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I'm creating this thread as an absolute beginner wanting to learn (and, relatively soon, trade) the ES.
I'm focused on intra-day trading, larger than scalp timeframes but rarely an overnight. I'm not edgy enough to be a scalper and don't have the pockets for multi-day swing.
I have many, many questions to ask so this isn't a journal, but a place for me (and perhaps others) to ask questions, seek advice, and get some mentoring, direction, & constructive suggestions for trading the ES in the intra-day timeframe. I'm sure that some of the questions are probably already answered on the forum somewhere so Links will be appreciated.
A bit about myself:
I'm looking forward to the challenge of trading successfully. I tend to learn best via interaction and then taking what's been suggested and testing it out and validating. I'm skeptical of things that can't be quantified, but realize the value of intuition. I have been reading the forums and have taken a few of the suggested tutorial offerings mentioned in them. I find great value in informal education that involves reading and interaction followed by "playing around" with the concepts learned.
Purpose of the thread:
I'm at the point where I need to start asking questions about things I've read and don't feel I have a good grasp of the concept or technique. Soon I'll be opening a tradeable account so I can experience some of the learning at a low (1 contract) loss level. Those lessons will be considered tuition.
Invitation to participate:
I may enter more than one Question at a time, feel free to comment on anything - even if it's old. And, PLEASE interject your own questions - you'll probably ask something that I'm not learned enough to ask yet and we'll all benefit.
Special Invitation:
I'm hoping the successful traders & thinkers (such as @Big Mike and @tigertrader and @tturner86 and @Fat Tails and @PandaWarrior and @DionysusToast and @trendisyourfriend and so many more ) in the intra-day & swing timeframes will participate to provide insight, focus, & suggestions (and even reproof when needed) for me and others who may participate in this thread. For myself, I would really appreciate their advice.
For my first question, what do y'all (Texan plural you, very similar to the northeastern youseguys) think is the best set of chart timeframes for intra-day trading of the ES? Why?
I'm thinking 5 min for the smallest (entry and exit), 15 min for general management, and 120 min for overview. I also keep a set of really long charts on another monitor for general reminder for where things have been.
More Q's coming, but I'll try to feed them in one at a time (no guarantees on that point).
Trading: Oh what a tangled web I weave, When I want to take profits in trading
Frequency: Several times daily
Duration: Years
Posts: 1,746 since Nov 2014
Thanks Given: 3,444
Thanks Received: 3,024
The cheapest tuition for me is trading SPY ETF instead of ES. I highly recommend you save 25k or whatever is needed to day trade stocks rather than jumping into futures trading. (Lower Margin requirement for futures is tempting but often deadly). Sim trade by all means, but try to go live ASAP.
I recommend BigMike's original webinar about his trading evolution and FT71's trading psychology webinars.
I was a poorly disciplined swinger last year. Instead of fixing my weakness, I tried scalping this year but soon realised it was a sucker's game. Atleast for me anyways. I am back to swinging and use 1500 tick & 15 mins charts to refine my entries and use Market profile to select my areas. I would say the timeframe or the type of chart is very personal and often irrelevant. I aim for only 1 or 2 days a trade. You can read more about it in my journal.
I suggest you continue to follow other traders journals for your questions. Ofcourse all the successful and kind traders you mentioned do chip in with useful feedbacks but I wouldn't rely too much on their direct contribution due to their busy lives. I know it can be daunting at times (unbelievably huge useful info here) but it's well worth the time and effort you put in futures.io (formerly BMT).
Good luck on your long and hopefully successful journey.
Thank you. I have taken the webinar you mentioned and read thorugh the thread of similar subject, but not yet FT71's material. I'll put that in the Queue of things to study. I'm currently working my way through Adam Grimes' TAAS course after doing his webinar and his book is next in the "to read/digest" list. Thank you for the reference. Several other books have made it into my list as well from some other "getting started" type threads.
I'm pretty sure I couldn't successfully scalp as I don't have that temprament. That's why the day-trade timeframe for me. If the ES isn't right for me, I will learn in due course. Perhaps over the course of this thread. At this time, however, the reading I've done seems to point me to the ES.
In the OP, I only mentioned TimeFrame, but I guess I should also have asked about Type (minute, vol, tick) and their associated periods as well. Thank you for making me think of that. I've been looking at the Minute charts, but I know that many look at Volume as well. Ditto for Ticks I'm sure. If you have a specific reference I'd love to look it up.
I'm reading as much as I can on futures.io (formerly BMT) and that every day. It's very full of info. Much more than I could fully digest in a short period. I'm hoping via this thread to get pointers to specific good stuff that's here related to the question as well to help focus what I should look at.
Trading: Oh what a tangled web I weave, When I want to take profits in trading
Frequency: Several times daily
Duration: Years
Posts: 1,746 since Nov 2014
Thanks Given: 3,444
Thanks Received: 3,024
You seem to be on the right track and avoiding many typical beginner's mistakes. That's a great start.
Trading is no longer sprinting for me. It's more like bodybuilding. I try to be disciplined, consistent and gently push my limits with regular rests for the muscles to grow. Effort will produce results provided I give it time.
The best advice I can give newbies trading ES is to avoid going short overnight, and be careful going long at the open at 9:30 AM. And trade small, and don't have your stops too tight, because the market is choppy and if your stops are too tight, you will get chopped up for a bunch of losses.
I do understand that the ES is a cash settlement, but I'm unsure of exactly what happens. I've tried reading numerous articles and even the CME settlement process, but I remain unclear about what I have if I hold a contract to settlement.
So,
Supposing I Buy 1 ES Contract at a price of $2000.
And further suppose at settlement the price of the ES contract is $2100.
It's almost irrelevant because most brokers won't let you hold your contract to expiration. If you don't understand the process of delivery yet I would suggest not trading ES.
I'd like to note, however, that I did already know that most brokers won't let you hold to expiration and that I'm not yet trading anything. I am still in discovery phase. The reason for the post is that I cannot seem to find this answer in a way I understand. Trying to relate a cash settlement to a truckload of pork bellies just hasn't clicked.
Education is The Point of this particular post. I would like to claify just what I'd have (loss, gain, and how much) if such a thing did happen. I'm trying to come to an understanding on the price I "buy" ($2000) with the value of the contract at that time (50*$2000 I believe) and what would be the numbers IF held to expiration. The price settlement in my example was $2100. Does that mean the contract is now valued at 50*$2100 ?
I can think, in my ignorance, of several different ending scenarios. I'd like to KNOW what the fundamental was and the fundamental I'm most concerned about is how much gain or loss would there be. I asked for math, if possible, because math is rather unambiguous.
Some questions:
When I buy a contract, am I buying a position in or a portion of a contract or am I buying the whole thing?
If I bought the whole thing for $2000 and it settled at $2100. Do I get $2100*50? That would be wonderful so I rather think not.
If I buy a position in/portion of for $2000 and it settled at $2100. Do I gain $100? If so, why talk about the 50* thing at all? This is exactly what happens if I buy and sell before settlement.
Did I miss it entirely? Thus the reason to ask for math to elucidate my understanding (or lack thereof).