Posts Tagged ‘scalp trades’

Two Short Term Scalp Trades

Wednesday, May 9th, 2012

Today is Wednesday May 9th and the markets were on the move with a host of trade setups and opportunities.

I got started in the afternoon session today and took again just two trades. The first one was for one point and was a counter-trend trade using my T-1 model, (very short term scalp). I would prefer to wait through the smaller moves, but I had little time and felt strongly in getting the small target. The next trade was a continuation of the original trend short and was good for 1.75 / 1.50 / and 1.00 point.  That was enough for another light daily goal. I did see that last trade short on the enclosed screen shot, but I just let it go.  Trading for 25 minutes with goal in hand is an easy session and nothing to complain about.

Again today, I show how the trade signals line up with the vertical lines and circle the area’s I call “turning points. The indicators only confirm the price action and it is that which we teach. The trading indicators come along for the ride.

This is always a good point to remember. Learn how things work and why they work and you will do a lot better then just following trading indicators. This is empowering and will help you take your trading to the next level. The learning does not have to come from me, but learning good market principals will help keep you moving forward. Just don’t risk your capital until you know what you are doing and why you are doing it, that is the key to this point.

I will cut my post here short today but will be back tomorrow with something more to share, so until then, trade well.

Vince

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The Market Move is On

Thursday, June 9th, 2011

Today is Thursday June 9th, 2011 and the market finally is breathing a few signs of life. Currently at 8:45 am West Coast, the S&P is trading higher at 1288.75 +12 points for the session and the Dow is up +100. We will likely see still yet higher prices for the session as the market comes off 6 loosing days in a row, something it has not done for a long time.

I was able to squeeze an hour of trading in today and hope to get back onto a regular schedule of trading my account. Some things in life we just can not control and the health of those you love always has to come first.

Let me post my trades for the day below for Thursdays session first and a few comments after that.

In a separate account, I do have a position on from last nights night trading session and that is still working. I see higher prices and will hold through any pull back. I will give an update tomorrow on how that is going. My entry was 1280 and now have a stop at just 1282. Its my attempt to make up for some of the days of trading I missed and today is the day to give it chance and hold.

In the chart above, you can see the turning points and continuation area’s as marked. This is from the end of yesterdays session to the first hour of today’s session. When trading the markets, all one needs to do is read the price action and trade accordingly. You don’t have to know to much else. We often times can project prices up and down when those reads are clear, but scalping a few points out of the market is just fine. There is no trading anxiety as you are in and out quickly.

I would have like to have had a bigger piece of that move up, but did not want to chase it. I did have an opportunity, but let it go. In one hour I picked up 4 points on three scalp trades on small size, but it counts. One thing I have learned, is don’t cry over what you think you should have had in the session. We have to not let ourselves get greedy and keep reaching. There are sessions that a trending move will add up nicely to you bottom line, but if you are always thinking, “just a little more”, to often you will loose what you have.

One key is to be selective and patient, but don’t hesitate when it comes together. In addition, if you believe to strongly that the market should do this or that, you will blind yourself to what it actually is doing. Stay open minded and just trade what you see. You have to know what to do, for sure, and if you don’t, that could a big problem for you.

Traders need to act in a way that is consistent with there order entries. If you always do different things based on how you feel, you will not like your results. Find something that works and stick with it. Best to all you and good trading.

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Risk Reward Ratio’s and Day Trading

Thursday, April 28th, 2011

The market rally is continuing from a call last week. I said that we were likely to rally on Mondays Open and it would be a surprise with an upside move. That rally is now continuing for its third day in a row into new high territory.

I started trading yesterday and continued today from the Holiday break. Things went well today and yesterday too, but I did have a few mistakes that could have easily been avoided in yesterdays trading. Basically, I tried to get out on a limit order with a better price than my stop. The two orders, were so close to each other I canceled the stop so I would not get a double fill, that is a mistake, but it does happen once in a while. I need to leave my stop and just try and get the better price if I can and if not, then risk the double fill, it would be safer that way. The other option is hit the close button and I do that at times to eleminate the problem I am talking about.

