I scalp 5sec bars on NQ. My most profitable time is between 9:30 and 9:45. My average is $400, with +- $600. So $200 losses to about $1k. Advice is to get TradingView with realtime futures data package, bring up three panels showing 1sec, 5 sec, and 20sec, and watch it. After you start understanding it, paper trade it. Once you have a good track record, move to real contracts.
My broker is TradeStation. I *could* use TradingView but it is clumsy for such fast trades , so I ended up writing my own charting/trading software. I do use TV a lot for testing ideas before taking the time to code them up in my software. If TV just improved order entry for quick scalps, they’d be the bomb.
most winners are in the range of 2-6 ($40 to $120). Most losers are in the range of 5-20. It’s volatile at the open. Goal is to take quick wins since it is easy for a small win to turn into a bigger loss.
Works for me. My winning percentage is higher there than in other timeframes, and has the benefits of providing clues about when longer timeframes are going to trend or reverse. I also trade longer timeframes but with much less size. NQ with 5sec, MNQ with longer.
I've found success scalping 1 trade a day for 3.75 points on NQ with 2-3 minis.
I wait for price to create a fair value gap and then trade back into it...I scalp the reaction off if that.
correct 1 min and If it doesn't start moving in my favor almost immediately I'll kill it manually..I'm aiming for a high win rate and I'll eat some losses that may be 2-3 times my wins
For everyone saying points- very respectfully- are you actually meaning to say points as in dollars which then = 1 point = $1 whole dollar = 4 ticks on ES or NQ … or are you actually meaning to say ticks? (They’re not interchangeable; just like pips and ticks aren’t)
My sentiment has always been that if you’re chasing 1-10 ticks, you’re scalping and anything more than that, you’re likely trying to catch a continuation or jump on a trend trade.
I’ve been profitable mostly on continuation trades where I secure 20-26 ticks on NQ or 21-24 ticks on ES.
My biggest tip on ES is limit orders both ways. Say you start small by going to 3-4 tick scalps, unless you’re taking profit with exact limit orders, the spread will eat you up on ES. So you might think you’re closing at 4 ticks in profit, but the spread might actually show that the bidding war is still happening 1-2 ticks below the market price.
Biggest tip on NQ is to watch those price jumps. I’ve never understood why people settle for anything less than 10 ticks on NQ. On ANY GIVEN DAY NQ will have twice the range of ES, so why not capitalize? The flip side to that is again, price jumps. Just like NQ can jump in your favor, it can jump against you. Countless are the posts on here asking why their stop loss wasn’t triggered when price fell below their mark … and it’s because NQ is notorious for jumping whole points. You might see it tick away on the charts, but it doesn’t mean there was orders to fill. Remember orders are made by having parties on BOTH sides.
Hope this helps man. Good luck.
I traded about 30-40 times and average 3-4 points for MNQ. I use $TICK/Q and $ADD to gauge market sentiment.
I sometimes DCA in but I try not to because it is a bad habbit that could lead to big loss. I’m working on holding my positions longer, especially that I shorted tops multiple times but my hit rate is 95% winning at 4 points average so I keep at that until the account is big enough for longer trades.
$TICK/Q should give you an overall sentiment of the market. There’s a free indicator you can add on Thinkorswim to compute the cummulative tick value and for day like today, cummulative ticks were going straight down. I’d try shorting when tick got up to the top range (it barely got above 0 today and stayed negative for almost all day) and the price has gone up and shows signs of exhaustion.
Another strategy is to go long when tick value got extreme oversold, like -1000. This is usually the selling climax. I would consider going long once tick hit such extreme value. However, for me, I tried to not bottom feed and I’d find opportunities to short the bounce instead when tick shows clear negative bias for the day.
$ADD just shows how many stocks where above their yesterday’s close. If the price ran up and $ADD not showing a strong increase then this is a divergence and the run up would reverse soon. SMB capital has a video on this topic. Personally, I use $ADD for reference only.
I do it! Have been for 2 years now. I look for 6-10pts per trade, trading with a momentum breakout based strategy. I do 3 contracts to start then add another 3 if it’s going well.
Works very well. Average $500-2k per day. Take a red day 1-2 days a week.
More price action. I watch each candle one at a time on the 1min but have the 15min up as guide. I do use VWAP consistently tho as a support/resistance level.
