Anyone scalping the FTSE Futures??

[MartinC-J]

MartinC
I have learnt quite a bit, particularly in terms of using trendline breaks, channels, wedges to get a better perspective on things.

I also like his simple style. I couldn't bring myself to rely on 5 min charts only but I have stopped over-using TICK/TRIN, 1 min charts, indices, news - anything else which takes my concentration away from price movement.

I agree with your other point about shorter term charts for the open followed by a slightly longer term one. I am working on improving my post-open trading.

In fact the Al Brooks book arrived at a very good time for me. I recently spent a couple of crazy days trading all day off the 1 min charts, revenge trades the lot and it cost me an arm and a leg. I am hoping that the experience was a lesson rather than an indication of what my trading style will be going forward. Anyway as a consequence I have stopped the 1 min approach trading too many patterns and I am in recovery for my revenge trading.

DJ that's a big outlay per month. I personally think that you are doing well to make a profit and if it work's ..... I guess being surrounded by other traders has it's advantages.

I use IB and pay 93p per contract per trade for a FTSE futures trade. I also rent an office which costs me about £400 per month all-in + some small data costs but that's by far the biggest expense

oranget - It always seems to be an ongoing debate about using 1 min charts or not. It certainly gives you lots of trades and many duds. It works for some people and not for others. I have tried on several occasions to just stick with the 5 min chart and ignore the 1 min. This seems to work better for the ES but not the FTSE. There are patterns that appear on the 5 min chart that are quite clearly suggesting a specific price action that will not be signalled by the 1 min chart. I guess the advantage of a 1 min chart is that you set your stops according to the candle length which is much shorter than that of the 5 min. So your losses should be small. Equally the tendancy to overtrade with the 1 mc is quite strong. You just have to learn to sit on your digits more often than not.

As for your commission costs through IB, can you expand on that a little. Do you pay platform fees? And is that 93p per side or per round trip?

 

[dc2000]

thing to do today chaps is watch the DOW if that hits the 147 before the FTSE hits the 148 then the FTSE price will go to mondays trading

 

[DaddyJohn]

Thanks for that DJ. Totally agree about focusing on just one market. Since I started focusing on just the FTSE a few months ago, my trading has improved no end. I still have a long way to go though before I achieve anything like the results you, Martin C-J and some of the others on here are getting. It's good to hear how many points others are achieving as it spurs me on to get better at my trading.

Biggest problem I seem to have at the moment is believing in the trade and actually placing the trade - too often I hesitate and then the opportunity is gone!

The way I got round this was to choose just one set up you think is workable. There are of course loads, retracements, fades, breakouts .... Then right some rules for that trade and back test it over a number of months... Record your results.. If you are getting a success rate of 50 pc plus and you stick to the risk reward rules. Then you know you have a system that works. Try it on a demo perhaps. Van Tharp rights good books that will explain this far better than me.

 

[romski]

I take about 1000 to 1500 a month.... That usually takes on average 30 trades a day

sheesh nice work if you can get it, even at £1 per point thats impressive return

 

[Dick Lexic]

Reading the market is like reading music today I think we have the chord of B sharp but then again it might be C flat you know maybe we'll get a twang of the old G string soon

 

[DaddyJohn]

Reading the market is like reading music today I think we have the chord of B sharp but then again it might be C flat you know maybe we'll get a twang of the old G string soon

I will name that tune in 5....... Seriously, strange day today. Can't help feel something is brewing... Will wait for 2.30 open methinks

 

[orangetrader]

oranget - It always seems to be an ongoing debate about using 1 min charts or not. It certainly gives you lots of trades and many duds. It works for some people and not for others. I have tried on several occasions to just stick with the 5 min chart and ignore the 1 min. This seems to work better for the ES but not the FTSE. There are patterns that appear on the 5 min chart that are quite clearly suggesting a specific price action that will not be signalled by the 1 min chart. I guess the advantage of a 1 min chart is that you set your stops according to the candle length which is much shorter than that of the 5 min. So your losses should be small. Equally the tendancy to overtrade with the 1 mc is quite strong. You just have to learn to sit on your digits more often than not.

As for your commission costs through IB, can you expand on that a little. Do you pay platform fees? And is that 93p per side or per round trip?

That's 93p per side, I don't carry any trades overnight (which I believe incurs extra cost as a percentage but not sure how much). On top of that I pay about 20 dollars for data subscription per month but that's it. You need a minimum of 10,000 US dollars to open an account and can then trade FTSE LIFFE Z contract (and nearly every other market except UK small cap) using margin. My main data provider is prorealtime and I pay about £75 a month for UK stocks & FTSE futures.