The next thing was, I tried to scale out, but hit the wrong order. I was short and needed to buy, but sold 1 adding to the problem not making it better. These kind of things do happen, but its what we do after they happen that makes a difference. The best thing to do when you have made a mistake is cover it, immediately. I did not do that, but tried to fix it by allowing for the price to heal my wounds.

Today, was a round of scalp trading small moves. I had one runner, but mostly very small moves long and short. Some were counter trend in my T-1 scalp screen, which I don’t usually do much of, but with limited moves early on, I felt the urge to act on it. The charts and trades for Tuesday and Today are below.

Today is above and Tuesday is below

If you can scalp trade a few ticks here and there and do it with low risk, keeping your overall risk reward profile to a minimum 1 to 1 trade ratio, that is acceptable. What is not acceptable is risking 6-8 ticks for 2-3 ticks of profit. There are not many trade methods that can keep your overall risk down to the level I mentioned, but this is one of them. This short term small target trading is not for everyone. I do use it as I see or feel the need to. I really did not have to go that route as there were a few good moves for several points, but I needed to be waiting for them. I missed a few of them today as you can see, but there was enough of the other to do just fine.

When the opportunities open up, you always have the ability to open up the trade for a more meaningful move. Tuesdays late session rally helped me come out ahead, but only if I left the trade open to accept the gains. I saw the move coming as per the method and that is why I let that run.

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Risk reward trade ratio’s are a guide to help balance your risk and reward, just like it sounds. If over time you are overly exposed to greater market risk than that of your reward, it will get played out with limited profit. Having a balanced approach is key to long term survival.

When scalp trading for small gains as I mentioned above, for me and my method, what is acceptable is risking 2-3 ticks for 2-3 ticks rewards. You do not always have to only target 2-3 ticks, but if the range is tight and the market stingy, then that is very much OK. Where everyone else is getting whip sawed back and fourth with losses, you are snipping off a piece here and there.

It is not always the best trading plan to do this type of trading all the time, but knowing how and when you need to, is a very big plus and does give you the advantage. I have a different screen setup than what you see above, because the objectives are different, that is my T-1 scalp trade screen.

Most often when trading the S&P, I use a 4-5 tick stop and will often close the trade out before my stop is hit one way or another. If my entries are good, I don’t have to worry much about the stops other than moving them up and just managing the trade. There are plenty of trades that a trader can risk very little and get a return of many times that risk. That may be 3, 4 or even 5 to one. Those trades do help to make up for mishaps and bring greater profitability to light.

If one’s objective is to only trade for higher risk reward ratio trades, than you will need more patients and the ability to sit through the quiet times to wait for the movers. Every trader is different and that is the beauty of my method. It is not one size fits all. Tailoring the method to match who you are as a trader is key and what I recommend to all traders within my trading method.

Sniper Day Trading is about finding low risk / high reward trades as well as small scalp trades, always still with low risk, but equal reward. What ever the market is doing, you can come out on top. The market can only go one of two ways, up or down. Finding the dominant trade direction for a small amount of time, is all we need to do. With the trade method its not that hard, without it, well, I won’t say.

Good Luck in all your trade adventures.

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Small Scalp Trades Today

Wednesday, April 20th, 2011

4-21-11;  Very Strong turn-up in the market with the  major averages flirting with new highs. We sure did see a big bounce as the next move in the plan of action I laid out last Friday. We are not currently in danger of taking out the last major pivot low, the next part in the planed layout.   One day at a time.

In today’s trading I had modest gains with my minimum daily goal met during the New York mid-day session. It was slow, but I found a few pure scalp trades, enough to post some modest gains.

With the market coming up during the night-trading, there was little energy left to make additional gains. The energy level said to play this close. Take what you can, but don’t have huge expectations. Here is were scalp trading can really give you the edge. In a non-trending choppy environment, there are low risk trades, but limited movement. Listening to the beat of the market is possible, by allowing yourself to see and feel the energy or lack of it.

