Day Trade the FTSE

[smccreedy]

so you wait for a close negative cross then sell on the open of the next bar and the reverse to buy?

How does this pan out for you? Do you tend to get whipsawed a lot?

Do you follow every signal?

Stephen

 

[Ziff]

Pretty much it ! Though I dont sell on the open of the next bar - I wait until price has exceeded the low of the bar where the cross occurred. It means waiting a little but I find it helps. Pans out okay.............

I dont take every signal............allow myself a little discretion if figures or news is imminent .

 

[smccreedy]

Nice system, I think waiting for a high/low break makes sense as most people jump the gun and get whipsawed over time I'd guess the few pips you lose from the winners will be less than the losses getting in to soon.

I might give it a go direct and see how it goes.

Have you ever looked to buy real time futures data and back test your idea, it would be pretty easy to do. Would be interesting to see if following every signal without fail works to your advantage or not.

Also having cast iron back testing helps you keep your chin up during the inevtiable bad times.

How do you choose when to exit at the end of the day?

Stephen

 

[Ziff]

Pretty much it ! Though I dont sell on the open of the next bar - I wait until price has exceeded the low of the bar where the cross occurred. It means waiting a little but I find it helps. Pans out okay.............

I dont take every signal............allow myself a little discretion if figures or news is imminent .

For the trade where I sold at 80 earlier for example, I waited 20 minutes before entering after the signal to short................

 

[firewalker99]

FTSE looking to go up

but where did that volume spike come from?

 

[mmicham]

Hi

I trade near month FTSE futures on LIFFE via interactive brokers.

I would seriously suggest anyone with the capital (£2,500) and time to fill in the forms heads of to Direct Access from spreadbetting if they are looking for shorter time frames.

I know it seems a little daunting at first and everything isn't as easy to understand as spread bet with comms and fees but I went from struggling to break even with Cantor to making decent money using direct access mainly through smaller spread and less 'skew' on the price.

If anyone on this thread wants more info in to how to go about doing it then please feel free to email me at [email protected] (PS I don't work for IB!) just saying I found it easier to make money intraday using direct access than spread bet.

Incedentally my style of trading is to use bollingers set around a 9 period exponential lag on the 5 min chart and look to buy dips to the lag when market is trending higher and sell rallies to the lag when the market is trending lower.

My win rate is doing well although profits might be as small as 2 points per time (£17.94) after commisions on one contract, if you can do this six or seven times a day net of losers it isn't a bad start.

I don't tend to trade longer views now but if you were to want my view the market reversed exactly at previous high yesterday and we are testing it again today (around 6450 on the cash I think?) if this holds again it's back on up, if it breaks I expect a lot of fast downside.

Stephen McCreedy

Hi Stephen,

I use the Bollinger bands myself, your 9 period exponential lag on the 5 minute chart is ultra effective, it makes the Bollingers far more effective for me than they previously were. Out of interest Where do you have the Standard Deviation set at ? I have mine at 2.0. Me, I use a combination of Support, Resistance and a Stochastics Oscillator. I also keep an eye on MACD and RSI.

You got any more details on the Direct Access Brokerage ? I get a 1 point spread with Capitals with the potential to go to £200 per point on FTSE cash. I can't see myself needing to go much more than £200 to be honest ! However, keen to learn something new to see if there are any advantages to opening a direct account. I think I am right in saying that by going through a direct broker any profits are taxable vis a vie a spread bet which is tax free.

I agree with your market view. 6450 was tested, it broke to 6437 before getting back to the 6450 area closing at 6449. If the market manages to hold above 6450 it should go back up, I would look to be short at 6440 now and will look to go long over and above 6450 with a tight stop.

Thanks

Mark

 

[Ziff]

making lots of point today ?

Not looking like there is much demand for an intraday FTSE thread.........................

 

[ceydababy]

FTSE Thread

making lots of point today ?

Not looking like there is much demand for an intraday FTSE thread.........................

Am totally interested in getting this thread up and active. Trade FTSE cash market on Capital Spreads.

Today was pretty quiet, some great scalping opportunities presented themselves though. I missed the open this morning through jet lag. I was going to be long over 6450 or short at 6440.

Will be up bright and early tomorrow. See you on here ???