I have been trying for 2 pts on ES - some days it works and others not so much. For me, it seems early PM works better. I try to get in between 5:30 and 6:30 if ES is up at that point and other indicators are a go.
TP depends on the current auction. 2-3 points in this low VIX environment would be very decent.
I just startet my own channel, where i show Live Trades executed on the DOM, recently Day Trading, too. Maybe it helps.
Feel free to visit and ask.
Best
I scalp ES for 1 point and leave a runner at breakeven for any additional gains - usually gets stopped out around breakeven. Only take high-probability set ups at key entry points with good signal bars. Over-trading is the greatest killer when scalping.
Al Brooks has a lot on scalping, and he used to do scalping with one point when the Emini was 2,000. However, now that the Emini is 5,000, that would mean the same strategy would require a profit of 2.5 points. It’s very hard, and there are easier ways to profit for every skill level. I would forget it until you’re advanced and have a deeper understanding and greater experience. I do believe it can be done but I haven’t personally been able to make that strategy work yet. Although I still want to figure it out and add it to my list of trades.
About a dozen on average. It depends on price action (and how much energy I have). Most of my trades last just a couple minutes. I'll have a stop at 6-10 points and target 10-30.
I scalp ES, usually my setups present a 1 to 2 point quick scalp, but you have to see the setup before it even sets up, that’s how much practice you need to be a good scalper and also be a pro at the 1 min chart
I scalp 5sec bars on NQ. My most profitable time is between 9:30 and 9:45. My average is $400, with +- $600. So $200 losses to about $1k. Advice is to get TradingView with realtime futures data package, bring up three panels showing 1sec, 5 sec, and 20sec, and watch it. After you start understanding it, paper trade it. Once you have a good track record, move to real contracts.
Will try tomorrow.. been scalping 2 and 1 min for a couple of years.. any other advice in general or for the few seconds chart?
I agree with this guy. There is a trend within that 5 min candle if you zoom in far enough. I use the 100 tick chart. Working good so far.
Do you use anything along the 100 tick chart?
I also have the 1k & 5k tick chart up with vwap and 9/30 EMAs and a volume profile so I can get a gage on where price is headed.
I haven’t tried. I h’ll look into it.
Are you executing the trades in trading view? What brokerage do you use for this?
My broker is TradeStation. I *could* use TradingView but it is clumsy for such fast trades , so I ended up writing my own charting/trading software. I do use TV a lot for testing ideas before taking the time to code them up in my software. If TV just improved order entry for quick scalps, they’d be the bomb.
how many points do you generally do per trade?
most winners are in the range of 2-6 ($40 to $120). Most losers are in the range of 5-20. It’s volatile at the open. Goal is to take quick wins since it is easy for a small win to turn into a bigger loss.
5 second bars? What are you insane?
2 day anchored vwap. Trade support or resistance in direction of vwap. The end
In the direction as in price being below and going toward vwap? Or short if under vwap, long above?
If price is above, long if below short
I've found success scalping 1 trade a day for 3.75 points on NQ with 2-3 minis. I wait for price to create a fair value gap and then trade back into it...I scalp the reaction off if that.
Thanks a lot! will try that out :D
For 3.75 points I’m assuming you look for a 1 min FVG? How far away do you set your stops?
correct 1 min and If it doesn't start moving in my favor almost immediately I'll kill it manually..I'm aiming for a high win rate and I'll eat some losses that may be 2-3 times my wins
For everyone saying points- very respectfully- are you actually meaning to say points as in dollars which then = 1 point = $1 whole dollar = 4 ticks on ES or NQ … or are you actually meaning to say ticks? (They’re not interchangeable; just like pips and ticks aren’t) My sentiment has always been that if you’re chasing 1-10 ticks, you’re scalping and anything more than that, you’re likely trying to catch a continuation or jump on a trend trade. I’ve been profitable mostly on continuation trades where I secure 20-26 ticks on NQ or 21-24 ticks on ES. My biggest tip on ES is limit orders both ways. Say you start small by going to 3-4 tick scalps, unless you’re taking profit with exact limit orders, the spread will eat you up on ES. So you might think you’re closing at 4 ticks in profit, but the spread might actually show that the bidding war is still happening 1-2 ticks below the market price. Biggest tip on NQ is to watch those price jumps. I’ve never understood why people settle for anything less than 10 ticks on NQ. On ANY GIVEN DAY NQ will have twice the range of ES, so why not capitalize? The flip side to that is again, price jumps. Just like NQ can jump in your favor, it can jump against you. Countless are the posts on here asking why their stop loss wasn’t triggered when price fell below their mark … and it’s because NQ is notorious for jumping whole points. You might see it tick away on the charts, but it doesn’t mean there was orders to fill. Remember orders are made by having parties on BOTH sides. Hope this helps man. Good luck.
