1. Trade around news events, crossing fingers that price will move in one’s favor
2. Hope for a trend to occur. However, the time at which one may occur is an unknown.
3. Try to scalp whipsaws – again, a lot of finger crossing.
4. Do not trade at all – wait days, weeks or months before volatility picks up.
5. Use an advanced, algorithmic trading tool like the Atlas Line to call time and direction to enter (Short or Long)

Trading is a gamble regardless of a trader’s choice. Our preference is #5 – using the Atlas Line. Although the recent trading results published by Day Trade to Win indicate strong performance for the last three months of 2011, the trend also indicates that volatility determines profit potential irrespective of your trading technique. As seen in the video below, the trader simply increases the amount of contracts to make up for the lack of volatility.

Not every trader can afford to trade 17 contracts. However, starting with a small account and slowly building the account by using and becoming familiar with a reliable strategy is an option. That’s why the Atlas Line has our full recommendation.

Here’s an example of a trader, Tony, who is finally seeing success after finding a trading method that works. In 2008, Tony decided to become a retail trader instead of working for a corporation. He then dabbled with tape reading and technical analysis, finding a preference in trading based on visual data instead of mathematical figures. Despite considerable time spent studying technical analysis, Tony found little consistency. Thus began his search for a mentor. His new goal was to find an individual who could teach from a price action standpoint. Price action, the ability to read a chart without analysis or indicators, is a highly visual approach to trading. Eventually, Tony found Day Trade to Win and joined the eight week Mentorship Program with John Paul.

From what Tony has experienced trading Day Trade to Win’s price action methods, he has eight preferred strategies to employ based on how price is moving. In total, about 11 methods are included with Mentorship, in addition to the written courses and software. Each strategy focuses on waiting for price to behave in a specific way, thus providing an indication of how to trade and what method to use. Trading based on evidence and having backup plans is key, as futures and currencies are largely unpredictable. Day Trade to Win’s techniques also introduce risk management concepts.

To sign up for the next Group Mentorship session, visit the coaching sign up page.

This nine or so minute video provides an exact method of determining trends and price movement by splitting the trading day into three separate areas: A, B and C. By placing vertical lines between hourly segments, we can determine where price will likely head based on the high and low ranges of the previous area. There are specific rules for trading the A, B and C sections. The video shows a couple of days in a row.

Systems getting in and out, swing traders and deep pockets move the A part of the day more than any other. This is where the best opportunities of the day exist. Part B usually consists of stagnant activity. Watch part B to see if price breaks the range of Part A. If it does, then you’re in for a good ride. Since most trading days are not trends, you’ll end of skipping part B. Look for trades that occur right away – within the first hour of B plotting. Part C uses part B’s range to determine whether there will be a late day rally or sell-off. The latter was the case in the video’s first example.

Remember, this ABC Pattern occurs in many other markets – not just the E-Mini. Throw up some charts and back-test. You’ll be surprised at how frequent this occurs. Also, It’s important before using the ABC Pattern to adjust your trading software’s chart accordingly. For example, 9:30 a.m. (market open in US/Eastern) will obviously vary across time zones. Keep in mind that NinjaTrader uses multiary time on its X axis. Google “time zone converter” to find a usefull tool for finding the market open close times for this video tutorial.

Visit the Day Trade to Win blog to find more day trading advice.

People who paper trade are most likely testing out a strategy. Day Trade to Win has been the long-standing authority on trading price action for the E-Mini and other futures. DTTW encourages paper trading first, as all of their day trading course strategies must be manually traded. The only automated DTTW system is the Atlas Line. With any solution, even the eight week Private Mentorship Program, you can keep track of your sim trading results using NinjaTrader’s Account Performance tab. This tab will show important statistics such as # of winning / losing trades, percent profitable, and average trade profit or loss amount.

In case your trial runs out, many brokers are willing to offer an extension, providing you show a sign of eventually investing in their services. Remember to renew your trial before this occurs, preferably in the evening, as most brokerages can be unresponsive to such requests during trading hours.

In this video, John Paul from Day Trade to Win proves how the Atlas Line can quickly turn a tricky situation into 11 ticks of profit. Notice how the Short order comes in when price is on the rise. Most traders would probably go long and end up getting stopped out where John eventually makes profit. Also, notice how price seems to bounce off the plotted Atlas Line. Because the orders are generated before big moves, this gives traders plenty of time to secure orders. As John points out, nearly everything you do with orders is processed on a first come, first served basis. As you’ve probably experienced, early positioning is key. How many times has price “touched” your target without securing profit? The Day Trade to Win results page indicates that November 15 logged 34 ticks in profit. Surrounding days also show promising results.