Just being open and aware, of the emotions that are being swung back and forth, all the while utilizing your Sniper Style skills, to pick your mark, spot your target and go for it. Well, today’s trades below before I get carried away, Good Trading

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Scalp Trading a Slow Market – the way to go

Tuesday, March 22nd, 2011

Today’s Trades;

Monday’s Trades;

Today is Tuesday March 22nd and we saw two days back to back that were the slowest days together that I can remember in a long, long time. There was just no movement and what there was didn’t go very far. This is when scalp trading can really come in handy. A person who does not know how or is not willing to take small gains in both directions will get eaten up alive. I can only imagine, that traders across the globe just got killed in this type of market.

This is only one of the benefits of being able and willing to take what the market gives. That is the key. You can not take blood from a turnip. I think we have all heard that before. You also cannot take a trade expecting a trending move when one does not exist.

Being able to read the market and scalp trade your way through it, when the conditions say too, is the way to have a profitable day. When the market is trending, great, we can do that. When the market is choppy and trend-less, that is OK too.  I will admit, I did not like Monday’s or Tuesday’s session at all. It was difficult to sit through the session and wait it out, but I knew that is what had to be done or else, just don’t trade today. Well, I elected to exercise some extra discipline here and there to pick up back to back daily goals to start the week off. I have quiet a long streak going and will try and add to it going forward.

Today, I was a little concerned, with the first two losses in a row.  They were not the worst entries, but they were not the best. I could have taken a little more time to get up to speed with what was going on. I rushed it today, for sure especially on my first trade. Well, I can go back over a bunch of what I did not like, but I can also say what I did like and there was plenty to be grateful for.

Last Friday’s post, I did say that we had a least 15 S&P points left in this move up, and we got about 20 and now two days of pause. For the market to move back and fill the large gap opening would be normal and somewhat expected, but you have to leave the door open for a continuation move up again to another level, it is possible and I will call out the upside numbers.

If we break S&P 1193 on the upside, we could quickly see 1307 or slightly more. (That is just my opinion and not investment advise). In the night trading we are off several points to the downside, but by tomorrow’s opening that could change. If the market has a chance to break out we should recover any night trading sell off by the open tomorrow and quickly be challenging the low 1190″s area to have a shot at the upside breakout.

Be ready for anything. With two days of very quiet trading, the market is just digesting its gains and will have mustered up another big appetite for more or will feel tired because he overate. Be ready for both, because we should see good moves coming out of these doldrums.  Good trading to all.

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Fridays Scalp Trades

Sunday, November 7th, 2010

This is for Friday’s market November 5th, 2010 as the S&P closed up 3.75 and the Dow +9.

A last minute rally on Friday put the market back on top for the day and week, as things turned out well for those long the market. We hit my mental target on the daily charts of S&P 1120 with now a few points to spare. On Thursdays blog post I mentioned that we would likely push up the rest of the way to hit the 1120 S&P area I had been calling for months back. That is done and satisfied.

This market looks like it might have a little more juice in it, but I am not calling for any additional moves at this time. I would just like to see how the price action handles this new high territory. The max I could see if the market wanted to continue is rough 1148, but we may need some time to move over in the charts before we see that. As time goes by the target does potentially have more room to move, but there are many opposing forces at work here.

Just a quick note on the Fed move from last week. I knew that day would come when the gov would price there way out of the problem and they are. They put a fancy name on it, Q2 Quantitative easing. I just can hardly believe it, that they are doing this with a straight face. They have signaled to the world that the dollar is dieing and now even more so. Who would want to buy treasuries after know what is going on. That in and off itself is amazing. We gave control over to the Fed in, I believe 1913.  The Fed is a private corporation for profit and has nothing to do with them being a government agency. That would be like saying Federal Express is run by the gov.

