Contract Considerations for Day Trading the ES Emini

It garners more trading volume than any emini contract on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, and has run away (in trading volume) from any other futures contract currently traded.  It the pint sized version of the S and P contract that traders have flocked to in recent years.  Better yet, it is specifically designed and priced for the individual trader.  What’s not to like?

I spend a decent amount of time in trade rooms, helping novice day traders develop their trading style.  One thing I have noticed, especially among the novice day traders, is their lack of awareness of exactly what they are trading.  So I thought I would write an article that gives the very basics of the ES contract.  

What is the S and P 500?  You would be surprised at how many traders can’t definitively answer this question.  The S and P 500 is a capitalization-weighted index of the 500 largest, publicly traded, large-cap stocks in the United States.  The index has been around since 1957.  The index is calculated and published by Standard and Poor’s, hence the S and P in the title.  Incidentally, the index reached it’s highest point in March, 2000 at 1552.87.  In 2010, it was trading in the 1100 range, a far cry from it’s apex.

The ES emini contract was established on Sept. 9, 1997, and has grown steadily since that date.  Some specifics on the contract are:

1.  The contract months for the ES are
a.  March         =H
b.  June            =M
c.  September  = U
d.  December   = Z

Notice the contract months are designated by letters, and the contract designation is calculated by combining the letters with the ES designation, the month, and finally the last number of the year.  For example, ESM0= the ES contract for June in 2010.  Once you trade the ES for a period of time this nomenclature becomes second nature.

Many have been confused by the pricing model used for the ES contract.  It is fairly simple.  The ES emini is one fifth the value of the traditional S and P contract, so each point is worth $50 dollars, as oppose to $250 per point on the big contract.  Each point is divided into ticks or one fourth point, or $12.50 per tick.  So, 4 ticks at $12.50= $50.

The contract expires at 8:30 a.m. on the third Friday of contract month. (March, June, Sept. Dec.)  It is fairly normal for traders to have abandoned trading the contract about two weeks before the expiration.  Most futures brokerages  announce the date of switch over to their clients, so there is generally not the confusion that you might expect at contract expiration.  If you are a day trader, it is imperative that you switch to the new contract prior (preferably the above mentioned two weeks) and not trade the ES emini right up to expiration.  Most of the volume evaporates from the contract on the switch date, and you could run into having make good delivery of the full delivery requirement of the contract.

The clear advantage of the ES emini contract is the tremendous liquidity, and thus you should never see slippage as a result of the contract trading thin.  More than a million contracts are traded on an average day, which is astounding volume when taken against some of the thinner emini contracts offered.

The ES emini contract on the Chicago Mercantile Exchange, which has been a true innovator in the emini arena.  The CME Globex is the actual home of the contract, and it trades during regular trading hours, takes a short break, and then trades all night until the opening of the next days cycle.  The actual hours of trading are:

Monday-Thurs  5:00 p.m.-3:15 p.m. & 3:30 p.m.-4:30 p.m.
Sunday              5:00 p.m.-3:15 p.m.

Margins requirements vary by firm and whether you are trading intraday or holding contracts overnight.  For inraday traders, you can find margin requirements as low as $400/contract and as high as $3000/contract.  Of course, the lower contract margin requirement may tempt some traders into over trading their futures account, and this can be a real problem.  In any event, the contract margin requirements vary greatly.

As you can see, the ES emini contract is a versatile and popular equity trading instrument.  We have reviewed the monetary basis for the contract, as well as the calender specifics for trading.  We have pointed out the margin requirements and trading hours, now all that is left is for you to perfect your trading style and enjoy trading this flat-out-fun trading instrument.

I endorse a state of the art trading program for beginners at Trading Concepts, Inc It’s an awesome product that will have you well on your way to success. Plus, it has a money back guarantee…you have nothing to lose and thousands to gain.

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/day-trading-articles/contract-considerations-for-day-trading-the-es-emini-1734824.html

So you want to make money at home Dat Trading

Day traders are those people who deal with shares on day to day basis with the sole objective of making some quick easy money.Traders are those short term buyer who indulge in buying and selling of shares and stocks and keeping a close watch on the price fluctuations of the market.

