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I'm new to futures and was wondering if someone profitable and experienced could please point me in the right direction of where to get started. Basically i'd like to know what basic indicators you guys are using, what settings you have on your charts, how and what you gauge your trade entries and exits off of, and just basically useful info that I can use to get started on the right foot. I was considering signing up for a trade school but I figured I should probably save myself some money and utilize forums since they contain an abundance of knowledgeable people that are willing to share their knowledge and experience for free. I'm a pretty good self learner too so as long as I know how to get started the right way, I don't think i'll have too much difficulty picking it up. Thanks in advance for your help!
i trade in indian futures market, i mostly trade spreads or option short straddle,short guts,short strangle or any of these based on my view on market and then use future as hedge.
reason is options are slow but sellers get time decay advantage, futures are fast and sometimes opposite or sharp volatile move kills my positions so i hedge it with put or call option.
hedging helps in market to stay neutral and once sure of the direction one can take direction based trade.
We cross-posted, and I just uploaded the SLA/AMT pdf.
In a nutshell, the prices in a mean-reverting instrument cluster around a mean (actually, a median, but "mean-reverting" has become the common usage, so . . .), all of this having to do with …
A system consists of (a) a set of rules that you use to select profitable positions and (b) a set of rules that you use to manage the trade once you're in it (again, whether you call it a system, a method, a strategy, a plan, a scheme, an approach, a procedure, or a modus operandi is not as important as sitting down and doing it).
Developing a system begins with deciding just what it is you're looking for. Therefore, begin by studying price movement in real time (or at the end of the day through "replay", if your charting program offers it). By "study", I mean to observe it with intent, not just read about it or listen to somebody talk about it. You have to understand what you're looking at before you know what to look for. Note the conditions under which price rises, falls, drifts. Make every effort to avoid imposing your biases onto what you observe. You may see trading as a war, a competition, a game, or a puzzle. You may think you're out to kill somebody, outwit somebody, or are out only to detect the flow and slip into it, riding the waves as if you were sailing. None of this should be allowed to affect what you observe.
Pretend that you are watching a team sport in which you know nothing about the rules and couldn't care less about the players, much less about who wins. But you do want to understand what's going on, out of curiosity if nothing else. Your chief thought is not when you should jump onto the field and begin playing. Your chief thought centers around the following questions, primarily What the Hell Are These People Doing? So you observe.
What are they doing?
Where are they doing it?
Why are they doing it? Why are they doing it where they're doing it and when they're doing it?
How are they doing it?
What do they want to accomplish? What were they doing before?
If one observes the game long enough, he begins to discern the rules and will enter a phase where he pretty much understands what's going on but still has no interest in which team wins.
I'm in the same boat as you Jtrade, just wanted to say db's post was really great, it's perfect and i'm going to jot it down and start thinking more proactively about these things rather than simply doing it.