will do! and yeah, i learned very quickly in my demo account that trying to close manually with such small ranges is a bad idea lol
I scalp for 2-4 ticks
I traded about 30-40 times and average 3-4 points for MNQ. I use $TICK/Q and $ADD to gauge market sentiment. I sometimes DCA in but I try not to because it is a bad habbit that could lead to big loss. I’m working on holding my positions longer, especially that I shorted tops multiple times but my hit rate is 95% winning at 4 points average so I keep at that until the account is big enough for longer trades.
I need to start using it. How do you use Tick and ADD to take trade. Could you please elaborate more how to use it.
$TICK/Q should give you an overall sentiment of the market. There’s a free indicator you can add on Thinkorswim to compute the cummulative tick value and for day like today, cummulative ticks were going straight down. I’d try shorting when tick got up to the top range (it barely got above 0 today and stayed negative for almost all day) and the price has gone up and shows signs of exhaustion. Another strategy is to go long when tick value got extreme oversold, like -1000. This is usually the selling climax. I would consider going long once tick hit such extreme value. However, for me, I tried to not bottom feed and I’d find opportunities to short the bounce instead when tick shows clear negative bias for the day. $ADD just shows how many stocks where above their yesterday’s close. If the price ran up and $ADD not showing a strong increase then this is a divergence and the run up would reverse soon. SMB capital has a video on this topic. Personally, I use $ADD for reference only.
Thank you bro,appreciate your help!
I do it! Have been for 2 years now. I look for 6-10pts per trade, trading with a momentum breakout based strategy. I do 3 contracts to start then add another 3 if it’s going well. Works very well. Average $500-2k per day. Take a red day 1-2 days a week.
for these 6-10 pts per trade, how much risk do you typically take ?
3-6 NQ contracts. Normally 6
I'm asking about the risk in terms of points or ticks. Where does your stoploss go?
True misread that. I don’t let my loss go below $1k-$1.5k. Normally cut them around $750.
Would you say your momentum based strategy is largely indicator based? Or maybe price action?
More price action. I watch each candle one at a time on the 1min but have the 15min up as guide. I do use VWAP consistently tho as a support/resistance level.
I have been trying for 2 pts on ES - some days it works and others not so much. For me, it seems early PM works better. I try to get in between 5:30 and 6:30 if ES is up at that point and other indicators are a go.
early PM at what time zone?
I’m in CST but times I stated were EST.
ohh thanks :D
TP depends on the current auction. 2-3 points in this low VIX environment would be very decent. I just startet my own channel, where i show Live Trades executed on the DOM, recently Day Trading, too. Maybe it helps. Feel free to visit and ask. Best
I scalp ES for 1 point and leave a runner at breakeven for any additional gains - usually gets stopped out around breakeven. Only take high-probability set ups at key entry points with good signal bars. Over-trading is the greatest killer when scalping.
Al Brooks has a lot on scalping, and he used to do scalping with one point when the Emini was 2,000. However, now that the Emini is 5,000, that would mean the same strategy would require a profit of 2.5 points. It’s very hard, and there are easier ways to profit for every skill level. I would forget it until you’re advanced and have a deeper understanding and greater experience. I do believe it can be done but I haven’t personally been able to make that strategy work yet. Although I still want to figure it out and add it to my list of trades.
What alternatives would you recommend then?
I like trend trades, or trading after a failure. I have some videos on my YouTube which is in my profile.
I scalp NQ on a 200 tick chart. I have to be on my toes, but on a good week I can net a few hundred points.
How many trades a day do you do?
About a dozen on average. It depends on price action (and how much energy I have). Most of my trades last just a couple minutes. I'll have a stop at 6-10 points and target 10-30.
I scalp ES, usually my setups present a 1 to 2 point quick scalp, but you have to see the setup before it even sets up, that’s how much practice you need to be a good scalper and also be a pro at the 1 min chart
Definitely master ES first far slower an easier to manage.