Well it was another great day of trading for all of us at the School of Trade! There weren’t too many news events to worry about in the markets today, really with the exception of only a few members of the FOMC committee speaking around 10:00 and 11:00am EST. We really didn’t see too much disruption in the price action of the markets we traded; who knows, maybe traders are finally starting to ignore these guys! Either way, it didn’t stop us from having a great day in the markets, going 5 for 5 with a total profit of $720, and all being done with a trade account as little as $4,000! (That’s almost a 20% return on your account today).
Our first trade of the morning came earlier than usual, and was a refreshing way to start our trading off with some consistent profits on the Gold market (Symbol GC). As I am writing this, the Gold market has not made new all time highs today; I know a shocker right! But don’t worry there were still some great swings in the market this morning for us to take some trades. The gold market has kept a rather strong base today right around the $1100/oz range, and by the end of trading it will be easy to see that strong buyers came across the tape to keep the market up most of the day (Identify Market Sentiment For Day Trading Futures). Earlier this morning though, after breaking new highs for the day, it was clear for us to see, while reading the ticker tape, that the buyers would not hold the market up for long, and so we watched closely to spot a potential School of Trade set-up. We didn’t have to wait too long either, as the gold market was seemingly hitting a new high, the buying pressure on our P.O.T indicator began to slow, and we entered the market with a trend reversal trade called the 2-Step, to the short side. Our order was executed at 8:30am EST with a basis of 1103.2; which was a great entry price to have because soon after the market took off to the down side, giving us the ability to take profits at +4 ticks (2 contracts) +8 ticks and our final contract getting us an additional +8 ticks, for a total of +24 ticks ($240).
Our next trade did not occur until a few hours later, due to the U.S markets opening up and the FOMC decided to speak, we waited patiently for the right opportunity to show itself in the market. As we began to scan the markets for a possible set-up, we found one in the Crude Oil (Symbol CL). At 10:20am EST we were finally given a set-up to take, with a Breaker pattern long, this was a little higher risk for us than usual, but with the ticker tape showing us buyers were entering the market strongly, we decided to enter ( Crude Oil Futures Day Trading Video). Our order was executed at 80.31 and we were able to scalp off a few ticks before the market pulled back on us, giving us profits of +4 ticks (2 contracts) for a total of +8 ticks ($80).
At this time in the morning, the markets really began to move, giving us some great trading opportunities. Our next trade also came on the Crude Oil (Symbol CL). The market had begun to find a top shortly after our previous trade and the sellers were waiting patiently to reverse the market. We began to notice this change in momentum from reading the ticker tape as well as our Pace of the Tape indicator and decided to join the sellers by entering the market with a 2-step short order (Price Patterns Technical Analysis Futures Video). At 10:31am EST our trade was executed with a basis of 80.40 to the short side; without even giving us time to react, the market quickly dropped and filled our first target of +4 ticks (2 contracts) before pulling back slightly and closing our order out for a total profit of +8 ticks ($80).
The fourth trade of the morning, and also on the Crude Oil, came only minutes after our previous trade and once again to the short side (Scalping Futures Day Trading Video). After our third trade had been executed, the Crude Oil market had continued its downward trend, and so we instinctively looked to enter the market with that trend. With selling pressure still flowing into the market, we placed a short order to be executed at 80.22. With our sell order being executed at 10:38am EST, the market continued its sell off, allowing us to lock in profits for our trade account at +4 ticks (2 contracts) for a total of +8 ticks ($80).
The fifth and final trade of our morning came on the Gold market (Symbol GC). Since our first trade on the Gold market, price action had been pushed up even further, making new daily highs into the U.S market openings (Gold Futures Day Trading Video). The buyers continued this trend later into the morning, but we soon noticed that more sellers were taking positions and more buyers were taking profits. Seeing this change in momentum, we began looking to identify a possible short trade. At 10:50am EST we finally were able to execute our order to the down side with a Breaker price pattern. With our trade being executed at a basis of 1106.0, we caught the sell off at the perfect time, because sellers soon flooded the market, giving us the ability to take profits at all three of our targets for +4 ticks (2 contracts) +8 ticks and another +8 ticks, giving us a total of +24 ticks on our final trade of the day ($240).
Well it was another Monday morning trading session for the School of Trade, which means we saw lower volume overall, but we still closed our day profitable! We didn’t really have too much U.S News today; instead we were watching for the German Industrial Production numbers at 7:00am EST as well as the 9:15am EST Canadian Housing Starts, which could affect the Crude Oil prices due to its high correlation with the commodities. We took a total of 5 trades this morning, 3 of which were profitable, and due to our strict money management, we were able to end our day with profits of $240!
The first trade of the day for the School of trade came on the Crude Oil (Symbol CL). Today’s price action on the Crude Oil certainly looked like a profit taking of all the shorts on Friday as well as more buyers entering the market, once again pushing price to $80/barrel (Crude Oil Futures Day Trading Video). Even in the early morning trading hours, the Crude Oil market was in a steady uptrend. With only a brief pullback prior to the start of the Open Outcry pits trading at 8:30am EST, more volume entered the market, allowing price action to once again continue its rise. With the overall longer term trend being long for the day as well as the relatively short term trend being to the long side, we instinctively looked to take a position in the market long. We finally saw a quality School of Trade set-up at 9:06am EST with a Breaker pattern to the long side. Our order was executed and filled instantly at 78.86 and it wasn’t long before we saw our first profit target of +4 ticks (2 contracts) being executed, for a total profit of +8 ticks on our first trade of the morning.
