Trading Manipulation: GME Stock, Futures, It Doesn’t Matter

There’s a common expression for those who trade GME stock: “to the moon!” Well, the ride to the moon can be a bumpy one. One of the causes for turbulence is manipulation.

Manipulation is when human traders or their software/systems intentionally interfere with market activity to gain an advantage. And if you’ve been following the GME drama over these recent months, there have been all sorts of back and forth accusations from the big guys and the regular folks.

If you do some digging on YouTube, you can readily find hedge fund-types admitting to manipulation and how they do it. In some cases they say they do it because there are no rules against it. Indeed, there are exploited loopholes. But what can you do as an individual trader or investor?

John Paul from DayTradeToWin advises learning how to recognize certain manipulation patterns and stay out of the market when they occur. You can also potentially capitalize on these opportunities if you have the right techniques, namely, the Roadmap software.

Throughout the new video, he shares his Roadmap software and explains how its zones and signals serve to keep a trader informed. When price approaches a zone, it’s time to pay attention. We can expect price to bounce off of go through it. In some cases, a Long or Short signal is produced. At that point, you can place a trade according to the rules. Where are the rules taught? How do you get the Roadmap? At this point in time, the only way is to enroll in the full eight week trading bootcamp known as Mentorship.

One of the reasons why manipulation is effective is because it lures in everyday traders with false indications. By pumping and dumping large sums, a big firm can control the market somewhat. If other systems are “in” on these schemes and can see the ripples generated by another firm, what’s to stop a trading algorithm from dumping millions of dollars more in the market, exacerbating the manipulation? This could happen in a very short period of time. How would regulation stop this? You could drive yourself crazy thinking about how to beat high frequency trading algorithms. However, you’re a human trader. These systems are trading at the micro or millisecond level right at the exchange. They have computation and physics at their disposal. They have the best and brightest from top universities molding neural networks to maximize profits.

When it comes to manipulation, it’s better to go with what works. And according to DayTradeToWin’s John Paul, that’s the Roadmap and the other methods taught in the eight-week trading school.

Learn to Trade: Beginner and Intermediate Traders Welcome

Advanced traders are encouraged to watch these videos as well. DayTradeToWin has taught thousands of people about trading using price action. There’s no doubt some of these people are advanced traders. In fact, some of the DayTradeToWin testimonials say that success was finally achieved after many years of trying various types of systems. Does that sound like you? They’ve also helped people who have never even looked at a trading chart for more than a half-hour. And if you’ve had some time to get familiar with charts and trading, but do not consider yourself a pro, then there’s much to learn as well. You see, the approach John Paul, founder of DayTradeToWin, takes is much different than anything else out there.

Here we have his latest price action webinar split into two parts. He begins by discussing his general approach, risk management and what price action means. The ATR (Average True Range) is the indicator that dictates much of his trading. For just about every trade he takes, he looks at the ATR to determine the profit target and stop loss. You can think of the profit target and stop loss as the reward and risk potential, respectively. In the NinjaTrader chart, the ATR typically appears at the bottom. John Paul has thickened the line and changed the color to a yellowish gold.

The Long and Dbl Wick Long signals that you see belong to the Trade Scalper indicator software. There are different price options for the course and software: 6-Month or Lifetime. If you’ve been following John Paul for some years, you may be ready to jump into a Lifetime license. If you’re just getting your feet wet, by all means, consider a 6-Month License. Toward the end of this first video, he explains what counter-trend trading means.

Moving forward, we continue with John Paul’s explanation of counter-trend trading. He discusses more price action dynamics then goes into overbought and oversold market conditions. This is similar to the large candle explanation he gave in another recent video.

There’s also some time spent scrolling through the charts, so you can see all of the recent Trade Scalper signals: good and bad. He readily points out a Long signal that wasn’t so great, as the market soon turned around. To mitigate against some losses, he recommends using three different stop strategies: a time-based stop, a prove-it stop, and the catastrophic stop. The catastrophic stop is used as safety net and is the default stop applied when he places a trade using an ATM Strategy. If the trade doesn’t go well, he can try to lock in profit or close it out according to the other two stop loss rules.

