Why do people trade Futures?

[dellBoy]

Hi there Traders

I'm new to trading ...

I've noticed traders are more comfortable with trading @ES (S&P 500) then stocks, why is that?

Is it because its more steady then stocks? I know the leverage is better, but you can easley get the leverage with spreadbetting (only for UK people that is).

So why do traders trade S&P 500?

Many thanks
dellBoy

[dhpz]

Hi there Traders

I'm new to trading ...

I've noticed traders are more comfortable with trading @ES (S&P 500) then stocks, why is that?

Is it because its more steady then stocks? I know the leverage is better, but you can easley get the leverage with spreadbetting (only for UK people that is).

So why do traders trade S&P 500?

Many thanks
dellBoy


hi dellboy and welcome on board

it is a very good question why people trade the e-mini s&p


all the new retail traders or most of them get cought by those crocks or salesman out there who sell the ultimative and super systems for a punch of money, and tell them to trade s&p because everybody do, and it has sooo much volume going on

as a trader you want to have the stuff you trading moving, and not one tick up and two down and vice versa

and the sp is the vehicle with the lowest daily range to trade over the last period of time

i prefer to trade the e-mini russel, it is moving, a fair pricing which gives my risk reward a chance to get filled by end of the day


the professionals using the sp mini to hedge, so they start buying big sp and sell short each 5 of the mini for one big contract

therefore you see all those 500 contracts orders comming in, and so it takes a long time all this big levels getting traded with each other

from my range stats in the past which is rated from the daily moving

1.) russel
2.) ym
3.) nq
4.) sp


also lot of the big guys doesn't trade this kids club corner markets at all, at the moment we like to trade commodities as gold and oil, and the trend is going to trade the energy futures on the ice exchange which gets more and more volume there and hell like trending stuff


so always remember 90% of the guys out there (and here) getting theire butts kicked, so why follow all these loosing things


before you think to start trading, do stats stats and stats what you're doing
it only will help you


regards

[dellBoy]

dhpz

You say "you want to have the stuff you trading moving" - Ok, so what about google, this move up/down big time, making over $1000 a day is possible.

Also dhpz, when you buy/sell let say 3 contracts in SP 500, will you alway get someone to buy/sell the contracts?

I've heard there might be times when you cant buy/sell a contract until a few ticks away. Is this true?

Thanks for replying to my post
dellBoy

[dhpz]

dhpz

You say "you want to have the stuff you trading moving" - Ok, so what about google, this move up/down big time, making over $1000 a day is possible.

Also dhpz, when you buy/sell let say 3 contracts in SP 500, will you alway get someone to buy/sell the contracts?

I've heard there might be times when you cant buy/sell a contract until a few ticks away. Is this true?

Thanks for replying to my post
dellBoy

hey

i'm not a stock trader, never did before and won't, i like to trade futures
the advantage is you're not affected by some special news for the stock you trade and don't have to overanalyze it which lot of people do with multiple charts and timeframes
1 timeframe, 1 chart, 1 instrument

everything else (for my expirience) gives you an overflow of information and so why trade a 3 min chart when you take 5 min to analyse your lagging signals


to the sp and it's fills, boy, i think the sp is the last thing you will get a fill with slippage or no fill, thats traded 24h hours, also in the pre market it's very liquid
in the main session you won't get any slippage up to 100 contracts i can say

but for a beginner in trading you will have much more other important things than that, i guarantee :D

regards

[jtnet]

i trade the S&P emini and russel2k
its much easier just worrying about 1 or 2 instruments, less news less surprises, also commission for bang for the buck is much less than stocks.

[dellBoy]

Thanks guys for the intresting replies, I want to look into this, what would you suggest is the best possible strategy for S&P?

I've heard people buy 3 contracts and peel back 2 and let the last one carry the trend ... so to speak.

Thanks
dellBoy

[dhpz]

Make sure you are well capitalized. This is not a game for those who are not.

Trading only 1 contract at a time will cause you to FAIL !!!

Get a stop-loss value you'll always risk max. 1 % of your account


take off half the contracts with a $ target at least gives you your amount of $ stopp to cover your loosing trades

don't let the other contracts turn into looser, use be+1 and always try to get as long as possible in the trend. do net guess or predict where or when it turns


good example today, most of my guys took profit on 8 pts in the russel

i just followed my plan and got out with 12 points

80% of your Profits will come from 20% of your trades (Pareto Principle).

[dellBoy]

dhpz

If you dont mind me asking what indicators do you use? and what timeframe do you use?

I tend to use MADC + RSI and I use 133 + 51 and even 21 tick charts to get me in and out of a trade. Dont know if it works with S&P 500?

Thanks

[dhpz]

dellboy i don't know how long you're trading the markets but you should know that 80-90% out of the guys loosing money, so you just have to ask yourself -could this whole indicator stuff work for me when all other are loosing?-

that is all lagging stuff which cross or give false signals
key is money and risk managment


Choose a CLEAR, TREND following indicator. One that an 8 year old could tell you whether it is long or short. ONLY trend following indicators will work. If you have to think for more than 1 second whether it is long or short, it isn't clear enough.
Stick to 1 indicator in 1 time frame. NEVER pay any money for other people's systems. They will NOT work.

so it doesn't make a sense to tell what timeframe or chart i use

that's the last thing tell you how to make consistently money

regards

[dellBoy]

Thank dhpz, youre right, I'll take all that into consideration when trading the S&P 500

[jtnet]

DHPZ: *** ** ******? or *** or *** or somthing

[dhpz]

DHPZ: *** ** ******? or *** or *** or somthing

hehehe

i just checked the page and saw jowdow came me before

so joe, is there a way to get in contact with other members outside the forum aside from searching dhpz in google and get my skype on the bullfire homepage ;) ?

:D