(binned per thread starter’s request) Day Trading Micro Futures

Starting this thread for anyone interested in day-trading micro futures mainly from a technical analysis perspective. Emphasis will be on MES, MYM, MNQ, MGC and M2K.

All styles of trading are welcome. No limits on chart setups, indicators, etc. You're welcome to explain your strategy but it's not required.

Demo and live traders welcome.

Just a friendly thread for micro future traders to share and learn from each other.

Good luck!!!

Something I'm watching on MGC. This is 3 minute chart.

Hi Winston,

Well, IMHO, micros simply don't work for scalping 1-3 ticks from the DOM, because of their much higher commissions, proportionally speaking. I mean, 1/10 the size/value and margin requirements, but with the same data costs and about 1/2-1/4 the commissions (so 2-3x of the tick).

Totally absurd!

Can't say I'm a scalper. Yeah I agree, it's definitely not worth 1-3 ticks. I trade market structure with a minimum 2-3x cost as target then trail it until profit stopped.

Hello Winston,

Great thread sir!

Took a shot at a simple retracement play. Was initially going to hold until the 127 extension, but I didn't want to get greedy in a very heavy bear market.

Some after hours fun!

Exited after the short one to one completed (purple lines).

Snagged a couple quickies this morning before the bottom fell out.

Was a pretty good day, volatility has been very high this week especially the past three days. Had to stop trading after the early morning session due to a long list of errands that need to get done asap . Enjoy the long weekend everybody!

Generate income for life, for retirement, for living. Whether your goal is to make an extra $100 or $200 a week, or to learn to day trade for a living - For the first time, you can learn day-trading without need a lot of money or taking as much risk.

What is Reward:Risk or Risk:Reward?

1. What does a R:R of 3:1 mean? It means that I desire to win 3X the amount I risk. It's important to understand that R:R is not the same as win rate or lose rate.

2. Ask yourself the question: How much do I want to make given a certain amount of risk? If I risk x pips how many pips do I want to make given that risk?

3. To better understand let's take a fixed risk of 20 pips with a fixed reward of 60 pips (1:3). To be perfectly clear on any given trade I will risk a max of 20 pips (mandatory SL of 20 pips) and not close the trade unless I make 60 pips (mandatory profit target 60 pips). No management of trade allowed.

Scenarios showing value of Reward:Risk of 3:1

If I get stopped out I lose a max of 20 pips. If I profit I make a max of 60 pips.

If I lose one trade then I need to win one trade to recover my loss and profit with 40 pips.

If I lose two trades in a row then I need to win one trade to recover my loss and profit with 20 pips.

If I lose three trades in a row then I need to win one trade to recover my loss and break even.

If I win one trade I bank 60 pips. I must lose 3 times in a row to wipe out my one win. (note this is a total of 4 trades).

If I win two trades I bank 120 pips. I must lose 6 times in a row to wipe out my two wins.

Win Rate with a R:R of 1:3

If I win one trade then I must lose 3 trades to break even. This is 1 win followed by 3 losses or a total of 4 trades. This is similar to saying that I need to win 1 out of 4 trades or 25% win rate to break even.

Therefore if I win one trade and lose 2 trades I come out ahead by 20 pips. This is a total of 3 trades or 33.3% win rate% and is profitable.

Ultimately each trade is important.

Risk:Reward or reward:risk is the key to profit or loss in the long term.

What does a reward:risk of 2:1 mean?

Let's use a mandatory 20 pip SL and mandatory 40 pip profit target. This means I plan to win a minimum of 40 pips for a risk of 20 pip loss.

If I lose one trade I lose 20 pips. If I win one trade I win 40 pips and therefore make up the 20 pip previous loss and net a profit of 20 pips. (note this is a total of 2 trades)

If I lose two trades and win one trade I will breakeven.

This means to be minimally profitable I must win one out of two trades or 50%.

What does a reward:risk of 1:1 mean?

We'll use a mandatory 20 pip SL and a mandatory profit target of 20 pips. This means I plan to win a minimum of 20 pips for a risk of 20 pip loss.

If I lose one trade I lose 20 pips. If I win one trade I win 20 pips making up the 20 pip loss and therefore breakeven.

If I lose one trade and win 2 trades I make up the one trade loss and net 20 pips.

In this case I needed to win 2 out of 3 trades in order to profit 20 pips. This is a total of 3 trades. Again I needed to win 2 out of 3 trades meaning I need a win rate of a 66.67% to be minimally profitable with a 1:1 R:R.

R:R is probably the first thing a trader should consider in a trading plan.

Focusing on win rate is irrelevant if you don't know what R:R you are dealing with. You can win 90% of your trades and still be unprofitable. Conversely you can win only 25% of your trades and still be profitable.

Every trade must consider the probability that the trade will reach the desired profit target. The validity of one's trading strategy will be quickly revealed given the R:R.
Therefore R:R is a good tool to validate one's trading strategy.

ES Roll from September to December very evident today, good support at 3393 on the December. Looked like a nice r:r trade back up to top of channel..

tp fast. wish they were all that easy.

Does anyone (from EU) use AMPGlobal to trade the micro e-mini s&p500 (live)? If so, I would appreciate if you could tell me the speed of execution (what the mt5 terminal says in "done in ... ms" in the 'journal' tab).

about 240.693 ms

Many thanks! Looks okayish..