 

[ceydababy]

Going to be trying out a new scalping system on the FTSE (cash) tomorrow. Hopefully going to make some points...will post my progress (or maybe lack of it !!) tomorrow !! Dropping down to a 2 minute chart for this.

 

[ceydababy]

Anyone heading over to the IX Investor Expo at the Excel in Docklands on Friday/Saturday ??? Me I am heading over there on Saturday morning. There are some pretty good FREE seminars/lectures. If you want some free tickets instead of the £15 the organisers are trying to charge on there website go to....www.tradertom.com and click the link. Tom is talking at the expo, and can sometimes give some useful Dax tips....when he has the time to update !!!!

 

[firewalker99]

Going to be trying out a new scalping system on the FTSE (cash) tomorrow. Hopefully going to make some points...will post my progress (or maybe lack of it !!) tomorrow !! Dropping down to a 2 minute chart for this.

I think 2 minute on FTSE is a bit slow... even for scalping... FTSE can be quite dull at times

 

[Hook Shot]

I'm not surprised LMQ - it's hard to buy ftse close to highs of the last 4 yrs.

I'm looking at Queen's Birthday/St George's Day time frame it's often significant...
Ftse topped bigtime Apr 21 last year.... and previously US has bottomed around this date..

Sorry not a daytrader per se - but should have played the 6390 today which was 25% pbk from rally off 6k.

Anyway.......we're nearing that Apr 21-23 period I mentioned last week so lets see what happens this time ........if anything. Interesting (?) that US has flown up into that time window.

 

[ceydababy]

I think 2 minute on FTSE is a bit slow... even for scalping... FTSE can be quite dull at times

I am going to give it a whirl tomorrow. I agree the FTSE is a SLOW market. However, I believe that most systems work on most markets. I won't be taking MEGA points off a 2 minute chart on the FTSE, it does however allow me to test a system with little risk. You don't get too many wild swings on a FTSE chart.

 

[ceydababy]

Sorry not a daytrader per se - but should have played the 6390 today which was 25% pbk from rally off 6k.

Anyway.......we're nearing that Apr 21-23 period I mentioned last week so lets see what happens this time ........if anything. Interesting (?) that US has flown up into that time window.

What kind of time frame do you trade in Hook shot ?

 

[logit]

Ziff and Smccreedy, how do you manage the trade once you have taken the entry signal? What are your points targets, stop loss (trailing?) etc.?

Thanks

 

[johnnyf]

Does anybody actually have a cast iron strategy?
I have watched this forum for a few weeks and, am a bit concerned that everyone is concerned with analysis. I think it is much easier than everyone imagines.

 

[Hook Shot]

What kind of time frame do you trade in Hook shot ?

The one which makes the most money for the least risk...

But seriously..... I've realised I've got a fairly good feel for when I can make money on something if I give myself enough time. With more time I'm more certain of getting the move right and can therefore put hit harder than if I wasn't as sure...

With ftse screaming through 6500 I knew I stood a better than even chance of making money ......... either this week or next - my sensible head is not that bothered so long as I nail it when the time comes ........... but my alter ego does not have the patience and is constantly egging me on - he needs to do something he's an adrenaline junkie! He's made me money and he's lost me money...

My sensible head is pretty consistent although often boring since his methodology relies on the natural ebb and flow of markets... and waiting patiently for the inevitable to happen.

Edit: Johnny F you remind me of my sensible head :cheesy:

 

[hobby]

JohhnyF- I'm with you on this one, ma heed hurts after reading through the analysis threads! (& unless there a secret code, for all I see lots of buzzwords mentioned, I rarely hear anyone say...."it's a buy", or "I'm shorting") .

Sometimes you just gotta get your Nike shirt on and "Just do it" (ie get in the darned mkt!), so let me start the ball rolling, I've just shorted the Dow at 12847 (sure I might be a little early but hey difficult to get the exact top :cheesy: )

 

[Ziff]

And the thread springs into life :cheesy: Hopefully FTSE will do the same......................

Regarding the analysis / just do it debate - I am always interested in seeing what strats others use. However nothing beats seeing live calls posted .

Let battle commence - good luck everyone.

 

[Ziff]

Ziff and Smccreedy, how do you manage the trade once you have taken the entry signal? What are your points targets, stop loss (trailing?) etc.?

Thanks

I like to close one third at +10 then move the stops on remaining to BE. Then its just a case of moving that trailing stop.................