Not Always Necessary to Buy Monitors for Day Trading

When day trading, looking at small text on your charts is no fun. This can happen if your display resolution is too high and your physical screen too small. Finding the right balance is important. Displays have become cheaper, but not so cheap if you want one of real quality – expect to pay over $450 for a decent monitor for gaming or graphic design. This is why some traders who use multiple monitors will have a large screen with a relatively lower resolution (easy to read text) or multiple monitors increasing the amount of visual data available at a given time. One can buy various fittings and structural grips to position trading monitors at ideal locations.

But what if you don’t want to do all that? What if just two charts was good enough but you want to see both charts at the same time? Split one chart in two! Yes, by right-clicking the NinjaTrader chart, going to Data Series, and making necessary changes, multiple instruments and/or time frames can be viewed within the same charting window. This may be possible on other trading platforms, but the focus of this video is demonstrating signals in NinjaTrader 8.

Multiple trading systems “saying the same thing” is a good sign according to John Paul of DayTradeToWin. Rather than getting one indicator’s opinion, looking for agreement in direction and timing may yield greater confidence and results, though there are no guarantees.

So, how were these trading systems created, anyway? A reworking of what John Paul learned many years ago from colleagues in the trading industry as well as his own trial and error, testing, and revising. Floor trading is no longer a thing, but some of the techniques from that period are still applicable in today’s markets. To figure this stuff out on your own, you may spend a lot of time and money. Ultimately, will your system be profitable? Would it be better to go with something tried and true?

If you want to scalp, you’re going to be in and out of the market many times per day. It’s important to follow the rules to limit exposure for each Trade Scalper trade. If you prefer to risk less per trade, scalping may be the way to go. If you like, fewer, larger trades, the Atlas Line may be preferred.

Can You Scalp the Market in the Morning?

There’s a reason why we love to trade using price action for over 10 years. It’s based on price candles primarily; sourced from reality rather than an abstraction that is a pretend authority. After all, you’re trading the price of the instrument, right? Well, if you center your trading around price itself, that seems to make sense.

All of the software provided by DayTradeToWin is based on price action. For example, the Atlas Line software’s line is based upon recent price activity. It grows in the same direction throughout the day, never changing it’s angle. This is one reason one can think of as the Atlas Line as “looking forward.” Price is going to do what it wants during the day and if it happens to close twice above or below the plotted Atlas Line, well, that’s an Atlas Line signal.

Will you always be able to enter a trade at the signaled entry price? It’s not possible. NinjaTrader attempts to replicate the experience of real-world fills, but trading with real money will always vary a bit from simulated/paper trading. Nevertheless, it’s important to practice with real-time data until you feel comfortable. At some later point, consider graduating to the Micro E-mini (MES) and the E-mini S&P 500. Throughout your journey, NinjaTrader provides an account performance feature that generates trading reports.

Some traders prefer to scalp, which means many quick trades but less risk per position due to shorter trade duration. If you want to see DayTradeToWin’s approach to scalp trading, go to the 1:00 mark and you’ll see what happens. Per trade, the Trade Scalper goes for a minimum of three ticks, but may be more than a point if conditions allow. In this video, you can see four winning signals.

These occurred around the market open. Typically, market open is a quirky time to trade. Many regular at-home traders will stay out for at least the first 20 minutes. This allows for a stabilization period in which a more consistent direction may be established.

How to Trade During a Big Sell-Off

For a long time, the DayTradeToWin website and YouTube has been populated with new trading videos showing various trading methods and performance. The Atlas Line, ATO 2, Trade Scalper, and Roadmap have appeared most often recently. There are only so many ways to demonstrate performance – many videos throughout the years is one such way.

In this new video, you’ll see the Atlas Line produce a short signal followed by a couple of Trade Scalper signals. Are both methods included together? No, they’re sold separately unless you participate in the eight-week Mentorship Program.

Most of the focus, here, is the Atlas Line. You’ll see more of it in the second half. Strength signals cause John Paul to place a trade. They can be recognized by the small “S” characters above or below the candles. The ATR (Average True Range) indicates the Long trade should have a profit target of about three points. Five contracts are used for this trade. This amounts to a trade worth $750 before any commissions or fees. Please consider all trading as simulated.

How was this dollar amount computed? For the E-mini, the smallest price can move is a tick. Each tick is worth $12.50. What’s a point? Four ticks. Therefore, a three-point profit target using a multiplier of five contracts equals $750. Keep in mind, not everyone has the money to trade with five contracts. DayTradeToWin encourages practice in simulated mode for some time. Then, you may want to consider graduating to the Micro E-mini (MES in NinjaTrader). After that, the E-mini can be traded with the $12.50 tick value as described previously.

