in DayTradeToWin, Price action Trading |

Price Action Patterns & Indicator Signals

Take a look at this live webinar where the presenter, John Paul, shared his real-time signals with a room full of traders. All of the signals are based on price action. We define price action as price movement over time. By recognizing price action patterns that often lead to future movement (up or down), we believe it is possible to develop a successful trading system. That is what DayTradeToWin has done. Sounds simple, right? Well, the rules are straightforward and fully explained. Choose from the Trade Scalper, Atlas Line, or ATO 2 for price action trading courses. You may want to go a step further and get a trading coach via the eight-week, all-inclusive Mentorship Program.

When trading the E-mini S&P 500 (ES instrument in NinjaTrader), you can expect each tick to be worth $12.50. One point is considered to be four ticks. Therefore, each point = $50. If you have one point of profit using one contract, you have made $50 before any broker or exchange fees. If you trade with two contracts, you can double the profit to get $100; again excluding any additional fees. The amount of money you have set aside for trading plus broker requirements and how much you want to risk on each trade are all factors on profit potential. And of course, the main factor is how reliable your trading method is. DayTradeToWin has focused on price action patterns and signals for over 10 years. If you want to scalp the markets using price action, consider the Trade Scalper. If you prefer fewer, but larger moves, maybe the Atlas Line is right for you. If you are only interested in the morning activity and want a trade or two at most, go with the ATO 2. If you want all this and much more (10 or so methods), the Mentorship Program is probably the way to go.

Consider a trading education like any other education. If you want to learn how to drive a truck, you have to pay to go to school to get your CDL. The same is true for healthcare and pretty much any other occupational category. Just because you can casually trade from home does not mean the learning process is a free ride. The cost of trial and error (placing losing trades) can be huge. Wouldn’t it be better to go with a price action trading course from someone who’s done it already for years?

What’s the Best Price Action Trading Strategy?

Becoming a successful trader is about testing different strategies and figuring out what works best for you. So many books and courses are out there that promise huge profits. The truth is, trading is a high-risk activity, even for seasoned pros. That’s why you should only trade with money you have set aside for this type of investing. Our main approach focuses on price action. Price action is all about letting price movement be the lead indicator instead of some complicated analysis or lagging Bollinger Band system.

Day Trade to Win uses price action as a primary driver of decision making. In a given moment, a trader has to interpret multiple values. Should I stay in this trade? Should I get out early at a smaller profit, a loss, or breakeven? Is there a trade present? Does my other trading method confirm the direction of this trading method? How many contracts should I put on this trade? If I lose this trade, should I attempt to place another or call it a day? These are all questions that run through the minds of intraday futures traders.

Having objective rules simplifies the decision-making process. You have to make the right decision. Having a retail trading robot tweaked to how you, as a human trader, would respond, is probably not going to happen. Also, you may not know anyone who will let you in the door to be part of their high-frequency trading system within the CME building. You’ve got to figure out what’s in your control and what you can rely on. That’s why price action is preferred. Have a plan through a day trading course like those offered at DayTradeToWin.com.

Get Better at Trading: Go Beyond Guessing Tops & Bottoms

One of the most tempting and basic forms of trading is related to support and resistance. Have you ever drawn a horizontal line to connect a series of candles or price bars that group together as though they cannot pass beyond an invisible barrier? Have you done this to the short side and the long side?

Yes, identifying highs and lows, or tops and bottoms, or support and resistance, can be useful, but not as a primary trading strategy in our opinion. When coupled with a trading system like the Atlas Line or Trade Scalper, you can get clear direction on whether the market is expected to move high or low.

In past videos, you’ve seen how DayTradeToWin uses a price action approach to Fibonaccis, simply using the 50% value between a previous high and a low. When that 50% is surpassed, that can be the start of a longer (and hopefully profitable) long (buy) opportunity. But what if there was a way to immediately make sense of intraday price stalling? Yes, in the video in this post, you’ll see how John Paul’s use of price action Yo-Yo Bars can help you stay clear of choppy conditions.

The Atlas Line provided plenty of Strength (S) and Pullback (P) signals that were on point. Those signals and their manual calculation are taught in the included live training. Generally, if you see those signals, price is expected to move in a consistent direction instead of chop back and forth. Watch for such signals around those extended periods of price stagnation, such as the 35+ minute period shown in the video.

