Welcome to NexusFi: the best trading community on the planet, with over 200,000 members Sign Up Now for Free
Genuine reviews from real traders, not fake reviews from stealth vendors
Quality education from leading professional traders
We are a friendly, helpful, and positive community
We do not tolerate rude behavior, trolling, or vendors advertising in posts
We are here to help, just let us know what you need
You'll need to register in order to view the content of the threads and start contributing to our community. It's free for basic access, or support us by becoming an Elite Member -- discounts are available after registering.
-- The NexusFi team
(If you already have an account, login at the top of the page)
Hi everyone, I've been in Futures Trading for 3 years, I started in 2023 with Binary Options Trading where I lost all my savings at the time in less than a month.
These last 6 months I've been dedicating around 6 hours a day to trading — including the trading session itself, analysis, and psychology reading. I generally trade for 1-3 hours a day at the market open. I'm not a great analyst, my analysis is often mediocre at best, but the psychological part is mainly my strength, although that doesn't exempt you from making trivial trading mistakes from time to time. I'm also starting to write everything down in a trading journal — it's something pretty simple, but I just hadn't gotten around to it until now.
I'm currently an intraday trader, looking to move toward a mix of intraday and swing trading down the line. I only trade the S&P 500, although because of my financial situation I only trade the Micro S&P 500.
I decided to join this community to share my trades and help other traders win in this business, where you can virtually do anything imaginable and make money however you want — a freedom that is denied to practically all of us throughout our lives. I'm also here to learn, mainly from macro analysis and other traders' experiences, and to have people I can be honest about my trades with.
I'm not aiming for the mansion in Key West, at least not for now — my main and only goal right now is to move out of my parents' house.
Hello — Parminder here. I trade NQ and ES on NinjaTrader 8, mostly the New York session. I mark session range, liquidity takes, and structure. Glad to join the room.
My name is Jose and I'm writing from Spain. I’m completely new to the trading world, specifically focusing on futures and getting to know NinjaTrader 8.
To be completely honest, I’ve taken a few courses in the past about things like order flow, but most of it went completely over my head! 🤦 ♂️ Right now, I’ve decided to start from scratch and take it step by step, and I'm currently focusing on studying and understanding ICT (Inner Circle Trader) concepts.
I joined NexusFi because I've heard it's the best community out there to learn and find tools (I actually ended up here looking for a simple color/drawing palette add-on for NT8!).
I'm here to read, study, and soak up as much knowledge as I can from all of your experiences.
I'm in year two of my trading journey. I remember sixteen hour days of reading every trading book I could find. I have stacks of notebooks. I took notes of everything. Then, I got punched in the face by the market repeatedly. The first year and a half I lost money. To keep it one hundred, I made every mistake possible.
I tapped back into extreme work. All screen time. Then I applied it. Now, this year, I'm break even .. January to May. All of this was strictly technicals, Japanese candlesticks, and market structure.
Only recently I started to study tape. I understand what edge is now. Because of this, I haven't placed a trade in a few months. I've been dedicating an abnormal amount of screen time learning how to read the tape, rather than continue to execute trades based on candlesticks. I am looking at SPY/QQQ.
Specifically, I'm looking at raw/unfiltered time and sales at a deeper level, rather than simply speed with green or red color. For example, I'm looking for things like the tapes behaviour during the approach to an area of interest, interaction at, and how it leaves, rather than only what happens once price is there. Analyzing things like participant behaviour through frequency, sequencing and persistence. Identifying levels from the prints themselves. I'm looking at the actual tape structure and sequence of events, essentially treating time and sales as a continuous narrative of what is actually happening in real time.
An example of the specific depth of sequence reading im talking about: Aggressive buy prints hit but produce zero immediate upward movement. Instead, they are met by sell prints down a few cents. Price then moves back up, only for the same exact pattern to repeat right away in a rapid micro-loop. Aggressive buy prints met immediately by lower sell prints, price moves up, repeat.
Surface level reading usually defaults to calling a red heavy sequence in an up move absorption. But in this rapid micro-loop, sell executions are repeatedly showing actual downward price impact, while the buy executions produce zero upward progress, even though price is moving up overall. Price can continue higher before other sequences appear.