All of this is no secret and is these days very public knowledge. It wasn’t always like that, but the Fed has gotten a lot of press these days. Somehow the markets are viewing this as a good thing. Well, it won’t always be like that. There is a lot of anger floating around the world as the dollar is the world reserve currency.

This is just want happen. The world is having a party and all the countries are invited. They are serving lemonade as the main beverage and in the beginning it tastes great. But as the night moves on, someone is adding just water to the lemonade. They keep doing it through the night hiding at first, but as it get later, they are just pouring straight water in with everyone to see. The thing is, the participating countries have put in to throw the party and now are starting to feel like they are getting the shaft.

A corny example, I know, but its still accurate. There will be some fall out for this coming. When I can’t say, but the longer it goes the worse it will be.  It has been like that for years and we will see change, that is for sure, just like it was promised.

Gold and Silver are spiking as confidence is waning in the U.S.  How it will all shake out, is not a pretty picture and won’t begin to speculate.

As traders, we need to prepare for increased volatility. That may mean, bigger moves and a little more risk to match that. It is vital to a traders survival that he or she knows where to get in with a minimal amount of draw down. Doing so, affords, gives and creates opportunity. Coming back from a 3 point loss in the S&P emini’s is at times hard to do. If it came to you in one trade, you will need the three points + additional points to make a profit. It the market is not giving it up, you have a problem. On the other hand, if you took a 4 or 5 tick loss instead, that is very easy to make up and likely can be done in one very small little move, of which happens all the time.

Trader timing is critical, which is one of the three key elements for success that is needed. The three elements are “Time” , “Space (price”) and “Energy”.  The middle one, space, is just that price moves through space to get where it is going.

I will pick up from here in tomorrows blog where I left off on this today. It is an interesting subject and is the basis for how I trade.

Fridays scalp trades below, Good Trading this coming week.

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Market Advances With More Still to Come !

Monday, October 18th, 2010

T0day is Monday October 18th, 2010 and the market did continue its advance as called in yesterdays blog with the Dow up +80 points and the S&P +3.75 points on the close.

In yesterdays blog post I said the market would likely advance even though the market at the time was down over 8 S&P future points (about 80 Dow Points) on its way to over -10 point S&P points and rallied as I thought it would. It is the start of another wave coming this week which should get the S&P to 1200. Their is a little left in this market and it is getting played out as we speak.

One statement that I could not forget from yesterdays writings was, “The rally would not end until all the shorts have covered and the longs are all invested”. That stuck to me for a while, because that is what I think is now happening. The big decline that everyone was expecting in late August/ early September, never happened and those traders and investors that went short then are the ones who are helping cover this market to new high ground. We are now around 140 S&P points above that low turning point on the S&P with a little more to go.

Everyone needs to do a little soul searching and come to the realization that the economy is being pumped up from various directions. I won’t go into what I could at this time, but just know, markets are a lot bigger than you and me. We just need to know who is playing and what is their objective to know the next move. You will never come a realization of fact until you see things as they are and not as you want them to be. Far to many people are seeing things as they hope, dream and wish, but its not about us and what we want in this world. It is about what is and what are you going to do about it. Harsh words, I know, but this is the only kind of thinking that will keep you on the right side of the market.

Their is a time to bearish and a time to be bullish. Late August in general, was not a time for a bearish position. Just like what is potentially shaping up now as not a time for a bullish position. So, be like a doctor and take the pulse and heart rate of the market. Do not see it as you want it to be, because the market is larger than you and does not really care what you or I think. Try and see the masses and what are they doing and why are they doing it. Their you will get answers as to the real intentions of what is taking place.

In today’s trading I did have a quiet morning to follow the markets. I often don’t trade the early market open, but I am trying to change a long habit of trading when ever. With a solid methodology, a trader can do this, but it could end up being more work than it has too. Meaning, if trying to trade the slow mid day portion of the day, most traders will struggle with issues. Market to slow, no patients to wait for the setup, anxiety, forcing trades are just a few problems traders will face during the 9 to 11 am West Coast time. It could serve as a good time to learn or get ready for the afternoon session or what have ya, but as a rule, traders should be very careful trying to trade during this time.

