DayTradeToWin Reviews

The CME’s (Chicago Mercantile Exchange) calendar can be a bit confusing. Do you know what the Thanksgiving trading hours will be? Thanksgiving Day, a major U.S. holiday, is November 22, 2018. The E-mini S&P 500 (ES) and other CME equity products (markets) will close early on Thursday and Friday at 1:00 p.m. ET and 1:15 p.m., respectively. Get more details via the CME calendar (Excel files) or this consolidated version:

CME equity products:

• Nov. 21, 2018: normal market hours
• Nov. 22, 2018 (Thanksgiving Day): early close (halt) at 1:00 p.m. ET (13:00 GMT-5). Markets reopen at 6:00 p.m. ET (18:00 GMT-5).
• Nov. 23, 2018 (Black Friday): early close at 1:15 p.m. ET (13:15 GMT-5).

Have you traded around holidays or during half-days before? Watch out for slow or erratic activity. Big market movers and automated systems may not be as active. Apply an ATR (Average True Range) with a period value of four to get a more realistic view of current volatility levels.

Tech Stocks in Trouble?

As we proceed into the final weeks of the final quarter of 2018, the markets are temperamental. In recent days, news outlets have covered the fallibility of tech stocks, particularly Apple, which saw a significant fall around Nov. 19, 2018. Facebook’s CEO Mark Zuckerberg appears to be the subject of much controversy, with his leadership competence in question as well as the platform’s privacy controls. Jeff Bezos, Amazon CEO, said within the last week or so that Amazon will fail one day. Do you agree with analysts that say Amazon is a better long-term investment than Google, Apple, or Facebook? As we move into the final weeks of 2018 with holiday shopping intensifying, we will see if there are any more “leaks” with real or perceived pressure.

December Trading Reminders

If you trade the E-mini or similar CME equity indexes, note the Dec. 13, 2018 roll date. On that day or soon after, roll over your futures contracts to 03-19. Otherwise, you will see your charts “dry up.” And of course, expect further market closures later in the month due to Christmas.

Did you see the January Effect video from earlier this year? The January Effect is a forecasting strategy for predicting overall E-mini price movement for the entire year. In short, if price loses higher than it opens in January, price will be higher at the end of December. During the year, you can look to swing trade multiple times. These setups occur when price retraces from towards previous highs. The idea is to get in halfway. Use your trading platform’s Fibonacci tool to see a halfway point. We configure the tool in NinjaTrader to only show 0%, 50%, and 100% levels.

If you switch to a daily chart, you can get a better idea of price activity so far. Since April 2018, we’ve seen price continue to climb higher with some excellent opportunities to swing trade. In the video (specifically 3:28), you can see an example of the Fibonacci tool being used to identify such trades. A swing trade can open you up to more risk because you’re holding positions for longer than intraday. Therefore, not all traders can swing trade. Your broker and account funding must be compatible. And of course, there is no guarantee the January Effect will be accurate or that a retracement will not suddenly turn against you.

Swing Trade Techniques

Do you think price will indeed close higher in December of this year? Have you gone back to see if 2017 and 2016 January Effect were correct? Do you think you can predict trending days in advance with high probability? We will post another video in a few months one way or another. At the time of writing, only four months remain in 2018.

Want to learn more? Sign up for the next Mentorship class. A new class begins on August 14, 2018. Get the first week’s course and software right away (ATO 2 strategy) when you sign up.

Did you see yesterday’s ATO 2 and Atlas Line signals? Here’s another example of how one trading system can work with another. The Atlas Line and ATO 2 once again agreed that “long” was the way to go. Both signals appeared around 10 a.m. EDT. The signals appear upon bar close. That means you have a little bit of time to place a trade. The included live training and training video cover what type of order to place. As you probably saw from yesterday’s video, marker orders can work just fine.

Some traders may consider the E-mini’s Aug. 2 activity to be a trending day. Trending days, though considered easier to trade, are not very common. Choppy days or days where short periods of upward and downward movement occur are much more common. Overall, a good trading system should be able to catch more winning than losing trades.

The video spends a bit of time reviewing how to add indicators to your chart. By default, NinjaTrader comes with many indicators. If you bought and installed the ATO 2 and Atlas Line, you will see it on the indicator list. Otherwise, you can practice with some of the free indicators. We use the ATR and Bar Timer most often.