Big Candles May Indicate a Trend is Over

When day trading, how do you know if you’re looking at the beginning or end of a trend? You need to follow trend identification rules that tend to work more often than not. Of course, just because a method has worked well historically does not mean it will continue working well in the future. Please understand there are no guarantees of future performance.

In this video, John Paul from DayTradeToWin says to be cautious around large candles. They may indicate a trend is over, as the trend may be “exhausted.” Some traders make the mistake of thinking large candles are a sign that the market is about to move further in that direction. That’s not always the case, and from John Paul’s experience, it’s more likely the market will soon stall out or reverse, as demonstrated around 3:43 in the video.

Sideways or choppy markets are almost guaranteed problems for traders unless you’re scalping and have a really good technique that gets you in and out fast with accurate prediction. As mentioned, the market can go sideways after a trend. If that’s the case, you probably want to wait it out until you see some constant direction, up or down, again.

If your connection/data provider supports it, you can always take a look at the buying and selling action, also known as Level II data. In NinjaTrader, this information is displayed in the SuperDOM. The buying and selling numbers move rapidly. Typically, we focus more on price action (patterns) than DOM action.

It’s important to enter at the beginning of a move up or down, not at the end, once the trend is over. By the way, just because there’s a period of stagnant activity does not mean that you should see a trend. As shown here, it’s entirely possible a big candle will emerge out of nowhere. Then, it’s possible to again see stagnation or a period of large candles.

In the 8-Week Mentorship Program, you’ll learn how to identify trends with specific rules. Also, the signals that you’re provided are designed to get you in at the start of a move.

3 to 4 Scalping Trades Per Day is All it Takes

Pre-market trading tends to be slower, so if you’re awake at that time and ready to go, be warned. We find that scalping is the best way to go after-hours or pre-market. The reason is that scalping goes for smaller profit targets, generally, which are par for the course in slow conditions. The video shows many Trade Scalper signals from about 2:30 a.m. US/Eastern time to about 9:30 a.m. From 9:30 a.m. until 4:30 p.m. US/Eastern or so is considered the normal trading day where one can expect normal conditions (with great diversity).

Once the market opens, you begin the day session. The signals that appear soon after the market opens, say, within the first 15 to 20 minutes, are often best avoided. Why? Because there’s a bunch of random, crazy activity that often occurs at market open. Wait until time has moved onward. In addition, look out for news events, as present additional periods of volatility in the morning.

At about 2:30 in the video, you’ll see the Trade Scalper working on the 1-minute chart for a real-time trade. John Paul from DayTradeToWin is in the market, going Long, in real-time, with eight contracts. Not everyone has the cash to trade with that many contracts or far more. That’s actually ideal. The reason is you want to work your way up even if you have a lot of risk capital. Start off practicing with free, real-time simulator data for the E-mini or Micro E-mini. From there, gauge your success. If good after a reasonable period of time, consider opening an account and trading one Micro E-mini contract. That way, you aren’t losing a ton of money while you gain experience. You could scale up there to multiple contracts and eventually move on to a single E-mini contract where each tick is worth $12.50.

So, what happened with this trade? The profit target was hit. The trade was worth $1,000 before any fees, commissions, etc. You could trail a stop in an attempt to “lock in” any profit target. There’s no need to take every single, either. Take the best ones according to the rules. There’s no need to trade 10+ times per day. Three or four scalping trades per day is good. Go enjoy the sunshine as John Paul says.

Live Scalping the E-mini Using Price Action

Would you bother with a trade worth +3 ticks? If you’re scalping multiple times a day and/or using multiple contracts, you might seek out these trade specifically! Here’s an example of how John Paul from DayTradeToWin.com scalps the E-mini S&P 500 using price action. Watch how fast this trade is over.

He’s using eight contracts. If you do the math, the trade is worth $300. The whole thing is done and over within a couple of minutes. Keeping in mind there can be no performance guarantee and trading is always subjecting the trader to potential significant loss, wouldn’t you like to have an extra $300 for just a couple minutes of “work”? For some people, that amount is considered a nice daily wage.