Back to how I did today. I took a few more trades than I wanted to, but enough to get what I came for. I know that on the open, the market is not always going to show its hand so quickly, so I was ready for a couple of scalp trades. The two I took, were just a little out of reach, I did not get filled on the first one and did not reach the second one when I want to get cover. It all worked out in the end and chalked up another winning day. Nothing earth shattering, but we have to take what the market gives and it was not putting out a whole lot in the early morning. The chart below.

Good trading to all, until next time, Vince over and out.

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Today’s Target Hit in S&P 1110 Market Call

Monday, July 26th, 2010

Today is Monday, July 26th and we hit the 1110 number as called in Friday blog post with precision.

Friday I called out that we would see 1110 on the open and was going to be a target area for me unload the one contract I was carrying over from the weekend. (I see I had a typo and put in 1010 and not 1110). All was well, until I moved my stop up to break even instead of leaving it where it was at -1 point. In last nights night trading the S&P pushed up and pulled back just enough to hit my stop exactly and I was out. That is the way it goes.

I started to follow the market in today’s session late, just as things started to slow down. I had a few glitches in updating to the new version in TradeStation and caused me to stay up way to late.  That caused me more pain, because the market had made some nice moves on the open as it was inching its way up to the 1110 area. I put on a few scalp trades as that was all the market was allowing as it approached the New York lunch hours. It was slow going for a long time, but what can we expect being summer and lunch time blues.

Things started to pick up about 11 am or 2 pm Eastern and we saw a nice move down to an area I called out in today’s U-Tube video, 1104/1105.  We traded right down to that and found support. I did not trade the first move back up, but waited to see if the move was real and caught the second push back up for a few points. I was still just a touch shy of my daily goal after my last trade in the video and decided to get the rest of what I needed. The market obliged and gave me the points. That brings us to the close in few minutes, as I see there was enough behind the last move to push it a touch over the 1110. With 5 minutes we look like we are going to close near or at the highs.

I do see a long sustained move, like I had been talking about in previous postings, but we may see some pull backs here and there. The surprise is going to be to the upside as the market has done a good job climbing the wall of worry. Last week there was all kinds of bad news, one thing after another and I had even posted an article called “Wall Street to climb the wall of worry”. So far, that is playing itself out. There will be obstacles in the days and weeks ahead, but we should continue.

As I mentioned in Fridays post, I am not going to be overly concerned with the large trend of the market from here. I will be focusing on the smaller short term swings long and short as they come up. I don’t want to be distracted from calling weekly cycles and the likes. I did my part at this point and saw the turn, when no one else was looking for it and it showed up as on cue.

The market showed me something two weeks ago, said we would likely see a pull back for a few days and that was a gift to those who could prepare for the bigger move that was coming. It showed up, as we have another 100 point day on the Dow and solid gains too today’s target on the S&P futures.

The market is closed and we have 8 minutes left before the after market futures closes for its 15 minute break, before reopening. We are hovering at 1110 and appears likely we will close around that number. I find it very interesting that the 1110 number I said was going to be resistance for today has pretty much proved itself to be a significant number. Tomorrow is a new day.

I have a video posted today in the U-Tube Video Gallery, top right corner of my site, if anyone cares to watch. It is not very exiting as the market is not moving very much but non the less, it shows what I was doing and thinking a bit. Screen shot below of today’s trades. Until next time, Good Trading

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Scalp Traded The NASDAQ Emini’s Today

Monday, June 14th, 2010

Today is Monday, June 14th and we had a little reversal after a nice run up of 16 S&P points.

The market ran up on the open as it continued from its night trading move higher only to top out and pull back to end the day flat. The Dow was up over 100 points and actually ended the day slightly down -20 points.