Trading Tip: Sync Your Windows 10 Computer Clock

If your computer clock is off by mere seconds, you could experience unwanted behavior in your NinjaTrader 8 trading platform. The NinjaTrader 8 software “grabs” the current time from your computer clock. In turn, the indicators running within NinjaTrader reference that time or schedule operations accordingly. For example, if the Bar Timer indicator is running on a computer with an incorrect Windows 10, the Bar Timer may fail to countdown and could remain at zero.

In an ideal situation, your Windows 7, 8, or 10 version should automatically recalibrate (sync) with official time servers on a regular basis. This is supposed to be done by the operating system automatically every once in a while to correct any “drift” in time caused by, well, physics essentially as related to the battery on your computer’s motherboard. The official time servers are maintained to ensure great precision. You can check how “off” your computer clock is with the official time via https://time.is. Note that this is not an official time server, though it is frequently used to gauge computer clock accuracy. When time.is recognized your time is pretty much exact, it will tell you so.

Fortunately, there is an easy fix to the Windows time inaccuracy issue. We will go over instructions on how to set up a shortcut you can use every couple of weeks to manually correct/update the time.

  1. Right-click the Windows Desktop and select the option to create a new shortcut.
  2. For the location, type in timedate.cpl. Make sure there is no trailing period if you copied the text from here. Proceed forward and give the shortcut a name, such as Time Sync.
  3. Now that the shortcut is created, you’ll need to perform the remaining steps every two weeks or so to correct time drift. Double-click on the shortcut.
  4. Click the Internet Time tab a the top. Then click Change settings.
  5. Click Update now. It’s actually normal to see a failure message. When this occurs, select the other time server and try updating again. Repeat among the time servers until success occurs. Upon success, close out of the time area. Wait five minutes for the time to “permeate” the Windows OS.
  6. If NinjaTrader is running, restart it.
  7. Optionally, visit https://time.is to confirm your computer clock is now accurate.

Pro Tips for Aspiring Day Traders: Parts 1 & 2

Here’s a question that may confuse you at first: what do you not know that you do not know about trading? The unknown may be your biggest downfall. In this two-part video series, John Paul from DayTradeToWin.com endeavors to clarify common trading misconceptions. The general approach is price action. This means letting a chart’s price movement tell you when and how to trade.

By using the ATR (Average True Range) as an indicator for volatility, profit target, and stop loss, you can mitigate some risk. How? The ATR with a period setting of four gives you a picture of the average price variation for the last 20 minutes when a five-minute chart is in use. If you use this value to determine each trade’s win and loss settings (profit target and stop loss), you can mitigate some risk compared to those traders who use large, fixed values. We prefer an adaptable approach because price is always shifting. Tune in to the first video at 5:50 for an explanation in conjunction with the Trade Scalper. If the ATR is above five points, that’s considered too fast. If below one point, that’s considered too slow. There are exceptions and ways to trade really volatile conditions. Those approaches have been shared in recent videos.

Do you know how to quickly measure the points and ticks between two points on the chart? NinjaTrader 8’s ruler tool is useful. Select it from the drawing drop-down (click the pencil at the top of the chart). Next, you’ll need to click three points on the chart. The first is the start point. The next is the end point. The last is the point at which you want the measurement to display. Practice by measuring the distance between candles. You can quickly determine price ranges this way.

DayTradeToWin offers a free trading news indicator. News events can take a trader by surprising and plunge them into big loss territory in a jiffy. Wouldn’t it be better to know when a planned news event is going to happen so you can stay out of the market? The news indicator plots upcoming, scheduled news events directly on the chart. You can customize the number of displayed events. You may want to change it to five or so as the default value can take up much vertical space with overlap.

John Paul expects the E-mini S&P 500 to go up overall during the remainder of 2020. He explains how to find long (buy) opportunities once price exceeds a specific 50% level. He explains later how this long bias can be used intraday in combination with other signals, such as those from the Atlas Line and Trade Scalper. Use a daily chart to see recent highs and lows. You can configure the Fibonacci tool to draw three horizontal lines. The middle line is the 50% line. Look for retracements above the 50% mark to previous highs. Watch for situations where the market may stagnate or pause for one or more months on approach to higher levels. The specific midpoint value is defined as 2,782.