Trading for income is not something you can do after buying a course, reading it, and then starting the next day. It takes practice. You have to make sure you’re following the rules. When you got your first bike, did you use training wheels or did you slalom an interstate highway on a multi-geared, aerodynamic cycle? Probably the former. Take baby steps; practice in a real-time simulated account for some time. Then as time goes on, attempt to grow your account by first trading the MES (Micro E-mini) for a while followed by the regular ES.

With the Trade Scalper, you’ll want to enter the trade as soon as possible after the signal appears. Remember, the candle has to close for the signal to appear. Then it’s up to you to place the trade. Slippage will occur depending on the type of order used. When trading for a small number of ticks, slippage becomes more of a factor. Follow the instructions and use the correct order type. Avoid chasing the trade, as this can reduce the profit potential as well.

E-mini Sets New Record: Trade Scalper and Atlas Line Winners

When there are historic highs in the market, you better hope that you’re using a trading system that accurately calls them out ahead of time! That’s what the Trade Scalper and Atlas Line successfully did multiple times throughout this historic trading day. We saw the E-mini S&P 500 climb well above the 4,000 level. If you were guessing or waiting for a short opportunity and took it, we hope you found success. If you held a position for any length of time, ouch.

Using two of DayTradeToWin’s price action systems together can give you a sense of improved clarity and ease. The Atlas Line can help qualify opportunities identified by the Trade Scalper as well as give a projected direction of where price may go throughout the day. If both systems line up, John Paul believes that’s double confirmation and all the better for trading.

How many times can a trading system be correct in a day? Many times. That’s what scalping is – many traders per day, in and out. You don’t have to take every trade. By all means, take only the best according to the ATR and any other systems you’re using. People get very excited about all the signals and potential of the Trade Scalper. It’s understandable. Once a signal appears, there’s an opportunity to place a trade right away. If you have an ATM Strategy set up that matches current market conditions, you can jump in easily.

John Paul of DayTradeToWin is expecting 2021 market conditions to climb even further. If he’s right, that means there are plenty more days like this in the future. The year isn’t even halfway over yet. By the way, if you need NinjaTrader 8, DayTradeToWin will set you up. They have a full video and written guide that may be some of the best unofficial documentation out there on the platform. The video focuses on getting up to speed quickly and skips out on features that you may not use.

Do Perfect Day Trading Conditions Exist?

Take a look at all of these signals produced by the DayTradeToWin Trade Scalper software. Would you take all of them or is there a way to filter out only the trades with the highest chance of winning? With purchase, you are given rules ot identify potential winners and filter out potential losses. For example, you can use the ATR (Average True Range) to gauge current market conditions and determine the profit target and risk.

As another idea, you can add a secondary system, such as DayTradeToWin’s Atlas Line. In this video, both systems matched up in terms of saying that Long/buying was the way to go. Yes, you can use them both on a 1-minute or 5-minute chart within the NinjaTrader 8 trading platform. By the way, you can get NinjaTrader for free with real-time/live practice data. You only need to pay for the platform when you want to trade with real money.

Ever trade using a range chart? Using the Trade Scalper scalping method, it’s possible to scalp for small amounts many times per day on range charts. Specifically, a 2-range chart is used. Range charts are an alternative used when the 1-Minute chart is too slow. Otherwise, a range chart can be very fast; especially true for scalp trading. By the way, don’t bother with the ATR on a range chart. As you can see, the shark fin-esque formation is meaningless; there are other rules that you’ll learn specific for scalping on range charts.

What’s the point in demonstrating all of these different chart types with signals? To demonstrate the power and versatility of these price action trading methods. There are many other trading systems out there advertised as overnight success makers. There’s a lot of hype and little explanation. There’s a lot of marketing and little history demonstrating success. With DayTradeToWin, you can go back many years and see the same methods in use and working again and again. This page has all of DayTradeToWin’s price action courses and software. After purchase, the instructions are provided via email including the applicable downloads.

How to Trade Pre-market: E-mini Scalping Signals

Although you could use the Trade Scalper software to trade 24 hours a day, that doesn’t mean you should do it! There are a number of great trades that occur in the early or evening periods, beyond what is considered standard trading hours. The first portion of this video covers one such signal, a long. After the close of that candle where the long signal was generated, we see price rise for three candles. The indicates a winning move.