I think the move was just a move off of some new resistance levels that were touched. On the S&P it came within a few points of that 1106 resistance number that I have talked about and only now becomes even more clearly defined. The Dow is facing the same kind of resistance once it hit its high in today’s session.

Over the weekend, I looked again at all the charts that make up the Dow Jones Industrial Index and I would have to say, that what I am seeing does not look good. I do see a push up as we are making happen right now and likely over the next week or two, but I do see resistance at those middle numbers I put out yesterday, 1122 to 1142. You can pick the middle of those two and say 1132, that would be the average. I am pretty sure we will see the market trade up to those numbers and I can not help but see weakness in the charts that say, we go down pretty big. It may not be a long drawn out thing that lasts till the end of the year or something, but a big move down to around 8800 -9000 Dow at the best and then a possible big move up, taking out our most recent highs.

That is a bold prediction and I am not sure how it is going to coincide with the sentiment numbers, but that is what I could easily see happening. The first move is now up a bit over the next week or two and then a sharp fast drop down, enough to get everyone and there mother to throw in the towel and get bearish, just as we get a short squeeze back up. This is an election year and I don’t think the “powers that be”, wants to let this market tank down to new lows. The first two moves, up slightly and then down big and fast. The last move, we will have to see, because I am a roaring bear long term, but later in the year or early next.

If things change, I will update and show why it may be different, but I look at the charts as if I was looking at a tick chart of the S&P and or any other trading instrument and it just looks like that is the way it is going to go down, no pun intended.

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Today’s trading was pretty painless, as I just picked up a few scalp trades as I saw them. All winning trades here today and did scale out with size as I kept trading. I did not want to dig my way out of a loss by taking a loss with size on it. I was going to stop, but one way to keep trading is trade smaller size, so your draw-downs will not hurt your efforts much to that point.

Later in the session, I decided to try and trade the NASDAQ market and see how its movements are. I have picked one chart below, the smaller time frame to show you the trades I took in it today. The first trade was a loss, but picked up several trades in a row after that, pretty good. I was trying to trade both ways as you can see in the chart below. Down, up, down – that one I missed, but was a good trade, then up, down, and finally up.

I don’t advise this kind of trading for most people, but I did it today. In the last 50 minutes of the day, I took all the directional moves except one, which got away from me and did not chase.

I took most of the trades at the market, because I was not familiar with the fills and it was just easier to go in at the market. The one trade that was not a market order was the one that got away.

The NASDAQ market is a smaller size market. The S&P is traded in .25 points and there are 4 quarters that make up 1 point, which is $50 or $12.50 per increment. The NASDAQ also moves in .25 or quarters and 4 of them makes up 1 point. Each tick or .25 point is $5 dollars for you or against you and 1 point is $20 dollars. I think a 9 or 10 tick stop is good when trading this market and may even be giving yourself more room on the trade when compared to the S&P. That would be $45-50 dollar stop per contract traded. If you can hit an 8 point move, that would be 8 x $20 x 3 contracts = 160 x 3= $480.  Your risk if 9 tick is 45 x 3 = -135 and that is pretty good. I do like the fact that you can have a 9 tick stop and 10 tick target or higher and get the commissions taken care of, because of the smaller increments.

Even at times if you are scalp trading and going for one to one, that is 9 tick stop and say, 10 tick target or 2.50 points for $ 50 x 3 (contracts) and $ 150. Your loss is the same and your gain is the same. You are not looking for a home run here. If you pick up 3 of those little moves, you have a nice wage for the day, but that is just scalping a small piece here and there.  My trading method can definitely do that and more for those interested.

I never got to the lesson on “Day Trading Goals”, and again got on about something else. We will try again tomorrow.  I hope you enjoyed the new information on a new market. This can be done on stocks as well, no problem and if anything,  is easier to trade than the index futures. More on new markets in the coming days, stay tuned.

Good Trading to All.

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Educating Traders for Success

Tuesday, May 11th, 2010

Today is Tuesday May 11th, and the market seems to be catching its breath.

