1 Point Per Day Trading The E-mini

[new_trader]

With 2 contracts, and a stop of -10 tick equals to 100 usd pr trade, so you are risking
1% of your capital pr trade, that is something i find acceptable. 0.5% would have been better.
It all depends on your capital and what you have to play with, but my general rules is not to risk more the 1% pr trade.


But then again, i have a pretty solid hitrate and i hardly get stopped, it happend occasionally of course, its far in betwen. Since i buy at support when it gets tested for the first time, i always get a bounce, so i get my first +6 ticks, and my trade is then risk free. And if the trade goes agains me, i will loose nothing and also cover my commission.

And i dont trade right into news or any other importent announcements, news can cause price to spike true support and with my tight stops its not a good deal.

Btw, i am trading the Emini NQ, and each tick is worth 5 usd, incase that was not clear, i find the nq alot more calmer and easyer to trade, and i can use smaller stops on it.

I always take retracements to resistance or support, and the first test always hold for at least a bounce, if you get your entry right. But if you belive me or not that is a tottaly different matter, i have my own way of finding support and resistance, not normal way that people use to i guess. Cause i get my entries pretty much right on the spot, varies sometimes with 2-3 ticks at most.

I can show you how i do it, if that is of any interest, and i find the 1500v and 4500v to show me those levels pretty easly.

Looking forward to hearing from you

WIth kind regards
Bashir Naimy

What he means is the initial margin on the ES contract is (presently)over US$5K- so you would not be able to open 2 contracts with only US$10K

 

[bnaimy]

What he means is the initial margin on the ES contract is (presently)over US$5K- so you would not be able to open 2 contracts with only US$10K

Ahh i see, but i am not trading the ES, and from my broker my margine for 1 NQ or ES contract is 500 usd., not 5000 usd. I think he might be using interactivebroker, from what i heard they dide increase their margin requirements some time ago.

With kind regards
Bashir Naimy

 

[HaloTrader]

The problem here is; I think you'll find any trader who can make 1 pip a day... Can make 10 pips a day.
By the time your abilities in trading allow you to gain 1 pip a day, i'msure you'll know what your doing and can make much more.

How about finding channels and then using the pivot points as entry and stop behind the channel line... Only taking trades that have 2:1 risk reward

 

[new_trader]

The problem here is; I think you'll find any trader who can make 1 pip a day... Can make 10 pips a day.
By the time your abilities in trading allow you to gain 1 pip a day, i'msure you'll know what your doing and can make much more.

How about finding channels and then using the pivot points as entry and stop behind the channel line... Only taking trades that have 2:1 risk reward

Very good! Excellent! Well said.

 

[new_trader]

Ahh i see, but i am not trading the ES, and from my broker my margine for 1 NQ or ES contract is 500 usd., not 5000 usd. I think he might be using interactivebroker, from what i heard they dide increase their margin requirements some time ago.

With kind regards
Bashir Naimy

Do not confuse the $500 day trading margin with initial margin. They are two separate and distinct things.

 

[Vriendje Stokvis]

Hello,

on YM i use the following money management method for stop-losses in case the trade is turning against me.

- buy/sell stop is double the contracts that you have.
- on buy stop, place sell order three ticks above buy stop to flat-out your position again.
- on sell stop, place buy order three ticks below sell stop to flat-out your position again.

the reason is that almost never your stop is touched exactly on top or bottom.
in this way you limit your loss more effectively. It is not much money ofcourse, but in percentages it is just that bit that year on year improves your statistics big time.

Maybe this is helpfull for someone.

p.s.for S&P i don't use this.

Bye!

 

[bnaimy]

Do not confuse the $500 day trading margin with initial margin. They are two separate and distinct things.

True , but the initial margin is not that high at most brokers, it all depends on who you have your account with. And the initial margine is typicaly a fraction of market value of that future. And that initial margine level that you need to have in your account is quite low, so trading 2 contracts is not a issue, you can trade alot more if you wanted to. But then ur risk is going true the roof.

Regards
Bashir N

 

[new_trader]

True , but the initial margin is not that high at most brokers, it all depends on who you have your account with. And the initial margine is typicaly a fraction of market value of that future. And that initial margine level that you need to have in your account is quite low, so trading 2 contracts is not a issue, you can trade alot more if you wanted to. But then ur risk is going true the roof.

Regards
Bashir N

The Initial margins are set by the exchange, not the broker.

The CME specifies for the ES contract:

S&P 500 (SP)-E-MINI S&P 500 FUTURES (ES)
Initial margin: $5,625
Maintenance margin: $4,500

E-mini S&P 500


If you are trading DMA I don't see how any broker can get around this.

 

[N Rothschild]

bnaimy, you should really know this..somin dont smell right..

 

[DeadMoney]

Those are the margins for holding a contract overnight, if your day trading then the margins are a whole lot less, how much less is up to your broker.

the broker I am using is currently at either $800 or $700 for daytrading margin.

 

[gedward3]

bnaimy, you should really know this..somin dont smell right..

N Rothschild,

Check the links below as it seems that a lot of the US brokers offer $400 and $500
day trading margins providing you dont hold overnight and keep a minimum balance.

Makes you wonder why some traders use SB and that does include myself.

$400 Margins - Amp Futures - Online Futures Commodity Trading & Forex

OEC - Futures and Forex Electronic Trading System Margin Requirements

Margins | Global Futures

Ged

 

[Faisal_Danka]

At the close, place an open order to go long or short after 1 point on .30% move from PDC with a limit of 2 points and trail by 1 point as soon as 1 point target is met. Let it run, if it turns out to be a winner. The problem with this strategy is stop losses, keep them 1 point below PDC, but it may not suit your r/r ratio.