Once an indicator is imported, it’s a good idea to save the original .zip file. We encourage our clients to put all of our “DTTW” indicators in a folder for safekeeping. In case a new computer is purchased, it’s easy to transfer over the files for importing into a new NinjaTrader installation.

If you are unable to trade during the first 2.5 hours of the trading day (9:30 a.m. to noon, EDT), then you may want to use the Market Replay (also called Playback Connection) feature. You can download and play back historical price data and practice trade as though your charts are live.

If you want to learn more about each trading system, visit the official ATO 2 and Atlas Line pages.

Get the ATO 2 trading signals

Get the Atlas Line trading signals

Want all of our day trading strategies? Enroll in Mentorship or lock in a special discount for both by emailing [email protected]

We like when at least two day trading strategies provide similar signals. We consider this confirmation of expected market direction. That’s what happened today, Aug. 1, 2018 with the ATO 2 and Atlas Line trading systems from DayTradeToWin.com. The trade in the video was actually taken as a result of the Atlas Line signal at 10:20 a.m. EDT when the E-mini’s price reached 2822.75 on bar close. This two-point E-mini winner was worth $100 (before any broker or exchange fees) when trading with one contract. Most pro traders use two or more contracts, which would have at least doubled the profit. Keep in mind that losses do and will occur, so only trade with money set aside for high-risk investments.

A market buy order was used. That’s probably the most simple type of order a trader can place. It says “get me in long now” to the trading platform. The actual fill price can differ a bit because of timing. Remember, markets are almost always fluctuating. By default, NinjaTrader bases its markets off of the last price, not the bid or ask price.

What are those red and green lines? That’s the profit target and stop loss. The profit target says to the market, “Close out the trade if this price is reached. I would like this much profit.” Similarly, the stop loss says, “Get me out here if things turn ugly. I am okay with losing this amount on this trade.” Of course, if you want to get out of a trade early with a smaller profit, loss, or exit at breakeven, you can do that, too. That’s what the close button is for. Also, be sure to turn on Chart Trader on the chart to see the red and green lines.

It’s possible to change your profit target and stop loss while in a trade. Keep in mind that in doing so, you’re placing new orders (which are processed in the order they’re received). You’ll be at the back of the line, so you may not get filled as soon as you’d like.

In terms of a general day trading strategy, using the same stop loss and profit target setup all the time is probably not a good idea. We believe that it’s best to be flexible. During faster conditions, we’ll tend to use a larger profit target and stop loss. During slower conditions, we’ll user smaller profit targets and stops. If the market is too slow or too fast to trade, we won’t trade at all. We have clear rules on this that we can teach you. We think it’s best to by dynamic and follow what the price action is “saying.”

A Simple Day Trading Strategy Setup

NinjaTrader has a cool featured called “ATM Strategy” that lets you predefine profit target and stop loss values in advance. You can preconfigure a bunch of them based on what you’ll think you’ll need to use regularly. The trader in this video used one that has a profit target of 2 and a stop loss of 4, as that is pretty compatible with using the Atlas Line with the E-mini. If you were using a scalping method, you would probably use smaller values.

The ATO 2 and Atlas Line let you configure a sound to play when a signal appears. This is helpful because if your multitasking, it’s easy to hear an audio alert, go back to NinjaTrader, place a trade, monitor it, and hopefully get out with a profit, then get back to what you were doing.

NinjaTrader is free for paper trading. If you need help getting set up, send an email to [email protected] You can request the free download and connection information via the DayTradeToWin Simulator page. The ATO 2 is almost finished for the MetaTrader platform. You can also send an email to get setup information for MetaTrader.

 

The CME recognizes nine major U.S. holidays annually. We’re approaching one soon. Independence Day, also known as July 4 or the “Fourth of July,” is next week. July 4 is a federal holiday that recognizes the anniversary of the U.S.’s independence from Great Britain since July 4, 1776. Because the markets will close early, you may be able to enjoy some grilling and fireworks. Be careful though leading up to the holiday, as markets tend to slow down or move more randomly than usual. Also, make sure that you’re not in an open position when the market closes early. If that were to happen, you should call your broker right away.

