Anyone scalping the FTSE Futures??

Hard to pick out some support here. I have 5463. Any other ideas?

I had 5462 on my chart, but its an old level and you have to go back a bit to find out when it first triggered. I actually think we are headed to 5443. That's a much stronger level. The ES may have other ideas, as I think it will run to 1236.5 which should take the FTSE lower than 43.
 
I had 5462 on my chart, but its an old level and you have to go back a bit to find out when it first triggered. I actually think we are headed to 5443. That's a much stronger level. The ES may have other ideas, as I think it will run to 1236.5 which should take the FTSE lower than 43.

Im on cash so with 5443 we might be on the same page :D

If i see 5433 cash im buying. Will take a small position at 5463 too.
 
Hard to pick out some support here. I have 5463. Any other ideas?

5408 but should turn at 5415

Im looking to add to shorts 5506/12 area

if we hit 5415 prior to US open then that would open a target 5200s
 
Guess you guys are chuckling in your beer at my amateurish efforts :)

FTSE opened weak vs DOW so the overnight was not a good idea and since it continued weak I killed the trades for -5 net.

As I write FTSE is about 75 weak from the relative positions at the close yesterday. So I'm looking for a long ftse opportunity and I've just caught the knife. It marginally above water atm if (when) it goes against I'll hedge with DOW.

jon
 
I had 5462 on my chart, but its an old level and you have to go back a bit to find out when it first triggered. I actually think we are headed to 5443. That's a much stronger level. The ES may have other ideas, as I think it will run to 1236.5 which should take the FTSE lower than 43.

Martin.. you asked me a few days ago about trading the German Bund.. you said that you thought the ranges were a lot smaller than say FTSE... you are right about this of course .. bund will do 40-80 prices a day depending on volatility though today we are up 180 prices !!! the thing scalpers tend to like about the Bund is a) lots of liquidity b) it behaves very, very nicely around key levels.. so if you prefer to scalp for a few prices at a time .. but with bigger size .. it is perfect!!! my experience is that you always. always need to use a stop with the Bund even if just trying to scalp a few prices, the reason is that it does have a tendency every now and again to suddenly just pop maybe 20 prices.. and of you have 50 lots in then this can hurt.
 
ok, hedged now -mids were at 5474, 11964 at the time if you're interested in checking the relative positions from there
 
Guess you guys are chuckling in your beer at my amateurish efforts :)

FTSE opened weak vs DOW so the overnight was not a good idea and since it continued weak I killed the trades for -5 net.

As I write FTSE is about 75 weak from the relative positions at the close yesterday. So I'm looking for a long ftse opportunity and I've just caught the knife. It marginally above water atm if (when) it goes against I'll hedge with DOW.

jon

Not at all. I like how your using arbitrage. Do you mainly hedge overnight?
I have been looking into since your post last night but i just cant see a way to read the direction using TA.

Do you always keep the position size 2:1? or do you calculate it to your viewed direction of strength or weakness?
 
Martin.. you asked me a few days ago about trading the German Bund.. you said that you thought the ranges were a lot smaller than say FTSE... you are right about this of course .. bund will do 40-80 prices a day depending on volatility though today we are up 180 prices !!! the thing scalpers tend to like about the Bund is a) lots of liquidity b) it behaves very, very nicely around key levels.. so if you prefer to scalp for a few prices at a time .. but with bigger size .. it is perfect!!! my experience is that you always. always need to use a stop with the Bund even if just trying to scalp a few prices, the reason is that it does have a tendency every now and again to suddenly just pop maybe 20 prices.. and of you have 50 lots in then this can hurt.

John, these are unusual times for all markets. With all of the euro crisis going on, the bond market is sure to be volatile. It is leading the equity markets right now. When I hear ransquawk saying we are breaking new levels on the bond spreads, it brings out the contrarian in me, and I think the bond market pullback has to be imminent.

I will have a further look at the bond market when I get a moment. It's hard enough just focusing on the FTSE and ES.
 
Not at all. I like how your using arbitrage. Do you mainly hedge overnight?
I have been looking into since your post last night but i just cant see a way to read the direction using TA.

Do you always keep the position size 2:1? or do you calculate it to your viewed direction of strength or weakness?

No, don't usually run overnight. You don't really need to get direction right, just the way they are moving relative to each other. At the moment, for example, I don't really care if the market continues down or reverses back up. All I want now is for FTSE to fall less heavily than DOW if it continues down, or rise more strongly than DOW if it goes up.

I treat direction as a sort of bonus. ie: after I think the relative strength/weakness has reached an extreme (and judging that is the difficult bit) I look to trade FTSE first - if that moves off in the right direction then I hold it as a straight trade and that's a bonus, if it goes underwater I hedge and it becomes a "bread and butter" trade.

jon

ps: yeah just use rough and ready 2:1
 
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