 

[rathcoole_exile]

I have used those systems for years

and what did you put in your sandwiches for lunch during those years ?

 

[1pttrader]

Does any trader know of a successful trading strategy or software able to profit 1 point per day on 1 contract day trading the E-mini?!

I've wasted thousands of dollars on useless software, indicators and mentors unable to meet this simple criteria.

Any proven advice would be greatly appreciated.

this blog focuses on just that....

The 1 Pt. Trader

 

[stepan7]

Noisy, if you find such a method, let us know!

I am trying to get there myself, although am still learning day-trading having more experience with longer-term systems which I like to develop but don't have sufficient capital to trade.

That said, I am fairly convinced that the following strategic approach is valuable, namely:

1. Determine decent setups that have at least 50-50 probability of success.
2. That these setups have better than 1-1 risk-reward, i.e. you risk 1 pt to make 2 pts.
3. As soon as you have net 1 pt profit for the day you stop trading. Why? Because you risk going back to break-even or losing on the day. Trade until you have the 1 pt.
4. Be patient and apply money management. At 1 ES pt per day x 20 days = $2,000 a month = 1 more contract can be traded, then it compounds from there.

What I have been working on recently is the following: The first hour of the day is often the hardest to read because the market is feeling itself out. That said, it is almost certain for example that the first 3 - minute bar of the day will be exceeded at least in one direction and most likely both. I put together an indicator that plots the percentage of times the first bar is the high or low of the day and it comes to about 20% (10% for each direction). That means that 80% of the time it is not the high or low of the day. This doesn't predict which direction or anything but the simple fact is that the chances of the market definitely making a move of more than a few points in the first hour is very high as the market feels out what it is doing. So for example I have noticed that if the market yesterday was in a strong downtrend and gaps up on the open, there is a high probability that even if the previous Day Low is not tested, at least it will pull back a little during the first hour before reversing and becoming an uptrend.

Secondly, there are certain Times of Day when things tend to happen, though not always of course.

First, there is a Morning Contra move, often around 10.00 EST up to around 10.30. So if there has been a decent upswing from the open to around 10.00, then (after a report if you don't like gambling during reports), there is a high probability that the market will do at least a .38 retracement on the current swing, and often a full .618 retracement before resuming the early trend. Of course, it could reverse the entire early morning trend and make a lower low in which case the chances are that, after a pullback, it will go down either to test that new low or make a new lower low.

1.30 EST is often when a Day Contra move starts. Which means that around 12.30 - 1.15 there is a PreContra move, i.e. if the market is off its highs/lows, leading into the Contra Time is goes back up/down to the Day High or Low from which a reversal happens. So if the market has had a clear trend direction on the day and has pulled back from its highs in an uptrend and its around 12.30-1.00 and it's about .38 or .50 from that Day High, there is a high probability that before any further selloff happens the market will go back up to test or exceed that Day High.

On a day whose trend is so strong that there is not even a .38 retracement before around 2.00, then a Late Contra at 2.30 EST might happen, and this could be a big one since there will be quite a few points between the Day High and even a Day .38 retracement. Countertrend trades are harder to time of course because you never know when the turn might happen, but I have been experimenting with using Tick Bars (360 or so on the ES) and colouring the Paintbars according to up-down volume. Often when the market is somewhat oversold you begin to see selling pressure coming in even as the price rises. But once there has been a short-term pullback and then a rally which retests or doesn't even retest and then it pulls back again making a lower high, the negative volume in the high levels of the second rally up that fails to take out the high make for a good entry point with low risk.

Lastly, around 3.30 EST there is an 'End of Day' moved. This one doesn't always happen (none of them do of course), but if the day has been pretty consistently trending in one direction, say down, and is near the lows of the day or a recent swing low not far from the lows, there is a high probability that around 3.30 after a retest fail or something that the market will reverse, as floor traders clean out many of the positions that have been riding the market down all day. If this move happens, it happens fast. Look at some charts and you can see how they work.

Fundamentally, these time of days are based on simple logic, i.e:

At first the market is feeling out its momentum/direction for the day, either up or down, and/or it just can't get anything going one way or another, i.e. is in a trading range.

After the first move, there is a little pullback or a complete reversal that develops into the trend for a while.

If there has been a trend, then around 1.30-ish there is a correction.

After the correction (not commented on above), there is a resumption towards the trend again.

As we get into the day's end and if there has been a clear move up or down, there is a correction around 3.30 into the close of the cash market at 4.00.

The above TOD's don't have much to do with making one point a day except that if you don't manage to make your point in the first half hour or so, you can wait for those sort of developments, especially round Fibonacci and other key SR levels to go in and get a quick point or two.

Check out the charts and see how many times there are day corrections around the 1.30 EST time period or if not 2.30 EST. You will see that they happen quite often.

Again, though, if you come up with a pretty good setup for 1 pt a day, I would love to know. Still working on it myself. Getting close, but not quite there yet. Problem is: if your goal is only one point and if you have a 2 pt stop (which is not that large in the ES market), if you are stopped out then you have to win 3 in a row to get your 1 pt. So the key to this sort of approach, I think, is to have 65% plus probability and if possible have only 1 pt stops OR LESS for 1-1.5 profit targets and also be able/willing to move the stops down quickly to breakeven so that even if some get taken out at breakeven, at least you don't have losses to make up after.

I have been starting out on the NQ which is not as liquid and orderly as the ES. But with the ES, if you get even one tick profit, that is $7.50 net of commissions. Do that 4 times and you have your 1 point a day. With the NQ you have to have a 3 tick move to get a 2 tick profit = $5.00 net of commissions so it is a little harder. Anyway.

I would be nice if somebody share 2023 version of such observations