If you want to read the official notice from the CME, click here. Note the times are provided in an Excel spreadsheet. The Compact version is a bit easier to read. Better yet, just read our notes below. We do not mention commodities like grains or dairy because we’re not interested in them. The E-mini (the main market we trade) is considered a CME equity product.

• Tuesday, July 3, 2018: Equity and Bitcoin markets close early at 1:15 p.m. EDT (UTC-4). Note that forex, interest rate, energy, metal, and DME markets will be open normal hours.
• Wednesday, July 4, 2018: Equity, forex, bitcoin, interest rate, energy, metals, and DME markets halt at 1:00 p.m. EDT (UTC-4) and reopen at 6:00 p.m. EDT (UTC-4).

What Comes After July 4?

The rest of the week, expect normal market hours. What holiday is next? Labor Day in early September.

Are you ready to gain your independence from under-performing trading systems? Sign up for the Group Mentorship class that begins July 2 and you’ll be marching to the beat of a new drummer in no time. We’ll help you recognize military candle formations, and find the discipline and skill to be at the frontlines of the markets. Think of it like a trading boot camp that gives you all the courses, software, and techniques in eight short weeks. Our goal is to deploy you as an independent, capable trader.

My name is Carl and I am an experienced day trader. I’ve been trading for over 20 years. Regularly, I am approached by new and experienced traders who ask the same question. They want to know the best way to learn how to day trade. It’s easy to find programs and courses that make big promises. Unfortunately, the industry contains too many products that do not deliver. Because of my experience working at a top U.S. trading firm and years of refining my approach, I can share my techniques with you. Learning to day trade should be a straightforward process. Learn how to spot trades with high potential. Learn how to use the trading platform to ensure your trades are being placed correctly. If you can master these concepts, you could very well be on your way to becoming a successful trader.

There are about two ways to become a trader: self-education and experimentation or learning from a reliable coach.

The former way requires a serious time commitment and thousands of dollars. Yes, to self-educate, you will be on your own to learn how the trading platform works. This is certainly possible, but you will need to run trading software during the ideal times to trade to truly get a feel for what it’s like to trade in live conditions. Many people are at work and cannot install trading software on work computers or regularly take time off to develop trading skills. Some trading platforms like NinjaTrader offer Market Replay (also called Playback Connection) that let you play back previous market activity as though it’s live. This is a great feature. However, you will still need free time in the evenings or before work to practice. Most of us lead busy lives with family and other obligations. Is devoting one hour a day to learn and practice enough? Maybe not – a common rule of thumb is that it takes 10,000 hours to truly become an expert. Practice makes perfect, but perfect practice hastens skill development more efficiently.

Another problem with the “teach yourself” route is money. Not all trading platforms offer free real-time data, which is crucial for proper practice. Those that offer such data may do so in a limited trial basis. Furthermore, this problem is compounded if getting real-time data requires you to pay for it; whether outright or via a broker who offers this data after requiring a hefty deposit to set up a simulated account. And then we must consider the inevitable. After trading for a while, it’s possible you may be tempted to see what trading with real money is like. After funding your account with thousands and possibly purchasing a license for your trading platform, you could lose much more money without a proper trading technique. Just because you developed a strategy that has been profitable for a couple of weeks, that does not mean it will continue working as well in the future. It may be best to instead learn a tried and true technique, which brings us to the suggested way of learning to day trade.

Learning to Day Trade (Recommended Approach)

Indeed, when asked about the best way to learn day trading, I recommend learning from an experienced mentor. A mentor is someone who has real trading experience and can actually teach. Not all successful traders also possess the skill to educate others. This is why I help traders learn through an eight-week coaching program called Mentorship. In this coaching course, I teach traders from all skill levels and backgrounds my proprietary techniques that have been refined over the years. My goal is to make you a competent trader who can face whatever the market throws your way. In total, expect to learn over 10 price action methods. This means that you’ll learn how to spot exact patterns and what to do when they occur – how to place your trades, risk mitigation, and looking at performance. The instruction is online in a webinar format. This allows me to engage with traders from all over the world. I also conduct one-on-one sessions for those looking to receive personal attention or have unusual schedules. In my opinion, this truly is the best way of learning to day trade.

If you want to learn more and sign up for the next class, click here to become a professional day trader.