This is a vague example, but is the type of time and sales reading im referring to.
I'm interested in finding out if there are traders/tape readers here who share this kind of approach, specifically with time and sales.
Coming from a macro/hedging background, I am currently expanding my focus into market microstructure and orderflow.
I just wanted to validate your observation: The 'rapid micro-loop' you described is a textbook definition of absorption (aggressive market orders exhausting passive liquidity without price progression). It is rare to see someone articulate the nuance of sequencing in raw Time & Sales so clearly. You are looking at the right data. Keep focusing on that narrative.
If you are interested: Following two ways to add knowledge about your topic:
Hello from Russia. Say thank you Google translator for meaning. I myself with the English at the dog. Woof woof.
In any case, glad to share experience with overseas counterparts. If you like the post, do not bother, write a response.
Your Alex.
Starting from scratch is probably the best decision if the previous courses felt overwhelming. I’d focus on market mechanics and risk management first, then one concept/setup at a time. No need to learn everything at once.
My name is Pavlo. I’m originally from Ukraine and currently live in Italy. I have a regular job, so I’m learning and trading around my work schedule.
My main focus is NQ/MNQ futures, especially scalping and very short trades. I’m interested in tick charts, order flow, footprint charts, DOM, delta, volume profile, absorption, and exhaustion. I’d also love to meet traders who trade other instruments or use different approaches.
I’m still developing as a trader and working on becoming more systematic and consistent. Trading has definitely been a reality check for me: a few good trades don’t mean I’ve figured it out. Long term, I’d like to build a career in trading, but I know I still have plenty to learn.
I’m currently awaiting an ADHD assessment. Practical examples, charts, discussions, and testing ideas help me learn more easily than large amounts of theory.
My English is still basic, but I’m learning step by step. I may use translation tools and make mistakes sometimes, but I’m happy to make the effort to communicate.
One of my main reasons for joining is to make trading friends, especially people with experience in scalping or microscalping. I’d enjoy exchanging charts, reviewing trades honestly, and testing ideas together. I respect people’s time and don’t expect free coaching or signals. I’d like to contribute too by sharing useful findings and helping test ideas.
I like the idea of traders with different perspectives learning from each other while keeping their own approaches. Being able to disagree respectfully and say, “I don’t know—let’s test it,” matters to me.
If you enjoy this kind of conversation, I’d be happy to hear from you here. Looking forward to getting to know you and hopefully making some friends!
I've been trading futures for a few years now, mostly ES/NQ, day trading through a funded account with Apex. Like a lot of people here I imagine, I went through the usual blow-up-an-account phase before actually sitting down and fixing my risk management.
Lately I've been paying a lot more attention to the funded-account side of things specifically, sizing against drawdown buffer instead of account balance, understanding trailing drawdown rules properly, that kind of thing. Also just generally interested in how payout transparency works across different prop firms, since it's surprisingly hard to verify whether firms actually pay what they claim.
Looking forward to reading through the threads here, especially anything on prop firm trust/payout discussions. Good hunting to you all too.
Trading: Hedges with Options on Stocks, ETF's and Futures
Frequency: Every few weeks
Duration: Weeks
Posts: 1,285 since Sep 2021
Thanks Given: 1,737
Thanks Received: 2,587
Hi @Pavlo and welcome to NexusFi
Your self awareness regarding the learning curve and your preference for practical testing over pure theory is a great starting point. Since you are looking to exchange charts, test ideas, and find peers for honest reviews, I highly recommend pointing your energy toward the structured resources already available here.
- Traders Hideout: These threads are designed exactly for the kind of structured, honest trade review and idea testing you mentioned.
- Your own journal thread: Starting one is often the most effective way to attract like-minded traders who want to follow your progress and test ideas alongside you.
- Instrument specific threads: Look for fellow NQ/MNQ traders in the respective forum sections; they are your most natural matches for the specific order flow dynamics you are studying.
Wishing you the best of luck in building your systematic approach and your trading career.
