Trend trading the e-mini S&P futures is easy once someone, like me, shows you how.  First we start off getting free live charts from your broker, then we check out the time delayed charts available for free like BIG CHARTS.  Switching off between these two charts will allow you to see a trend developing that you can latch onto and grab more than the usual 1-2 points most traders try to attempt getting with day trading.  Learn to trend trade the day trade!   

Remember , markets make their moves near the hour and on the half hour.  So check both the live and time delayed charts about 10am – 11am for starters,  And track constantly until you have a trend brewing that you can see and follow for a trade.  Grab 4-6 points with a 7 point stop from your entry – long or short.  Always use a stop to protect you and protect your trading monies.   

Paper trade first with your live charts and your delayed charts.  Once you get good you can start trading with real money 1 contract at a time to begin, then move to two contracts and stagger one at two points and one at four points to get six points in the space of 4 points.  After you get good, you can trade for other people and make $1,000′s a day legally trading for other people after you register with one of the regulatory authorities governing futures for FREE.   

Forget trying to grab 1-2 points day trading, that’s tedious and will lead you to ruin.  Be smart – follow the trend and remember:  The trend is your friend!   

Learn and Prosper!   

- About the Author: Please see my websites:  www.alignedcapitalventuresllc.com  , www.tradeforothers.com and www.alignedcapitaltradingllc.com  Article Source

It goes without saying that every e-mini day trader prefers to trade a trending market, they are the easiest to trade and have the highest probability trades for success. Unfortunately, markets tend to trend only about 30% of the time. The remainder of the trading session consists of normal backing and filling operations, sometimes referred to as “market noise.”

As a e-mini day trader, I prefer to avoid trading during periods of market noise over trending markets, which only makes sense. But there are times that the market presents some trading opportunities during periods of consolidation. From the onset, though, I’ll recommend very conservative e-mini trading techniques in consolidating markets as the price action can be very unpredictable. Specifically, I would trade fewer contracts than normal and make sure that a trade does not run away to the downside from your profit target. Of course, this is easier said than done and it takes extreme vigilance to successfully day trade periods of market noise. But it can be done.

1. The optimal e-mini consolidating market will follow a repetitive serpentine pattern rising and falling at nearly the same level in each cycle. Using strict scalping technique, a e-mini day trader can do quite well as the market tends to stay in these cycles for extended periods of time. The technique to day trade this type of market is relatively easy; you would place a support and resistance lines at the peak of each cycle and the trough of the cycle. I generally set my stops tighter than usual when employing this technique and set my profit targets to whatever length the cycles are averaging. Obviously, if the peaks are occurring 12 ticks from the average trough, it would be unwise to set your profit target at 26 ticks. Using oscillators, you can generally target the peaks and troughs and trade them accordingly, either long or short. I have made a good deal of money trading and this particular style.

2. If is the consolidation period is narrowing into a wedge shape, I will often put buy and sell orders one point above and below the range of the narrowing market. In doing this, I can take advantage of any breakout or breakdown that will occur. Consolidating markets that show a tendency to narrow are often followed by a significant breakout or breakdown. By putting a buy order above the established range, you will pick up the trade if it breaks out long. Just the opposite, by establishing a sell order just below the range of the consolidation, you will pick up a breakdown in the day trading action and potentially capitalize on it. This day trading technique can be very effective, but does carry some risks should the market widen just a bit and then return to the consolidation pattern.

3. There are some consolidating patterns that are indecipherable in terms of patterning. My recommendation is to avoid trading this sort of consolidating market, as the traders have not established any sort of discernible pattern during the period of market noise. At best, this type of consolidation pattern is treacherous. As I said, I avoid market noise that displays a high degree of randomness in the price action.

In summary, all e-mini day traders prefer to trade trending markets. But there are some non-trending markets that display enough movement and enough predictability where a trader can be effective in choosing potential trades. However, all consolidating patterns are not created equally and highly random consolidation patterns should be avoided.

- About the Author: Sign up for our free daily e-mini instructional videos and get a feel for the method and techniques the E-mini Trading Professor employs. The videos are free and there is no obligation so click here and start learning immediately. You can learn to day trade emini contracts at an affordable price using time-tested techniques that give potential traders an excellent chance for success. Article Source

Many novice day traders charge into the market full of exuberance and excitement about the potential profits they are about to realize. And some do. But the vast majority of new day traders are met with bitter disappointment and disillusionment. There’s a reason for this; they only considered the winning trades they planned on initiating. It never occurred to them that all their trades may not go in the intended direction. It was a shock to them, at first, because the books they read show them all the good setups and a systematic method of trading. Somehow, it just didn’t work out.