Avoiding Common Mistakes Traders Make

Sometimes traders can make mistakes due to too many historical order text displays that appear near the candles. If you place many orders in NinjaTrader, your charts can become cluttered with this order text. You can remove all the order text and disable it from occurring again by right-clicking the chart > Data Series > scroll down to Plot executions and select the “DoNotPlot” setting.

Another common point of failure is subjectivity. If you are using a trading system that allows for too much interpretation, the guessing aspect can lead to big losses. We prefer to stick to objective rules and follow those rules closely. This way, we avoid temptation of risking too much or staying in a trade for too long. The Trade Scalper is one such trading system that has concrete rules. Watch all the buy and sell signals that appear.

Indeed, a 2.25 point winner occurred with five contracts in place. With the E-mini S&P 500, each tick is worth $12.50. A point is considered to be four ticks. Therefore, one point equals $50. If you take the 2.25 points and multiply that by $50, you get $112.50. If you trade five contracts, multiply by five and you get $562.50. Remember, we are describing theoretical profit before any broker and/or exchange fees. Before trading, speak with a financial professional and a broker to see if trading is right for you.

Traders can also get tripped up when they enter trades too late. For many systems, the Trade Scalper included, it’s important to place the trade as soon as possible after the signal appears. In most cases, you will have to wait for a certain condition to occur before the rules of the method allow an action. Wait too long and the market could take on a new personality. If you are too greedy, “forcing” an entry may cause significant loss. Hopefully, your trading method accounts for timing. You may want to preconfigure commonly used profit targets and stop losses using the ATM Strategy feature within NinjaTrader.

Learn & Use This Price Action Trading Strategy Tomorrow

What if you could learn a trading method today and use it on tomorrow’s charts? That’s what we’re offering, here. The ABC Method divides the day into three sections: A, B, and C. Look for breakout opportunities in the B section based on the highest high and lowest low of A. Look for breakouts in C based on the highs and lows of B. You’ll need to watch the video from about 6:00 forward to learn all of the specifics. No indicator is required for this method; it’s all based on price action. If you want to use the ABC Indicator, purchase the ATO 2 method or enroll in our eight-week Mentorship Program.

Earlier in the video, you’ll review the performance of multiple trading systems including the Trade Scalper, Atlas Line, and ATO 2. The Atlas Line and Trade Scalper can be used on the same 1-Minute chart. Traditionally, the Atlas Line was used on a 5-Minute, but it’s flexible. It can be a tad confusing looking at indicators and determining what signal belongs to what system. The Atlas Line indicator consists of the dashed (pink in this case) diagonal line, the Atlas Long and Short signals, and the S (Strength) and P (Pullback) signals that appear next to candles. The Trade Scalper signals simply appear as Long or Short with triangles pointing in the corresponding direction. With John Paul’s configuration, the ATO 2 signals have a white background. They, too, use a similar Long and Short text format. Signal colors and other settings can be adjusted in the indicator settings area for each indicator.

Watch the full video because at 28:00 or so, John Paul shares his special Roadmap method/indicator. The Roadmap is included in the eight-week Mentorship “trading bootcamp” only. It can be used as a primary filter as well as an indicator of potential trends. Also, it provides Long and Short signals. The filtering occurs all day long, so you can see how valuable it is to combine the Roadmap with other methods like the Atlas Line and Trade Scalper. The Roadmap considers buyers and sellers, which can be considered external influences on price. Want to use the Roadmap? Enroll in the next eight-week Mentorship Program via this link.

Stay-At-Home Income Idea: Day Trading

In the movies or among your friends, you’ve probably heard about day traders who make money (or attempt to) day trading from their home computers. Yes, it’s real. Yes, it’s possible to both make and lose money. Yes, there are a number of educational courses, software, etc. designed to hopefully improve your chances in the markets. DayTradeToWin specializes in such programs, offering individually sold courses/software (ATO 2, Atlas Line, and Trade Scalper) as well as an eight-week trading bootcamp called Mentorship.

