st Feb is another matter. 5 times it triggers and 5 times it loses. My personal rules are three losing trades and stop nevertheless I am now -£300 on the day, -£100 on the two days. As I mentioned this does not work when the index is channelling.

The 2nd Feb is a clear one trade win which I could have let run, but for this test I stick to the rules for a £300 win which leaves me +£200.

Just an example but you get the gist. For me this is attractive in that if I am unable to trade actively I can still be in the market, but I have only done a limited test with the resources I have.

Let me know what you think

Cheers

 

[bertie123]

Churchie

Just do printscreen and then paste into windows paint, then attach to your post.

berti[/QUOTE

Thanks Bertie, eventually got it sorted! This is a 1 hour chart for showing three trades using the 12pm tactic.

So if you have a look at 30/01/09 near the vertical line is the 12p - 1pm bar. The horizontal lines show the high/low.

My back test rule was to apply an OCO order using the buy as the hour high and the stop loss as the hour low and vice versa for the sell. i.e. buy 4171 stop 4138 OCO sell 4138 stop 4171. Risk is therefore 33 points. Using a £100 stake that gives me £3 a point to play with. My target is 2:1 with a stretch of 3:1. I move to cover my trade after 1 hour. I then take £50 increments by moving my stop loss up to the increment/or previous low whichever is higher.

Playing out the trade it opens as a buy at 13:30 makes a move which stalls at resistance of 4225. After 1 hour I move my stop to 4188 which covers my trade and gives me £50, which then gets taken out.

The subsequent two trades show the weaknesses and strengths of this approach. Between 4 and six the sell is initiated and is taken out for a loss of £100. So far I am down £50. at @ 8pm the sell triggers again and this time it moves into 3:1 win for an overall gain of £200.

The following day 1st Feb is another matter. 5 times it triggers and 5 times it loses. My personal rules are three losing trades and stop nevertheless I am now -£300 on the day, -£100 on the two days. As I mentioned this does not work when the index is channelling.

The 2nd Feb is a clear one trade win which I could have let run, but for this test I stick to the rules for a £300 win which leaves me +£200.

Just an example but you get the gist. For me this is attractive in that if I am unable to trade actively I can still be in the market, but I have only done a limited test with the resources I have.

Let me know what you think

Cheers

Churchie

I am not convinced by this strategy - you win some and lose some but overall it does not have an edge. Better trading with a price action approach using S+R I think. Just my opinion.

cheers,

berti

 

[tenbobtrader]

T2w Labyrinth

Hi, new to postin workin in my own world here and gettin a little bored watchin the ftse up against yesterdays high, trade Ftse and Dow and wanted to no if you use feeds provided by finspreads etc or do you have your own live feed and if so which is best ? and most cost effective only trade above indices?

errrrrr thanks I think Split

you send everybody in there ?

what happened - what was that all about -

thought I'd never get out alive


later

Andy


YouTube - Labyrinth

 

[Splitlink]

This is a thread that has gone dead over prevous months. Maybe, we can revive it.

Who did well on Footsie, this morning. I'm am fed up with "I, I ,I ", all the time. What did you guys do that was right or wrong?

"I" had a great morning so, if you didn't, tell us what happened and why you did it. Maybe we can help a little.

Split

 

[Da.DesiTrader]

Hey Split. I was commuting to work, and then got busy. I am convinced that a break of 5210 will see us on the upside, I have tried this with an order on my demo. Let's see.

How is it going anyway? What was your trigger to go long? break of 5200 or Friday's action of FTSE holding above or the fact that US is sleeping and therefore on very low volume, the bias will be neutral to bullish anyway?