The traders generally close up the transactions at the end of the day so that their risks are minimized for the next day. Nobody knows how the market will open the next day and what will be the prevailing price of various securities. This a way of managing risks when the stock market shuts for the day. At times if there are great fluctuations they may even close the deal within minutes of buying the shares and thus making a quick profit.

There are estimates that about 2, 50,000 people operate from home.

However in spite of tall claims no one really knows whether the day traders finally make any money or not at the end of the day. Nobody really publicly announces his balance sheet at the end of the day and there is no available statistics regarding the number of day traders operating in the market.

Most studies have pointed you the fact that the traders on the whole lose money in the stock market but there are stray instances of successful trading too. The percentage of day traders losing money is higher in cases of those who are new to it. Apart form this there are some firms where day traders lose money for unknown reason. Only a small number of firms make little money and a very small percentage of day traders actually make big money.

Statistics also point out to the fact that those day traders who operate from home tend to lose more money than those who operate through a professional stock broker’s firm.

Making money by day trading has nothing to do with intelligence. No matter how much you study the trends and the various financial reports, it is purely a matter of luck in the end. There are so many unforeseen factors which influence the value of stock that no one can accurately predict its future swing.

Paul Ingersole is an Australian based business person who enjoys writing.Paul discovered a great system that makes small continuous recurring profits using the internet.You can see Google Sniper at Paul’s website

http://www.guruswipe.com

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/day-trading-articles/so-you-want-to-make-money-at-home-dat-trading-1687771.html

Forex Day Trading – How to Succeed in Forex Day Trading

Forex trading is the largest known financial market. Day or night, it doesn’t really matter; the trade goes on even as half of the world is asleep. It offers a lot of opportunities for many organizations and individuals to make profit. There are many day traders in the market, and if you think you can do it, why not join the day traders.

Once you decide to start to day trading, don’t expect to learn everything about it in an instant. You will surely need to learn for some time, and you need to exert a lot of effort. Practice makes perfect, and forex trading requires a lot of it.

Before using real money, you can practice through simulated trading and do a paper trade. Here you can incorporate all your trading techniques and see if they actually work.

Don’t be a scared to lose a certain amount of money, because any trade involves a lot of it. But it doesn’t mean that you should not limit your losses, you can make use of stop orders. And most importantly, you should learn from your past losses.

A good trader by day should be disciplined. Make discipline a habit in order to make sound decisions, and act in accord with trading systems/strategies. This way, you can do your trade in a consistent and reliable manner. Certain situations require an individual to make decisions based on their pre-set criteria and parameters.

You should make it a point to habitually follow your trading system/plan; this way you can effectively evaluate the results of your plan. If your expectations are not met, perhaps its time that you make certain adjustments and fine tuning, so that your plan will still be of good use in the future.

Don’t let your emotions rule you, especially when you’re making trading decisions. A day trader should always be disciplined, and once you attain your objective, leave the market first. Oftentimes people plunge in deeper because they are influenced by greed and fear.

There are also day traders who are quite reluctant to lose money. For instance your stock goes down, and you’re still hoping that after some time it will rise again. And to your surprise, the share price goes further down. If only you were not reluctant to lose money, you could have sold it the first time its price went down, and prevent further loss.

A day trader should leave no room for fear and greed to take over; otherwise, this will be the key to your losses.

If you’re serious with your day trading, you can also do it at home. You would need hardware and software requirements to put a sufficient platform at home for online trading.

For your hardware requirement, you would need a computer with a Windows XP operating system or the like. The monitor should not be less than nineteen inches.

You must have a fast internet connection because day traders need to make fast executions and confirmations of the trade. They also need to receive and deliver quotes, news, and other pertinent market data. A fast internet connection allows you to make your day trading in a timely fashion.

Execution services are available online, and it comes in two types: the internet-based discount brokers and the online systems or the EDAT. The first type varies on how customer orders are executed, reviewed, and confirmed. This causes delay in completing a trade. On the other hand, the EDAT enables the trader to contact specialists directly. This results to a much quicker execution and confirmation of the orders.

Software platforms that are especially designed for day traders are often used by the more serious ones because real time data are usually provided like stock ticker and quotes, market indices and averages, charting, market stories, and price alerts. However, you would need to make monthly payments because this type of software usually charges fees.

