E-mini S&P's chart setup

[Keith]

I'm going to trade e-mini's to try something different. Do I use the same setup as my equity charts? Thanks, any tips appreciated.

[eeminimee]

Hi Keith,

I don't have a setup to give you but for a new s&p mini trader, you may want to start with this Webex video from Andy Bushak by clicking on this link:

http://www.esignalcentral.com/university/get/default.asp

On the left margin, you will see E-Mini Day Trading and then click on S&P Trading using 3-minute bar.

Thanks,

Me

[soylent]

Can I assume you mean day-trade the e-minis?

They work about the same as any large stock -- so, if you day trade those, you should find it very similar.

I don't find most AGET tools work 'out of the box' as well as they would on longer timeframes.

eWaves are great on daily/weekly/60min. And work well on 30/13 but still suspect... Shorter time-frame, I don't use waves because it messes up my head.

The only thing I use, AGET wise, is the TJ's WEB.
I use 14-period CCI for everything else. And a 34EMA. I trade the 1/2/3/5/13 min time frames. (Depends on the type of day. 1 min for entry, 3 min for bigger setup, 13 min for trend, 2 min for scalping, etc...)

Checkout WoodiesCCIClub.com for more info on CCI -- a great group of traders...

Follow the video (suggested below). It will give some ideas on using AGET w/ eminis. Great training, too.

eeminimee: Do you trade per the style in the video?

-c

[MR]

Re: E-mini S&P's chart setup

Hi Keith,

Originally posted by Keith I'm going to trade e-mini's to try something different. Do I use the same setup as my equity charts? Thanks, any tips appreciated.

Stay with the trading style you are already comfortable with, but take it easy at first when doing something new and different. Each field has its uniqueness. You will have to get acclimated slowly to it. Once you discover the differences, you can make adjustments in your techniques, then will become more successful. E-mini's are similar but not quite the same as what you are use to doing. Keep listening to others-- Soylent and Me gave good advice-- and you will do well. Take care, best wishes to you in your new direction. You will find e-mini's fun. -marc

[MR]

Keith, one thing I forgot to say, even though you may be trading the e-mini SP contract, remember to keep track of the bigger contract too. Sometimes there might be a slight variation. When you track both, you can pick up on these anomolies more quickly. Just a little trick is all.

[eeminimee]

Hi soylent,

No, I really don't use the setup from the video. I rely heavily on floor trader pivot numbers, XTL, GET stochastic, volume with 50 ma, macd, and 3 moving averages (9, 18, 82). And I use the fib. ret. and ext. to measure every trend I see. For the ES pivot numbers, I subscribe to Mohan's newsletter. For the YM pivots, I got this link from woodies cci club - http://www.thelikosletter.com/cbot/dow.cfm. For the NQ, I use the floor trader efs I bought from Chris Kryza. I am blind without the TRIN, VIX, TICK, COMPQ, MER, INDU, all part of Mohan's technique but I also use it with NQ and YM. And I also like to look for opening gaps which I know will be filled later (could be the same day or a few days after). I would also like to learn about woodies cci ( I bought a Hotcomm subscription to get to the chatroom) but I think it will take me a while before I can understand his techniques also.

Thanks,

Me

[soylent]

Thanks em.

Interesting group of statistics you use. I find I remove more-and-more stuff from my chart as time goes on.

Right now, I use:
- Previous day daily high/low/open/close
- 10am high/low
- TJ's web
- 34ema and least-square moving average
- CCI 14 and 6

I've removed every other indicator. Mostly becuase they just cause me too many indecisions. CCI gives the signal when a trend is stalling so I can decide to stay or go. Even TJ's web causes me some concern because I've taken profit prematurely. But, it's good when I want to scalp / as a target.

You should definitely 'turn on' woodies during the day. I highly recommend: Ricky, Rover, or Woodie. They call the plays dead-on. It's amazing their skill level. The other traders / commentators are good but those three are omnipotent...

Anyhow, I like to see the Advance/decline volume to see if we are in a solid uptrend, the Adv/Decline stocks to see if we are in a strong buy or waffling, and the tick. But, even the tick, I think, messes up my trades because it goes POSTIVE after the CCI. (i.e. CCI leads the way). Honestly, I'm trying to ignore all other indicators becuase they really bias my opinion.

I tried XTL but I found the signals came late and even setting SELL targets didn't work because I could put a buy/limit in and set a SELL limit in @ the same time and would never get filled on the sell limit before XTL reached it's first target. I've tried the example where 5 sell levels are set but, even then, I've just not had success. Many times the buy limit gets hit at the SELL limit price. The markets are just so competitive!

Now, I've reverted to taking flyers on everything. e.g. I'll see a setup coming and try to anticipate it. I'll try to get in @ a support point and take a small loss many times so I don't miss the 'big bar' that starts the rally (which, in this market, is often the ONLY bar... and, trying to set a LIMIT buy is often pointless because you're inline behind everyone...).

What's a MOHAN?

-c

[soylent]

OH, I forgot to add:
I like AB (ER2) because it runs a little more smoothly than NQ. I really liked NQ because I grew up on QQQ daily/60minutes. But, the NQ is so choppy. If you have a stop -- it's guaranteed to be hit before they move the NQ up. I'm thinking of shelving it for good...

I'm working on YM (dow) and 6E (euro). I usually make money on YM but I just can't time it right. You'd think w/ just 30 stocks I could get a better read on it...

ES just doesn't move enough right now, for me.

-c

[eeminimee]

soylent,

LOL! Mohan is an s&p mini trader that gives market calls through emails everyday if you subscribe to his service. I mainly use him for his numbers though. His website is www.21stcenturyfutures.com. I believe eSignal also has a partnership with him, they created several efs' for him for a monthly fee.

I have been reading through woodies' techniques. I may have to play a little with his chart color scheme as gray is a little too glaring for my eyes.

Thanks for the info,

Me

[soylent]

Checked out Mohan. Looks like a veteran trader. Nice. Could be interesting thing to check into later.

As for Woodie:
- All you need is default CCI (drop a 14 and 6 on one panel)

The rest of the green stuff is not necessary. I think LSMA (least square) is downloadable in the EFS section.

I suppose it's like anything (stochastics, etc) where when you get GOOD you get REAL GOOD... Same w/ AGET and ewaves. When I first started using it, I lost on every trade. Now, I know its limitations and don't get suckered into many of its mis-steps.

-c