Eliminating guesswork by relying on a trustworthy trading system is what DayTradeToWin aims to provide.

NinjaTrader Trailing Stop Guide for Price Action

Do you know what trailing stops are? Do you think they can only be used to “lock in profits?” In this video, John Paul from DayTradeToWin explains a whole new way to use them. Essentially, he uses trailing stops to more cautiously go for greater profit targets. This is what you see via the 2x and 3x ATR text in the video. If you apply a trailing stop too early, it’s possible you’ll get stopped out with random market fluctuations. Thus, John Paul proposes adding the trailing stop later when the time is right.

Long and short signals can excite all sorts of possibilities in the trader. Are you disciplined enough to stop trading after a few wins? Scalping is one of the most alluring ways to trade because of the constant opportunities and fast pace. You’ll need to quickly size up market conditions to know whether the trade is viable. Because speed is important to scalping trades and trailing stops, it makes sense to use NinjaTrader’s ATM Strategy feature to preconfigure common profit target and stop loss values.

The SuperDOM presents a drop-down list containing preconfigured ATM Strategies. After experimenting with the Trade Scalper for some time, configure the most common ATM Strategies you’ll need. When you’re in a trade, you can click the most appropriate one. This will help ensure your passions or aloofness won’t get the best of you. Successful trading is about finding winners AND mitigating loss. Having a good, low-cost broker is important, too, because of the round-turn commission rates on each trade.

Do you need to take every signal? No, in fact you can filter the signals using the ATR. This is taught in the Trade Scalper course. You can also combine it with your existing trading methods. John Paul often uses the Trade Scalper and Atlas Line together. The Atlas Line can be used like a long-range estimation of where price may go. While price is beneath or above, scalp in that direction when the scalping signals present themselves.

What is Scalp Trading? Beginner Video Explains…

It seems like more and more people are turning to day trading in hopes to find prosperity in their lives. While there are no guarantees in this line of activity, there are certainly lessons to be learned. Those lessons, in of themselves, can be highly valuable in getting to know yourself. These lessons may relate to how you handle loss, how you prepare to quickly execute decisions, how wisely you handle success and retain that success, and how you can manage your attention, finances, commitment, and energy in the long-term.

DayTradeToWin often aims to help beginner traders get started on such a path. Instead of relying on complex methodologies, DayTradeToWin focuses on recognizing candle patterns and then applying rules to place and manage trades. Of course, the first step in day trading is understanding basic concepts and trading software. Basic concepts include definition of trading words. Glossaries exist for such things, though context can explain much. There are many helpful videos for how to learn NinjaTrader. DayTradeToWin has produced a couple that stand out from pretty much all others out there.

Now, what is this “Easy Trading Strategy for Beginners” discussed in the video? It’s the Trade Scalper from DayTradeToWin. Yes, the Trade Scalper is not considered a complicated trading system. That’s because the rules are relatively simple once you are taught them and know what to look for. The software further simplifies the identification of opportunities via Long and Short signals of two types: Long and Short (regular) and DW Long and DW short (double-wick).

When scalping, you must be quick. This is why it’s important to spend time configuring ATM Strategies before trading with real money. You want to get a feel for how the trading method “handles” and account for common profit target goals and stop loss risk values. An ATM Strategy will let you preconfigure these values and select the most appropriate one for the current market conditions.

How to Get Multiple Charts in 1 Chart Window

Want to trade two types of charts in one chart window? This video will teach you how. Doing so will quickly let you get a glimpse of different types of market activity. You can run a 1-Minute chart alongside a 5-Minute chart, for example. On each chart, you can have the appropriate indicator. In other words, you could scalp on the 1-Minute chart and using the Atlas Line on the 5-Minute.

It is also possible to add a panel for the ATR and place it in between the two charts. The video shows this. This is a good configuration because you can see when signals match up or confirm one another, or when one filters out another, in order to decide to take a trade or to skip. Because the ATR is used as a volatility, profit target, and stop loss indicator, it makes sense to have its position centralized within the chart.

In case you are wondering, the Trade Scalper is used in this video. A 1-Minute chart is on top and a 5-Minute chart below. One DayTradeToWin testimonial is written by someone who likes to confirm movement on both chart types. He does not indicate that he uses the Atlas Line or any other indicator. This may be an indication he’s only using the Trade Scalper, which is interesting, because it may appeal to you as all all-encompassing scalping trading method.

If you prefer not to have multiple chart types within one charting window, you may separate charts into tabs using the tab area on the bottom of the chart. This way, you can select among the tabs/charts as needed. If you happen to look at multiple charts on a regular basis, perhaps having multiple chart windows will be your best option. In that case, you may want special software to position these charts to maximization organization and screen space. The DayTradeToWin website discusses software that will help you do this.

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.