Becoming a day trader is easy, but only if you are quite serious with this kind of endeavors. Like any type of trade, it requires dedication, time and effort. If you are able to put all of these things together, then you will reap profits that you’ve never imagined.

Want to find out more about forex day trading please visit : Surefire Trading Challenge

I have done the hard work for you and recommend the best forex trading on the market.

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/day-trading-articles/forex-day-trading-how-to-succeed-in-forex-day-trading-1649938.html

How to Enter and Scale Out of an ES Emini Trade

My observation is that most day traders buy and sell with market orders.  This strategy tells your broker or platform to buy when you execute an order as soon as you hit the enter button on your computer and buy immediately at whatever price the market is trading.   I want to qualify this before getting too far down the road, I trade in a scalping style and run reasonably tight stops and try to let my winners run.  Of course, who does not try to let their winners run?  Many people, believe it or not, especially if they are to heavy on the number of contracts they are trading relative to their futures account balance, trade not to lose, as oppose to maximizing their profit potential.  They are fearful, and trade defensively.  It’s not unusual to see a fearful trader trade the ES contract and bail at one point, even though the market is signaling there is good potential for the trade to continue in the direction of the trade.  They just want out before something bad happens.  Needless to say, trading in a fearful condition is not an enjoyable experience and makes for a long day.

Let’s take a moment and talk a little about a strategy for entering trades.  We will assume you have identified a potential trade to the short side and are ready to take that trade.  Instead of putting a straight market order in place and buy at whatever the market is trading at when your order is filled, why not set your short entry several ticks above the current market price and let the market come to you?  Granted, you run the risk of missing out on the trade if the price dive bombs straight down, but that is a rare occurrence.  Even in a trending market, the price tends to bounce around and you are likely to get filled at your buy order above the market price.  You just saved yourself a half point.  You can look at your Average True Range Indicator to see how the range of the market has been and base your entry, to a certain degree, in a manner within the range.  In dead flat markets, though, this may not be such a good strategy.  Then again, I am not very excited about trading flat and choppy markets anyway.

Now let’s talk a bit about scaling out of a trade.  If you have read any of my articles you know that I usually have a specific profit target in mind and a specific stop loss point.  In this example I am going to trade 3 contracts and my profit target 15 ticks on the ES Emini contract.  On a trade like this one I will generally scale out of the trade.  A good trading platform will allow you to set specific strategies for selling at different prices.  I use Ninja trader, and I can preset my exit strategy as follows:  I am going to sell 2 of the contracts at 10 ticks profit and 1 contract at the 15 tick profit target I had in mind.  You can use any variation of selling strategies you feel comfortable with and most good trading platforms allow up to 3, sometimes 4, separate levels to scale out of your trade.  You can preset these strategies and name them in a manner which will allow you to choose which one you are going to use simply by clicking on the strategy you will employ.  For example, this strategy on my platform I named 3×10x15.  It’s my own nomenclature, but I know this means 3 contract with exits at 10 and 15 ticks.  I generally exit a larger portion of my contract on the first exit to lock in a nice profit and let the last contract run.  I can even move the stop on the single contract if I see a market start a sharp move in the direction I am trading.  

One of the maxims I live by is to never let a winning trade become a losing trade, and scaling out of a contract is an excellent way to assure you lock in a nice profit while allowing yourself the latitude to let a contract run.  Needless to say. there are an endless number of potential scaled exits you may employ.  In my trading, and I cannot fully explain why, I tend to trade an odd number of contracts and lock in the majority of my contracts at the first exit point, then manage the remainder of the contracts as the trade develops.

Entering a trade in the proper fashion and scaling out of the trade is an idea you may wish to employ in your trading, especially if you are trading out of fear.  (on the other hand, if you are trading overly fearful, it might be wise to take a break from trading and regroup)

On single contract trades I generally just bracket trade, as no scaling is possible with a single contract.  Try buying at the price you want with the method above and scaling out of a trade and see if it doesn’t prove to be a profitable strategy for you to employ.  It does give you a bit more control of the trade, and incrementally lowers the risk in the trade.

I endorse a state of the art trading program for beginners at Trading Concepts, Inc It’s an awesome product that will have you well on your way to success. Plus, it has a money back guarantee…you have nothing to lose and thousands to gain.