 

[MartinC-J]

Many thanks OT. That's about the same as what I pay with OEC, except there are no data charges. I also like ProRealTime. Their charts are very nice to navigate around and a trendline drawn on the 5 min chart shows up on other time frames. For charting features though you can't beat David Linton's UpData. Optimised stop losses and PnF targets are great tools.

 

[mazdaq100]

Many thanks OT. That's about the same as what I pay with OEC, except there are no data charges. I also like ProRealTime. Their charts are very nice to navigate around and a trendline drawn on the 5 min chart shows up on other time frames. For charting features though you can't beat David Linton's UpData. Optimised stop losses and PnF targets are great tools.

Yep Updata is brilliant. Have you tried using breakouts on the 1min P&F charts for your FTSE trading Martin? I sometimes use them to give me an idea of targets.

 

[orangetrader]

Many thanks OT. That's about the same as what I pay with OEC, except there are no data charges. I also like ProRealTime. Their charts are very nice to navigate around and a trendline drawn on the 5 min chart shows up on other time frames. For charting features though you can't beat David Linton's UpData. Optimised stop losses and PnF targets are great tools.

no problem and thanks I will take a look at Updata when I get a chance. By the way I gather that Al Brooks is releasing 2 or 3 new books in november. Presumably the original reproduced into a few easier reads (and hopefully with charts where you can actually see the bars)

 

[MartinC-J]

Yep Updata is brilliant. Have you tried using breakouts on the 1min P&F charts for your FTSE trading Martin? I sometimes use them to give me an idea of targets.

mazdaq - I would like to try PnF with 1 minute data, but all I can find is end of day. I know how to calculate the targets, I just can't get the data anywhere. OEC don't have PnF with their charts, and I can't figure out how to export their data. They have something called DDE which apparently links the data to an excel spreadsheet, but I can't figure out how to do it. I have spent the last hour trying to do it, but I am too thick to figure it out.

orange - thanks for that. I will keep an eye out for the books.

 

[dc2000]

Reading the market is like reading music today I think we have the chord of B sharp but then again it might be C flat you know maybe we'll get a twang of the old G string soon

E Mixolydian or

E D A (little lick) E D A A-Ab Bb-A B-Bb C-B


sounds like


sorry tooo much gain

 

[mazdaq100]

mazdaq - I would like to try PnF with 1 minute data, but all I can find is end of day. I know how to calculate the targets, I just can't get the data anywhere. OEC don't have PnF with their charts, and I can't figure out how to export their data. They have something called DDE which apparently links the data to an excel spreadsheet, but I can't figure out how to do it. I have spent the last hour trying to do it, but I am too thick to figure it out.

orange - thanks for that. I will keep an eye out for the books.

Martin - right click on the FTSE 1min chart, go to Data and then Show Table. Select all of the rows and then right click and select Export, and open the file in Excel. Shows the OHLC for every minute. Is that what you are looking for?

 

[dc2000]

nice spike down on the DOW there will be time to look for a long soon

 

[lurkalot]

in at 241

 

[dc2000]

in at 241

is that FTSE ? and long?

Im expecting a close around 265

 

[Dick Lexic]

2x fibs at 212

 

[lurkalot]

is that FTSE ? and long?

Im expecting a close around 265

yes jumped too soon, my entry was 230 but been out and thought I had missed it. Looking like a mistake at the moment! I'll probably bale if the dow pushes below 100

 

[lurkalot]

stopped out for +10 this might go back to 230

 

[MartinC-J]

Martin - right click on the FTSE 1min chart, go to Data and then Show Table. Select all of the rows and then right click and select Export, and open the file in Excel. Shows the OHLC for every minute. Is that what you are looking for?

mazdaq - You're a saint. Many thanks for that. But I'm not there yet. I want to plot the data on a point and figure chart. I am trying to use some trial software from Bulls Eye Broker. Their website is Point and Figure charting software Bull's-Eye Broker. I can't seem to get it to accept the data from the table and plot is as a PnF chart. Maybe when I have a little more time I can work it out.

I want to calculate the price targets that DuPessis comes up with in his book. For swing targets, I think it needs to be a 1 hr chart and not a 1 min chart. To get an upside target you take the swing low and add the no of x's times the box size times the reversal size. The targets may be useless, but I would like to at least check it out.