We were down slightly for the day on most of the index’s after making a run in the early session. There is a lot going on in the market and it seems to be trying to figure out what it’s next move is going to be.

There seems to be some renewed hope with the European bail out. The funny thing is, that it is our country’s money to a large extent. The way I read it, the bulk of the money is going to Germany and France to help with the Euro Dollar’s problems. Back in 2008 when the dollar had its problems , I did not see any foreign country’s coming to our aid.

I don’t want to get off on a tangent, but the foreign bankers are trying to save the Euro at all costs. It does not fit there plans for Europe and the World if the Euro fails, but the dollar can go into the tank without a wimper. There I go again. I try and not be political and I don’t mean to be, but this all has a pretty big impact on our markets. I don’t think our country can afford to spend the money they do without it coming to some sort of culmination.

At this time I can’t say when the day of reckoning is going to come, but it is, that is for sure. I don’t like to be pessimistic, but rather a realist. I am not afraid of looking for the truth as it stands. I know of many who would rather believe all is well and pretend it will all continue. The world is changing, that is for sure and to expect the status-quo is wishful at best.

Traders and investors need to diversify into other area’s of assets to safeguard themselves from the unexpected. What would have happened if the market continued to melt down at the pace we saw last Thursday into Friday. If there was a good enough excuse for the market to do that we could have seen a 2-3 thousand point decline in the Dow in a couple of days. I think we should not rule it out, but am not really calling for that now.

I heard someone say they heard financial guests say on the cable channels that this was a great time to buy? Well, maybe it is, but I don’t think I would be making any long term buying decisions right now. I don’t listen to CNBC or the news channels, as I got rid of my cable superscription over two years ago. I don’t miss it. Listening to all the experts on TV give there opinion was a little to much for me. That is not why I don’t have cable but it is a benefit, I don’t have to hear them. Most are wrong more often than not and well, I will just leave it there.

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In today’s trading I did pretty good, I had several trades and was going to quite early as I had my daily goal, but I have been trying to do some live video’s of the market action as it comes in, with commentary and an occasional trade. This is my second day of this and I do like it. I have heard from several of my students that they are learning more this way and I will try and keep it up to better help them reach a higher level within the markets. I will say, becoming a good trader does take time and commitment. The ones that really want it, will find a way to make it work. The thing is, if you have a good understanding of how the market really works and a solid trading method, it can happen much quicker.If you don’t, it could take many years still with no guarantee that you will make it.

If a trader puts time into the markets and is learning and focusing on the wrong things, it is not going to help him and often times will only hurt them. But how is a trader to know if what he is currently learning is of value or is a waste of time and money. Well, I can’t make any blanket statements because there are some good trainers and trading methods out there in the day trading world, but I think they are few and far between. I am trying to be different than the rest of the trading educators by giving a fundamental understanding of how trading really works.

Indicators are helpful for many traders, but it can become a crutch and hold good traders back from focusing on what drives the indicators, “Price”. The price always rules every time. If a trading program does not help traders to read the price as it unfolds, it can be holding you back. The markets are not random, they are very predictable, because people are predictable. The behavior of traders is no different that the rest of the population and that is why if you are able to get into there head, so to speak and know what they are thinking so that you can do the opposite, you will be on your way. Over time, you will not even have to think like that, because it will become second nature, (built into the price patterns).   If this, then that, period.

With all of that said, I have a video of my trades in my T-1 trade model. This is for short swings and scalp trades. Scalp trading can mean different things for different people, but for me it means 1 to 2 points, with an focus in the 1 point range. I take trades out of this model for more at times and still rarely ever risk more than 3 or 4 ticks on any one trade. Timing is the key and understanding when the price is going to move. When it doesn’t I get out. I don’t rely on indicators but read the price and the indicators seem to line up with my method, not the other way around. If anyone is interested, or has questions, please feel free to email me. I wish you all the very best.

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