What makes DayTradeToWin different than other trading educators is the 10+ year online presence and the unique price action methods. Very few in this industry can say they’ve been operating over 10 years selling trading systems. In fact, many people put up websites trying to make a quick buck by promising the moon. That’s not a long-term strategy. These so-called educators are usually shut down or go out of business. There’s a reason why DayTradeToWin is still around with time-tested strategies. Customer care/support is super important. Email support is included with purchase. Every purchase includes at least one training video. Everyone learns differently, so it’s important to provide multiple resources.

Regarding price action, that simply refers to the style of trading. Some people use astrology, news events, or other highly interpretive/subjective methods. We believe following the price, listening to what price “tells us,” is the best way to trade. We keep our expectations in line with what the market can reasonably produce at a given moment. There’s no sense in going for big money if the market has been slow in the last 15 minutes. Likewise, why reduce profit potential with a small profit target under volatile conditions? Price action allows a trader to stay realistic and adaptable.

Even if you have zero experience using a trading platform, reach out to [email protected] for assistance. There are free training videos you can get. You can download the NinjaTrader 8 trading platform to practice. There’s no cost in this. Then you can purchase one of the courses or enroll in the eight-week program. There may be no better time to learn trading than now, when you’re home and have some extra time! Click here to see all the trading courses and software.

Profitable Scalping System? 6 Points Using Price Action?

Take a look at this nice Long (buy) Trade Scalper signal for the E-mini. John Paul places an order live. The signal is based on price action. This means that recent price activity read by the Trade Scalper indicator said, “There’s a fair chance price will rise.” The ATR (Average True Range) is the yellow line and value at the bottom. We use the ATR to dynamically determine the profit target and stop loss. This helps us stay in the trade during regular market fluctuations. We want price to move in the direction predicted by the indicator. Getting stopped out prematurely is no fun and can be costly. That’s why you have to use a reasonable stop loss. Being overly conservative can be costly. Yes, you can use another indicator like the Trade Scalper to filter out Trade Scalper trades or get a sense of overall expected market direction.

As discussed around 3:42, we also use time to determine when to get out. We call this a “time-based stop” because if we do not exit with a profit, we can to discontinue the open position due to increased risk. An experienced trader should be able to tell you that it’s unwise to hold any position for too long. The market can be hit with volatility at any moment. Trades are time-sensitive. This is especially true and consistent with the concept of scalping: scalping generally means get in and out quickly. You’ll see how John Paul exited a later position because he should have placed the trade earlier. Price already hit the profit target. It’s unwise to get into a position too late.

You can also get the Trade Scalper in the eight-week “trading bootcamp” called Mentorship. Many people are starting to look at alternative income strategies. Day trading has long been an option, though false feelings of, “It sounds too complicated” have deterred many. This is not true: many people with no experience trading have been taught trading. Mentorship is the best way to get training for all of our methods in one complete experience. We’ll take you from start to finish. The goal is to make you a proficient trader who can tackle the markets daily for big wins.

Forget Traditional Indicators: Price Action is Key

First, take a look at the Atlas Line price action indicator for the NinjaTrader 8 trading platform. The line itself is pink. In this case, it’s used on a 1-minute chart. On this particular day, the E-mini’s price action caused the Atlas Line to give two main signals: a Long and a Short. John Paul draws a box around the short signal. The indicator can be used as a long-term directional tool. Notice how price stayed below the line for the remainder of the day. In such cases, taking short trades is advised. Additional trades are provided as Strength (S) and Pullback (P) signals.

At 1:53, another price action indicator is shown: the Trade Scalper for NinjaTrader 8. This price action scalping indicator plots Long and Short signals based on price patterns. You won’t have to worry about identifying the price patterns yourself – the indicator does this automatically. Your job is to place the trades using the SuperDOM or Chart Trader. We recommend that you preconfigure multiple ATM Strategies so you can use the best one quickly when you’re ready to place a trade.

At the time, the ATR (Average True Range) indicator was indicating that we could go for 3.5 points of profit. Yes, we let the market dictate our risk. This is partially due to the idea that the stop loss must be large enough to absorb inevitable fluctuations. Traders who use stops that are too tight may be stopped out prematurely and such things may be costly if repeated. According to John Paul, the scalping trades shown were worth about two points of profit each.