The next signal that appeared was a Double Wick Short. A Double Wick is another type of signal that is produced by the Trade Scalper software. Price moved against the signal and then dropped right down via three consecutive red candles. You’ll see this trade unfold in real-time.

John Paul used eight contracts. He has Chart Trader configured to show his current profit or loss as it fluctuates. This particular trade’s goal/profit target was worth $1,000 before any commissions or fees. Fantastic, right? Such a short period of time. That’s what scalping is all about. If you were trading just one contract, that would have been $125. Still, if you can find multiple trades like this daily, they add up. The idea is to grow your account over time.

If you have three or four winners in your pocket for the day, it’s time to call it quits. Yes, let’s keep that money in the pocket, and hopefully saved up long-term rather than take yet another chance. There will be other days to trade. Look at the bigger picture: the week, the month, 90 days, six months, then a year. How was your performance? Were you following the rules correctly?

There are people who sleep at the casino’s hotel so they can maximize their gambling. There are also those people who are hardly awake at their slot machines for sixteen hours, sitting in unhealthy positions for too long, not nourishing their minds or bodies. A few hours a day should be the goal. Life is about living; and most of us would probably define living as something different than what happened on a chart for a given period of time.

Should You Take an Online Day Trading Course or Class?

“Is this a good trade? Should I enter here? Should I exit here? Am I risking too much or too little?”

These are questions you shouldn’t be asking yourself after you’ve been trading for some time. It’s normal to have these questions when you’re starting out, trying to figure out if you’re using your trading software correctly and applying a technique properly.

But if you are just guessing your way through trading or “hunch trading” as some may call it, well, that can be a problem long-term. So, what’s the solution? Learn from someone who has been a successful trader for years. Hopefully, that person is willing and able to relay all techniques and understanding. Not everyone is a good teacher. Some very rich traders are poor teachers. And of course, some great teachers are poor traders! This is why there may be just a handful of people with the right knowledge and educational ability to teach you how to day trade.

John Paul from DayTradeToWin is such a teacher. He has been teaching people how to day trade for many years. In fact, he didn’t even consider becoming a teacher. He was selling one or two trading methods online, then one of his clients asked him basically, “Hey, do you have anything else you could teach me?” And unbeknownst to John Paul at the time, this became the start of what is now the 8-Week Mentorship Program. Interesting how things in life happen like that, huh?

If you’ve never heard of the Mentorship Program, the above video will run through a number of the methods that are taught. Remember, it’s eight weeks in duration. Class is twice a week. You get all courses and software with Lifetime licenses. Classes are recording so you can watch them later online. It’s the complete package; a treasure trove of trading knowledge being shared with you by a trading expert who can actually teach! Note that John Paul is currently only available for the Individual, on-on-one version of Mentorship. There is another very qualified instructor who teaches the Group class.

Big E-mini Winners This Historic Trading Day

The big S&P 500 reached new heights. As you might expect, that translated into big gains for the E-mini S&P 500. As such, we have a Long Atlas Line signal stating off the day. The steep angle means that we are in for a big ride up or possible one or more intersections. If there was an intersection followed by a signficant drop (did not happen), then we would have gone with short trades and seen any long trades were less likely due to the distance of price vs. the Atlas Line. Get it? That’s what makes the Atlas Line such a great predictive tool!

The big news of the day was that the S&P 500 surpassed the 4,000 level. This was a new record. There were plenty of Atlas Line Strength and Pullback signals on the way up. If that wasn’t enough, you could have applied the Trade Scalper. That’s what John Paul does at 3:50 in this video. Look at all those signals! Some traders were blind to the fact that the day was anticipated to be a up-trending day. Can you imagine trading in the dark, constantly second-guessing whether the market was to suddenly drop? That’s not a good way to trade. Rather, we want to be positive, optimistic, and have real expectations about anticipated moves.

It was not necessary to take every signal. In fact, trading too much or too often subjects you to unnecessary risk. John Paul often advises to go with the best signals. With purchase of his methods, he explains the exact rules for such conditions and how to filter. You can use multiple methods as well, as demonstrated here.

Will we be seeing more big bullish days ahead? This year and last have been two of the most interesting to trade. Many signs point to 2021 exceeding new highs on a regular basis. Are you ready to take advantage of these projected opportunities?