The story above is not an uncommon one, to say the least.

Learning to trade is as much about learning to manage winning trades as it is about learning to manage losing trades. Of course, managing winning trades is a lot more fun and a lot more gratifying. But sometimes you need to learn to manage trades that fall on the losing side of the equation. This part of trading is not a particularly enjoyable pastime, but it is every bit as essential as learning to manage winning trades.

Managing losing trades begins long before you make a trade. A good trader is constantly evaluating the risk involved in every trade. He or she uses a number of techniques to gauge the potential profit and loss and every trade. Personally, I rely upon the Average True Range as an excellent barometer of what I can expect in a potential trade. There are several other methods that traders employ to measure risk.  Whatever method you use, use it consistently and across-the-board.

Once I have decided upon the level of risk I am willing to take I set my stops to reflect that risk. I have one hard and fast rule in the e-mini trading; I never move my stops downward to accommodate a losing trade. No matter how well I think the trade made pan out in the long run, I never chase good money after losing money. There are even those traders who add contracts to a losing trade and hopes of making a larger profit when the trade church around. I never add contracts to a losing trade. It just doesn’t make sense to lower your stops or add contracts when you are already losing. After all, all you have is a hunch that the trade will turn around; there is no guarantee that the trade will reverse and head in the right direction. The truth is, the trader wants to trade to turn round and headed in the right direction. There is a gulf between knowing what a trade will do and wanting a trade to move in a certain direction. Don’t get these two feelings mixed together for they are incongruent and do not reflect reality.

A wise trader never risks more of his futures trading account balance than necessary, and in my trading I try to stick to risking 5 to 8% per trade. No more. If you find yourself risking upwards of 20% of your account balance in a given trade you have far exceeded your limits and stand a good chance of eventually busting your account. Proper money management is essential to understand for any trader, and the first rule of money management is to not overextend yourself. I might add as a general observation that most traders tend to over extend themselves on a regular basis.

Finally, the most important aspect of controlling and managing risk in your trading is to take only high probability trades, and conversely, avoid low probability trades at all costs. I was just reading about a well-known trader who became very popular fading peaks and troughs for big gains. It was a very popular system in the early 2000′s, but peaks and troughs are difficult to call and ultimately it led to his demise as a trader. High probability trades almost always occur with the trend, and most successful traders are committed to trading with the trend. This is not always easy as many very attractive setups pop up against the trend. This is a time when you have to ignore your indicators and oscillators and use good sense. All trends go through short or medium periods of retracement and typically resume in the direction of the trend. This can be a tough lesson to learn. Any trade against the trend is usually going to be a low probability trade and should be avoided. There are some notable exceptions to this rule, but by and large avoiding trading against the trend is sound advice.

In summary, we have talked about learning to limit your risk when trading. It’s important not to move your stops downward or upward to accommodate a losing trade, nor is it wise to add contracts to a losing trade. Finally, we have discussed trading against the trend and focusing on high probability trades and avoiding low probability trades. Using these simple techniques you can take a sizable chunk of risk out of your trading, and that’s the goal of all traders.

- About the Author: I am a long time retail and institutional trader who now only trades part time, usually in the morning. I enjoy writing informational articles about my style of trading so others may benefit. Would it be convenient to receive valuable trading tips every night in your email? You can sign up for our free video series by Clicking here These videos contain advanced trading strategies and will enhance your trading knowledge immeasurably. Best of all, they are free! So get your free videos and start trading like the pros. Article Source

Most day traders are concerned about liquidity in contracts they trade. It is important to be able to enter and exit a trade at the exact point of your choosing, and thinly traded contracts and thinly traded markets can be treacherous in this respect. It’s reassuring to see the heavy volume always present during a normal trading session on the ES contract, and it gives traders confidence to know that their entries and exits will be promptly filled.

On the other hand, the YM contract doesn’t seem nearly as heavily traded as the ES and can appear to be thin at some price points. I trade both contracts, and prefer to trade the YM. Further, I am often asked which contract a novice trader should begin with and my answer is always the same, the YM.

Why the YM?

I usually have fairly scientific reasons in my trading technique, but I have to admit my preference for the YM is not objective nor is it scientific. There is no shortage of anecdotal stories that claim the ES contract is heavily influenced by black box trading. While that seems a plausible theory, I have found little or no evidence to support the theory. There are traders that also claim the ES contract is manipulated by some of the larger brokerage houses, but I have found little or no evidence to support this theory either. I can say that the ES contract periodically makes some inexplicable moves which I don’t always understand, but that is hardly grounds for developing any sort of conspiracy theory as it relates to trading.

