Countless numbers of day traders spend their time and money searching for that magic indicator that will unlock the secret of trading profits. To be sure, I have seen aspiring traders purchase trading program after trading program in search of the new indicator that will send their trading profits soaring. Unfortunately, no such indicator exist and it is unlikely that a magical indicator will be developed that can revolutionize profits for the e-mini day trader.

On the other hand, thousands of e-mini day traders successfully trade every day without any wondrous and magical indicator. Of course, it would be much more convenient to have an indicator that unlocks the secrets of e-mini trading. To date though, we are far from developing any such trading tool. So that leaves us with the trading tools we have at hand, and there certainly is no shortage of indicators for the e-mini trader to utilize. The question remains, though, which indicators are the best ones to utilize?

While some indicators claim to be leading indicators, that is to say that they have a predictive quality in their results, the evidence suggests that this predictive quality is sketchy, at best. Most indicators are lagging indicators and indicate the status of current trends based upon recent history. As any good trader knows, recent history can be helpful, but the market contains a random element that can easily deviate from past history. We are left with indicators that give us, at best, an educated guess as to the path the market price action will take in the near term future. In short, short-term trading can be a rather inexact science, at best.

One important aspect of trading is often overlooked by traders who depend solely upon indicators and oscillators to time their trades. In my world, price action is the driving force in my trade selection. While I do employ oscillators and indicators, their purpose is primarily to confirm potential trades I spot by observing price action. I pay careful attention to support and resistance, volume, and price movement in choosing my trades. Obviously taking trades into known resistance or support it is risky business, at best. Unfortunately, strict oscillator and indicator traders do not have a handle on where or support and resistance may lie and often blindly take indicator or oscillator indicated trades into these danger zones.

Further, price movement and price analysis can give a trader a unique view in which the market functions. Specifically, I analyze each bar and note whether the bars make higher highs and higher lows. Conversely, I am also interested in the opposite price action, and that is whether the bars are making lower highs and lower lows. Each of these price formations can be indicative of potential market moves in their respective directions. From there, I can have a good look at my oscillators and indicators to determine the strength and velocity of these potential moves and decide whether or not the trade is a high probability or low probability trade.

Price action, along with support and resistance and volume, are often overlooked in trade selection. But learning to actually read price action will give any trader a much better understanding of what is actually happening in the market and provide the trader with insight into high probability trades and conversely, help him or her avoid low probability trades. Very few traders are excited about entering low probability trades and seek to avoid them at all costs. It is my contention that ignoring price action and relying strictly upon oscillators and indicators will often lead traders into low probability trades.

A second common mistake made by oscillator traders is the failure to recognize the trend in the market. Regardless of whether the oscillator or indicator being used indicates a nice trade, if it is against the trend you will often find yourself on the losing side of the trade. From a statistical standpoint, a trend is likely to resume (after a short retracement) 80% of the time. Obviously, trading with the trend is a habit all traders should cultivate. The only way to truly ascertain whether or not the market is trending is by observing the price action and subsequent retracements.

In summary, we have stressed the importance of observing price action and the benefits price action has to offer traders. Trends, retracements, and then market noise can all be identified very easily by observing price action. We have also noted that strict oscillator trading can often lead a trader into low probability trades, which should be avoided. Watch the price action and you’re trading will improve immeasurably.

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To become a successful trader there are a three things you need to get correct from the outset

1 – Mind set.

This is not one that most people think of when they start trading but without the right mind set how will you get to where you want? Taking a leap into an unknown area is scary for anyone, if you have no successful traders surrounding you then the whole task can seem unachievable. We have heard how the sub conscious part of the mind associates pain and pleasure and as a result we take action to avoid pain and gain pleasure. We also know that we will take greater action to avoid pain than to obtain pleasure so we have to make our goals so attractive that we will be compelled to take action!

So to begin with you need to decide how much do you want to be making from trading a month?

Most people will say either “loads!” or “erm I don’t really know..”

Set yourself a target, write down a figure. Then write down what you will do with that money, describe your new life EXACTLY as you want it to be, this is the association of pleasure and also write down what will happen if you do NOT achieve this target income, the associated pain with NOT achieving that targeted income will become the driving force pushing you towards the pleasure! Keep this list in front of you; imagine that life, until it becomes a reality.

2 – Risk management

I hear this from lots of traders and I know it’s important but I didn’t realise until I saw myself how important! Especially early on it’s vital that we manage our risk from the out-set because losses early on can definitely put a person off trading for life! That’s not to say you won’t ever lose its just about making sure that by managing the risk the losses always are less than the gains. So let’s get it right from the start!

Having a mathematical approach to this is vital as gut feelings can only lead to trouble! Calculating the reward: risk ratio is important as new starters and even experienced traders say that the reward: risk ratio for all trades should never be less than 3:1.

Once you have worked out reward: risk ratio, then we need to work out how much we are going to place on a trade. Again using gut feelings or having once set amount for all trades risks wiping out your trading account so keeping trades to 1% of the trading account limits the amount that can be lost on any trade.

3 – Buy on the break

Once you have picked a trade, worked out the reward: risk ratio, then you look to buy on the break. Most investors look to enter a trade that’s on the way up but they also risk getting caught by the trade retracing and consequently taking all their profits with it.

There are loads of books and manuals explaining how to trade and key things to look out for so it’s best to go with the most successful tried and tested methods. Automation is also necessary as it takes the emotion out of trading and that is important also, try comparing automated software on http://forexprofitcodes.com. I chose the Forex Profit Code out of the five recommended and the content is great, go to http://forexprofitcodes.com now and compare for yourself.

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