Scalping the Dow

All trading

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schoe said:
The last few days I have been doing quite well scalping the Dow for 5/10 pts a time using a stop the same size as my profit target and just using price action, support and resistence and no indicators. (using IB one pt spead)
Is this a feasible strategy long term, are there any books to read on scalping techniques or is there any software anybody recommends.
I have never done this before and you always read to leave it well alone as its too difficult but I'm not sure why as momentum always seem easier to guess in the short term .
I have been trying to only trade with the major trend of the day and using fifteen minute charts for the s/r and one minute to time the entry and exit.
My win/loss is 80/20 is this beginners luck?
Click to expand...

Yes you are doing well,stay out of chat rooms and do lots of chart look backs at night till your eyes bug out.
Be careful though this current index market is not typical at all.

Watch for time direction.

Be aware that these watching these trading chat rooms is liken to watching children play Doctor and Nurse,,they dont know what they dont know.

All tarding is actually very simple,the players and the folks parasiting on them make it 1000 times more complex that it is.

If anyone wishes a simple visual signal that works on all markets and time frames excepting the FX (which is a scam market) please ask..put me out of my agony watching the blind leading the blind..not intended to sound arrogant but heh those who will listen will move ahead 6yrs..
 
Gully said:
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If anyone wishes a simple visual signal that works on all markets and time frames excepting the FX (which is a scam market) please ask..put me out of my agony watching the blind leading the blind..not intended to sound arrogant but heh those who will listen will move ahead 6yrs..
Click to expand...

Sounds very interesting Gully, please enlighten............

Dave
 
[If anyone wishes a simple visual signal that works on all markets and time frames excepting the FX (which is a scam market) please ask..put me out of my agony watching the blind leading the blind..not intended to sound arrogant but heh those who will listen will move ahead 6yrs..[/QUOTE]

Yes - please tell
 
Not helpful comments there. Even trading part time/eyes shut/not concentrating,on SB I can take more than 40 points a day.Sometimes.... Sometimes there isn't 40 points to take unless youscalp on DA. Like Marcus says, 100 points off the news...ok ok nearly. No, I didn't get the short in, I don't like them, but I nailed the bottom and the top.
As for the chat room, it depends on what you want. If you need some hand holding or guidance to help you on your way, It's a good place to be. If you want to be a prima donna, find your own audience. Some people, I know, cannot trade and actively participate in a chat room. The distraction is too much. I agree with that too, as I can't concentrate if/when I'm trading seriously. But then I don't have to trade for a living so I can cut it both ways.
As always, I try to put both sides of the arguments forward so that the really clever ones among you can make a better informed decision.

Gully, show me the signal, I want to move ahead 6 years.I agre with you about reading back charts till you're sick of them.....
 
Yes I agree marcus, Tell me when you scalp the Dow, what time period you use, is it 5 min or a tick chart or a combination of the two.Also what kind of methoud you you use to scalp.

Once you have posted up how you scalp. I will post up my scalping methodology for you to take a look at.

Regards,

CJ
 
With respect , 40 -100 points from the dow doesn't tell the full story , whether scalp or not.

it's all about risk per trade , and return on risk capital . surely this is basic knowledge that should not be glossed over by individual trades.

If my I am swinging the dow and my stop is 50 pts , and I profit 40 on that trade then the rew / risk is less than 1 . over the course of time , what's to stop me from getting as many losers as winners , thereby netting my a loss overall ?

nothing. and this applies no matter how big the individual gain is, you could still take 10 losers in a row ! I've done it and I'm a net profitable trader.

bottom line : it's all about risk per trade , and return on risk capital , and a large part of that will be based on trade selection technique.
 
It's all about NOT taking stupid trades. That takes time, experience and patience. I'm sure Marcus would agree that taking 5 here there and everywhere can be done with almost no risk.
CJ Give up on this show me yours and I'll show you mine. That's petty in the extreme. Have you EVER seen me say that? No, and you never will. I give and expect nothing in return. My reward is receiving personal thanks from various people who have benefited from what I give. If someone wishes to keep secret how they trade, that's their choice. Just how hard can scalping be? I doubt whether most could put down in writing their methods- it's mostly flying by the seat of your pants. I know I couldn't......Reward to risk? I don't have time to think about it until after the event. I know the risk will be minimal. The reward I can sometimes see, other times it's non existent and I have to wait and see what turns up.
This is not what is taught in books and why beginners get eaten alive.
 
I agree, too many people who post here state what will work or does work. What they neglect to point out is that it works for them but may not work for others.
 
There's only 1 certainty in life : risk .

even if you take a couple of points here and there , there's still comms . how much is that per trade ? 1/2 a tic ? if that's the CBOT dow then it's half a point, last time I used it .

so a few points here and there will be haved immediately by comms , w/o the silly trades .

one also cannot avoid outright losers even it's 1tic . add the comms , the rew/ risk is less than 1 on an individual trade basis .

one must expect a few losers regularly , that's realistic , even if they are a string of 1 tics. it just sounds like a lot of work for not so much reward . scalp may give you low risk per trade but the reward will be low too.

low risk / low reward . ok for some but not me .

That's just my personal choice and I'm not knocking any scalper , but I'm trying to get a clear picture of the rew/risk ratio at hand .
 
sorry , the comms for the emini dow cbot is not 1/2 a tic , more like 0.8 of a tic ( $8 per order refco ) , which makes things worse.
 
$2.06 per side on IB

i.e. around a point round turn / per trade per contract

JonnyT
 
Here is my earlier scalp effort if anybody is interested.
 

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" around a point round turn / per trade per contract "

excuse me , this doesn't seem to make sense .


if the comms are 1 pnt per RT , then it is 0.5 pnt per trade , since 1 buy and 1 sell trade = one round turn .

so even then , your costs are 50% your profits even if you scalp the spread.


and what contract ( dow emini ? ) is this and which broker is it ?
 
The point of all this. Is that marcuse said and others he can make 400 to 700 points a day, all im saying prove me wrong. i have scalped in the s&p pit in 1990 and i cant remember nobody doing this.by making 400 points a day.yes the markets is more voitil now but also you risk us gone up. Scalpers always seek the edge, buying at the bid and selling at the offer, off floor traders cant do this, Scalpers in the pit most of them locals and not got the big money to move the markets like the commercials.

ITS ENORMOUSLY DIFFICULT ESPECIALLY WHEN THE MARKET Running, scalper can make money day in day out, but on a trend day he will get killed and can give most half of is profits back. The basics of my method, is to inherent flexibility dont take any old signal when the market shows sign of a sustain move, I may trade 30 to 50 lots, on days when liquidity dries up I limit my self to 5 to 10 lots. Volatility, volume, other markets. key stocks-these are the clues that can help you form an opinion on the market. tip on finding bottom or tops. if the markets sell off and the buyers throw in the towel you have probably seen the low for the move, The pros wait for the signs and risk their money that have probabilities behind them, but make sure to trade this the market is some sort of an up trend.

I have given some if my ideas, anyone wish to add to this

CJ
 
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Nobody wants to add to this. My thinking structure must be different to most I would say.
Remember it not about making points to make the big money, it's understating SIZE that's counts, or is everyone playing this game as a hobby?

CJ
 
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