I have had numerous novice traders solicit me for advice and the first thing I generally ask them is what contract they are trading. If it is the ES contract, I promptly recommend they switch to the YM contract and the results are nearly always the same. They began to trade better, and they began to profit. Many would claim this as evidence of the diabolical nature of the ES contract, but in my mind I believe the YM is simply an easier contract to trade.

There are several reasons for this belief, and I think the most important one is that less experienced traders tend to congregate on the YM contract. Conversely, I think the more experienced traders tend to gravitate towards the ES contract. The obvious result of this gravitation is less experienced traders trading the YM contract. For that reason alone, the YM would be an obvious choice for traders new to the trading business.

Further, and this is just my personal opinion, the YM contract tends to react in lockstep to the cash market. Unlike the ES contract, which can deviate at times from the cash market, the YM market does not often display this behavior. Is it because newer traders are trading the YM? I don’t know, perhaps.

The one thing I can say for sure is that newer traders tend to perform better on the YM contract as opposed to the ES contract. I realize my explanations above probably raise more questions than they answer. Though my observations would confirm that there is some reason the YM is not as difficult to trade as the ES. I wish I could point out the precise reason this phenomena of occurs, but I cannot. But I do like the results novice traders have on the YM, and I suppose that should be good enough.

- About the Author: I am a long time retail and institutional trader who now only trades part time, usually in the morning. I enjoy writing informational articles about my style of trading so others may benefit. Would it be convenient to receive valuable trading tips every night in your email? You can sign up for our free video series by Clicking here These videos contain advanced trading strategies and will enhance your trading knowledge immeasurably. Best of all, they are free! So get your free videos and start trading like the pros. Article Source

I am often asked about the potential to make money in the trading business, and it is not an easy question to answer.  Above all, trading takes discipline and experience, so the learning curve can be very steep if you approach it without the proper training and mind set.  Further, a well trained ES emini trader has to learn to control his/her emotions, which is easier said than done.  The always dangerous feeling of greed can be an account-buster if you get sloppy or your technique falters, which is often the result of overconfidence.  The result of overconfidence is entering shaky trades or poorly thought-out trades.  Overconfidence in your ability is a very real hindrance that can cut into your earnings.  The good news, on the other hand, is that with proper training and self-discipline you can be a very effective trader.

But you said you were going to tell us home much we can make…

Initially, you may may want to stay conservative and only trade a single contract, and that is a very good idea.  I seldom risk more than 5% of my balance on a given trade.  As a trader I am looking to capture whatever the market has to offer, and for me that is about 5-7 points.  Those are my goals on the ES emini contract.  I think they are realistic and attainable goals.  Trading is not a get rich quick scheme, and if you approach your trading like you need to conquer the market every day you will quickly learn the wisdom in this thinking.  I prefer to pass on a trade that I don’t feel confident about than take a trade that I am not comfortable with, or my trading methodology doesn’t confirm.

One point on the ES Emini is worth $50.  There are 4 ticks in one point, so each tick is worth $12.50.  Logically then, we can surmise that each tick is 1/4 point.  Trading one contract and shooting for 5 points would yield $250. (5x$50)  This is only trading a single contract, of course trading two contracts would double the amount you can make, it also doubles the amount you can lose, and that fact is worth considering.

Whenever you consider how much you are making it is wise to consider how much you could lose.  There is no 100% trade, there is always a chance any trade could turn and go in the opposite direction you expect.  Of course, we always have out stops in place, but on this trade I would probably set the stops somewhere around 3 points.  My exact stops would be determined by the quality of the trade, but I am comfortable at that level.  So you are risking $150 dollars on the trade.  Is the trade worth $150?  If it meets the criterion in your trading methodology, sure it is…and you take the trade.  So you have risked $150 in order to make an unknown amount, or whatever target you set as your profit level.

I think you can see that “how much money can you make?” is a tough question to answer, at face value because the amount you can make is unlimited, but so is the loss.  That’s why experienced traders scale in and out of trades and use stop loss order and limit orders, they plan for the unexpected.  I feel I can take at least 5 points a day out of the ES emini, most days I do, some days I do far better, and every now and then I do far worse.  That’s the way the game is played, and with some skill and training your expectations should be the same.  Depending upon your skill, you should be able to do the same thing is you trading, but don’t approach trading until you are committed to learning a system and have the self-discipline and emotional control to execute the system you have learned. Then you will know how much you can make.

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-much-money-can-you-make-day-trading-the-es-emini-1677881.html