new_trader
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Have you considered juggling live hand grenades infront of a paying audience? I believe it's about as risky...
And as a general rule, even those of us who give most of a strategy away don't give you the full solution because we want you to think a little. Helps stop you shooting yourself in the foot.
new_trader
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As a general rule, any strategy that is given away (or sold!) is a strategy not worth keeping.
Surely if you have a way to take 1 tick on a high probability with a very tight stop then your risk is actually very small indeed if repeated time and time again.
you sholuld just gradually add money to your account with small occasional drawdowns. Your account would grow over time in about as straight a line as it is possible to get in trading.
The problem is in finding such a trade..
If you genuinely can, I suppose it's a plan. Mostly, though, you're at a risk of the market deciding it's off in the other direction and taking you along for the ride while you frantically try exiting...
intradaybill
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I tick profit you mean? What about the stop?
Directional
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here's a real, workable strategy for you:
in the FGBL future, or indeed, any future with a reasonably liquid back month & calendar spread;
watch the range of the calendar spread, and try buying it at a below-average price, or selling it at an above-average price.When you get a fill, in the spread, leg out via the outrights. The calendar contract is fungible against the front and back month outrights.
Voila! you just scalped a tick!
Because your trade is in the spread, you're somewhat hedged against up/down directional movements in the outrights, and if you get legged up, you could (usually) get out for scratch or a tick or two loss.
You will find, however, its not as easy to execute as it is to describe, and that this description is an extremely simplistic one at best.
in the FGBL future, or indeed, any future with a reasonably liquid back month & calendar spread;
watch the range of the calendar spread, and try buying it at a below-average price, or selling it at an above-average price.When you get a fill, in the spread, leg out via the outrights. The calendar contract is fungible against the front and back month outrights.
Voila! you just scalped a tick!
Because your trade is in the spread, you're somewhat hedged against up/down directional movements in the outrights, and if you get legged up, you could (usually) get out for scratch or a tick or two loss.
You will find, however, its not as easy to execute as it is to describe, and that this description is an extremely simplistic one at best.
trader_dante
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Here is a strategy I have employed in the US 10 Year T-Note. Define a decent support/resistance area on the chart and wait for the market to confirm by hitting it and rejecting. This needs to be done in a time of relatively low activity e.g. I do it before the US open or around US lunchtime. So lets say you are trying to buy 11600. Wait for the market to trade up a tick and then bid 11600 wth a 1 tick automatic stop. As soon as you get filled hit the offer. If you watch the size carefully you can try and time it so that you get a good place in the queue on the offer so that if the bid gets hit, you can get out easier. Otherwise there might be a problem if not enough size transacts at your offer once you are in. Anyway, lets say you are doing this on a 1 lot. Well, once you have done this twice in a row and taken 2 ticks out of the market you can do it on a 2 lot with no more added risk than you initially took. The very next trade you can do it on a 4 lot. Then you can do it on an 8 lot and repeat. Sometimes price will trade in a 1 tick range for a while and if you have a directional bias you can establish your huge size and then let it go and hope you have called the market to the tick.
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Directional
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I dont do this. it was a slightly tongue in cheek response to the OP, who wanted a strategy for scalping 1 tick. This is a legitimate way to scalp a tick, however.
If you really want to scalp single ticks, doing it through the spreads is a somewhat less-risky way. Legging out however, is the tricky bit.
new_trader
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I'll see if I can find my 5 tick strategy, it's around somewhere. You can modify it by closing 4 ticks early.
SFL Trader
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Trying to scalp for 1 tick is, indeed, a bad idea. Professional scalpers rarely, if ever, enter a trade with the intention of taking 1 tick. They are usually looking for anywhere from 3 to 8, depending on the volatility. They might take 1 tick if it looks like they're not going to get anymore but 1 tick is not the goal because you can't always get out for a 1 tick loss. You have to give the market a little room at times. So if you're taking 3 and 4 tick losers, you have to take 3 and 4 tick winners.
Chances are people looking for 1 tick will get it most of the time. That' the good news.
The bad news though is that when wrong chances are they'll lose 5 or 10 ticks.
Conclusion - You better find a strategy that wins 95% of the time otherwise the account will go down in value. And the chances of finding a strategy that wors 95% of the time OVER TIME are almost 0%.
Good luck anyway
The bad news though is that when wrong chances are they'll lose 5 or 10 ticks.
Conclusion - You better find a strategy that wins 95% of the time otherwise the account will go down in value. And the chances of finding a strategy that wors 95% of the time OVER TIME are almost 0%.
Good luck anyway
RogueTrader888888
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I disagree with the above statement because I sit next to such a scalper and he consistently wins but he's very disciplined (except for his attitude since he is always swearing and its annoying since I have to sit next to him - I just put on my ipod)
One tick scalpers, more so than other traders (i believe), require a lot more discipline than other traders because as soon as they see the market (or similar market like the Gilts if one is trading the Bunds) go any way slightly against them, they will be ready to scratch the trade (even if it goes bid, offer straight away - then the swearing starts) or take that 1 tick loss max max max, a 2 tick loss is a disaster. A lazy scalper will only take 1 tick profit (never run his winners) and take the mother of all losses as slippage happens. Therefore, it requires such an intense amount of concentration that I am not sure I could do it for more than 4 hours a day, especially as US opens in the afternoon but then in more active markets I think one should be looking for 2 tick scalping opportunities.
Therefore, a good scalper will probably take 1 tick profit from 60% of trades, scratch 30%, 2 tick loss 5% and 3 tick loss 5% of the times. Over time that adds up.
fifty2aces
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This is true, however probably unrealistic for most retail traders. With the figures quoted, an average trade will be 0.35 ticks ((0.6*1)+(0.3*0)-(0.05*2)-(0.05*3)). So if you pay half a tick per spin in commissions, you'll make a loss - basically you need the cheapest commissions possible, which makes this strategy unfeasable except for people trading in prop firms/arcades, and people doing a lot of volume.