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/day-trading-articles/how-to-enter-and-scale-out-of-an-es-emini-trade-1641066.html

5 Tips for Fighting Day Trading Burnout

If you are like me, you get to see a good number of charts everyday, sometimes hundreds.  In addition, you may be actively day trading the ES Emini contract, perhaps in dual times frames, or a host of other configurations.  Why do I go through this routine everyday?  Day trading is my passion, and I suspect if you are reading this short article, trading is a passion for you, too.

But having a trading passion does have a downside.  Too many charts.   A couple of poorly thought out trades.  More charts…you can suffer from day trading burnout.  It has happened to me on a regular basis, at least once a year.  I feel like I am just worn thin as a result of looking at charts and trading indicators and sitting in front of a computer for hours.

And I don’t think there is anything terribly unusual about becoming burnt-out, even with a activity you love.  As a matter of fact, it is to be expected.  I find my decision making process is greatly impaired when I am not excited about trading, and the results are usually indicative of that fact.

So what do you do?  That’s easy to talk about, but tough to implement:

1.  Stop trading for a few days.  This is one of the toughest things to do.  For many, trading is the way they make a living, so stopping trading stops the income.  However, if your trading effectiveness is suffering as a result of burnout, stopping day trading is the smartest course of action.  Read some books, exercise, or spend some leisure time in the manner you enjoy most.  The important point is simple, stop trading until your state of mind is correct.

2.  No matter how hard we try, day traders often get into bad habits that can result in unacceptable losses.  This is where the trading journal (with the days charts saved) can be very crucial.  Look at your trades with an open mind, as if they were someone else’s trades.  Do the entries and exits make sense?  Even more important, are the entries and exits compatible with the parameters of your trading system?  Be honest and thoroughly examine your trading results.

3.  Take a close look at the market from an objective viewpoint.  Has something changed?  Often times you will become accustomed to day trading in a trending market and the markets demeanor will change from the trend.  Since you may have your mind set fixed from months of trading a certain market, the change in market fundamentals may be sabotaging your trades.  Is the market still trending?  Take a look at the market from different time frames for a realistic point of view.  Look at daily, weekly, monthly charts and see what information you may be able to glean.  Has the VIX changed drastically?  These are all questions you need to answer before you resume trading.  The market can change personalities quickly yet subtlety, if you have been counting on a trending marketing and possibly entering trades of higher risk because you assume a certain trend, you need to reconsider your strategy.  Get back to the parameters of your personal trading system.

4. If you burnout is debilitating, take a week vacation and go somewhere and don’t even think about trading.  I love to fish, and there is nothing more relaxing than a nice trip to a remote part of the country and test my skills against salmon, or trout, or bass…you get the idea.  Don’t give trading a thought.   Many times on trips of this nature I lose track of the day and date; that is when I know that I have reached a nice relaxed state, especially if I haven’t given trading any thought.  When I am fixated on fishing or hunting, not trading, I know my mind has cleared some of the muddle I have accumulating over many months of trading.   Or take a great family vacation, or take your wife or significant other to an exotic beach resort…all these things are wonderful ways to break the monotony of day trading for months on end.   Clear your pipes out.

5. I think this is the most important step, call your mentor and ask for his advice.  Perhaps he will want to review your trades.  If you trade the same contract, he will be familiar with the trades he took that day and the market action of the day.  He may be able to shed some light on what he thinks you may do to improve.   If you decide on a break in trading, call your mentor before you start trading again.

Ultimately, trading is about confidence, and when you are burnt out you have generally lost your confidence.  It is very difficult to trade when you are indecisive.  This is not a business that lends itself to indecisiveness.  You can get your confidence back, and that is an important point to remember.  The secret is realizing when things are not going well and taking time to analyze the cause of your burnout.

 

I am a long time trader at both the retail and institutional level, and still trade most mornings, but I also enjoy writing articles about successfully trading eminis and sharing the little bit I have learned

I endorse a state of the art trading program for beginners at Trading Concepts, Inc It’s an awesome product that will have you well on your way to success. Plus, it has a money back guarantee…you have nothing to lose and thousands to gain.

Article Source:http://www.articlesbase.com/day-trading-articles/5-tips-for-fighting-day-trading-burnout-1629809.html

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