Day Trade to Win is running a special promotion – 10% OFF the 6 Month or Lifetime Atlas Line via the coupon code 10OFFATLAS. Purchase includes live training; instruction that covers basic software operation, targets, stops and specialty trades – Pullback, Strength and Bounce.

Even though the E-Mini’s home base is the CME (Chicago Mercantile Exchange), many traders are surprised to find how this future is traded worldwide. Unfortunately, the CME does not provide any statistics that indicating the regions of the world where trades are placed. We can safely assume that the volume of regulated futures trades (CME) are on the rise, perhaps due to an alternative preference for wild-west Forex trading. In many cases, Euro Forex traders will use a 6E futures chart to obtain data that is inaccessible through normal Forex charting.

In the above video, a South African day trader named Sifiso uses trading methods entirely based on price data. Day Trade to Win specializes in using the same techniques that have been secretly in use by successful CME and NYSE traders for many years. Improved and adapted for online futures, these strategies are usually taught through live online instruction with DTTW found John Paul or in written cours material. Because the methods take manipulation, time of day, and real-time price data, the results are consistently accurate. In fact, the training offered at Day Trade to Win extends beyond the E-Mini S&P to other futures, currencies and commodities.

The most inexpensive course DTTW offers is the Floor Traders Secrets Manual (also called the X-5 trade because it’s based on “trading off the 5s”. This course servers as a great introduction to trading price action in the way only Day Trade to Win can provide.

Sifiso,

Retailer traders: they come and go, usually getting into trading as a curious hobby, trying to figure out the markets day in and day out whilst paper trading. Without financial consequence, it’s easy to incorrectly analyze the success of a trading day, either by not recognizing potential trades that were profitable or not recognizing trades that would have been at loss. Thanks to NinjaTrader’s Market Replay, traders can get a ‘live sense’ of how price progressed, further determining whether price reached targets, entries or stop losses. In the video above, John Paul breaks down the last three days of history, showing an effective trading tool for the E-Mini. The tool, the Atlas Line, seamlessly produces highly accurate order signals in real-time. These signals, either long or short, tell the type of trade to take (buy or sell the market) and at what price. A secondary filtering mechanism is provided through the plotted line. When price falls below the line, be prepared to take short trades. Adversely, when price is above the line, go with long trades. Live training is included with purchase of the software, so you can be sure Day Trade to Win founder John Paul will provide proper instruction. This training includes recommended profit targets and stop losses, along with setups that can only be traded along with the Atlas Line, such as Strength, Pullback and Bounce trades. There is no other trading system like this out there that works with the E-Mini, currencies and other markets.

This second half, if you are developing your own strategy, requires thorough back-testing. NinjaTrader is suitable for this to some degree; perhaps best for your final coded solution. However, many traders prefer to automate back-testing through TradeStation, as it’s probably the most feature-full platform in this regard. With any platform, you must have programming experience with the platform’s scripting language and the ability to critically analyze results. If you want to pay someone to code your strategy, make sure there are proper legal agreements in place (such as an NDA).

If you’re unable to code or properly backtest your own strategies, perhaps the best option is to purchase an existing proven trading system. Day Trade to Win has done its homework in this regard, with the Atlas Line used by countless professional traders on a daily basis. Even the various scalping strategies are based on sound market mechanics. By focusing on consistent profitability through objective trading, DTTW leads the trading front through price action.

Ever miss a trade because you were too slow to pull the trigger? After a three point winner based off of news event volatility, Day Trade to Win’s trading coach John Paul lackadaisically misses a nice short entry opportunity called out by the Atlas Line. The Dblr Bar Short entry at 1175 is called out before hand. Even with advanced notification, it’s possible to focus on other things besides trading. When this occurs, try to focus on the next setup instead of dwelling on the mistake. In this video, John catches another trade shortly after this miss. In case you were using the Atlas Line today, you saw how spot on another Short trade was, with price bouncing off the line in perfect harmony. We don’t have a chart to post at this time, but if you have one to share, please submit.

As the title implies, going short was the wisest move on August 18. What started as a slight six point drop turned into a free fall at around 10:05 a.m. US/Eastern. Before this large drop occurred, the Atlas Line called for a Short entry as signaled by the Dbl Bar Short. Such signals appear when there are two closing bars below the plotted Atlas Line (the dotted red line). The 1151.75 entry was almost all you needed for the rest of the day. Since Day Trade to Win advocates against holding trades over many hours, you could take a few of the Pullback trades. John Paul points out three of them. Another interesting thing occurs at the end of the day – price starts to climb / intersect the Atlas Line. Trades at the close of the day are a bit risky. The morning part of the day is best, as you probably witnessed the volatility firsthand. On August 29, John Paul seems to be starting a new group training session. The eight week live educational program includes the Atlas Line and training in all of the Day Trade to Win price action methods. It’s definitely worth the cost of admission considering the great trades the Atlas Line has been able to call.