Our second trade of the morning came shortly after the U.S Equities market opened at 9:30am EST and also on the Crude Oil market (Symbol CL). After seeing the market rally for a good portion of the morning, we knew it would eventually have to pullback, thus seeing a bit of consolidation in the market after the U.S equities open, we began to watch for trade set-ups to the short side (Sideways Market Day Trading Futures). At 9:36am EST we watched as another Breaker pattern set-up for us, this time though we entered the market as sellers. Our order was executed promptly at 78.87, and once entering the market, unfortunately we were quickly stopped out of our trade, for a total loss of -18 ticks. Unfortunately, no one wins every trade, and sometimes the market just doesn’t go in your favor, thus is trading, and to become successful at trading, you must learn to deal with rare events such as this one.
The third trade of the morning came on the Gold market (Symbol GC). The Gold market once again made new all time highs today, reaching a peak of 1111.8 in the futures market so far today. We saw some decent volume in the market this morning, but price action really kept to a tight overall range in the $1100/oz range, and is currently is looking to break back into the $1090/oz before the close of the day (Gold Futures Day Trading Video). We finally noticed some volume start to pick up once all the U.S markets were open and volume was is full flight. Shortly after the Gold market had made its new high for the day, the market quickly began to pullback as more buyers took profits and sellers entered the market to push price back down. With the short term trend being down, we decided to look for a chance to sell the market, and got our opportunity at 10:10am EST with a Breaker pattern. Without hesitation, we entered the market at a basis of 1106.1 and watched our technical indicators to ensure the best outcome for our trade. After seeing price action start to slow down, and not executing even at our first profit target, we decided it was best to be flat in the market right now, and close our trade early for a scratch +/- 0 ticks.
Our fourth trade of the day came shortly after our third, and gave us the opportunity to scalp some profits from the British Pound market (Symbol 6B) (Scalping Futures Day Trading Video). The British Pound futures had some great price action this morning, and gave us the opportunity to add some great profits to our trade account today! The European trading session had taken the market higher in price with added volume in the market, but the rally soon started to subside as the European lunch hours entered the market around 4:00am EST. With the return of volume from the European lunch and the beginning of the U.S equities market, price action soon began to take back its previous rally that had occurred in the earlier hours, and sellers began to once again push prices back down. With the trend being our friend to the short side, we began looking for possible quality trade set-ups to sell into. At 10:12am EST we were given our chance, with a great Breaker set-up. We entered the market at 1.6762 and were happily surprised when the market dropped so soon, allowing us to take profits at +4 ticks (4 contracts) +8 ticks (2 contracts) and another +5 ticks (2 contracts) for our final contracts, closing our at +42 ticks! ($262.5)
The fifth and final trade of our morning came yet again on the Crude Oil market (Symbol CL). After seeing the Crude Oil market consolidate shortly after the U.S equities open, volume finally entered the market once around 11:00am EST. With the increased volatility, price action began showing us some possible entries to the long side, and it wasn’t until 11:02am EST that we were able to capitalize on them Scalping Futures With 1-Contract To Start Video). We entered the market long off a Breaker pattern, and with a basis of 79.50 we were able to pick up a quick +4 ticks (2 contracts) for a total of +8 ticks ($80).
Well another Friday has come and gone, and with it brought yet another profitable day for the School of Trade! We had a good amount of news evens come out throughout the trading day, from the Non-Farm Employment Change and Unemployment Rate for the U.S at 9:30am EST to Canadian news and European news as well earlier in the morning. With all this added volatility, it certainly had us being extra cautious when taking trade, but didn’t stop us from making money! We were able to take six trades today and went 6 for six with a total profit of $932. The beauty of our style of trading is that all you need is a $4,000 dollar account! Because, for example today we took trades on the Euro futures, which has a $500 margin/contract and the Crude Oil, which only costs $1000 in margin/contract. This also provides you with a nice 1.5:1 RISK/REWARD RATIO! (Futures Day Trading Account Management Video)
Our first few trades of the day came on the Crude Oil market (Symbol CL). The Crude Oil market basically trended down the entire day, with brief periods of pullbacks. Initially in the early morning hours the Crude Oil market sold off quite strongly, due to the Canadian Employment Change and Unemployment Rate, which came out at 8:00am EST. Once those negative numbers had passed, we began to look for our first possible trade, given the added volume in the market at that time (Identify Market Sentiment For Day Trading Futures). We didn’t have to wait too long, because with the open outcry pit trading beginning at 9:00am EST, more volume was beginning to enter the market. At 8:54am EST we established that our classic breaker pattern had set-up in the market and we entered the market long with a basis of 77.59. As our stop limit order was executed, we saw more buyers enter the market, via the ticker tape, and were able to lock in profits at +4 ticks (2 contracts) and +8 ticks, for a total of +16 ticks ($160).
Our second trade of the morning, which also came on the Crude Oil, was taken shortly after the open outcry pits began to pick up in volume at 9:00am EST. With the added volume in the market, we noticed that price action was beginning to find a brief top for the moment being, and we quickly looked to take the market short with our trend reversal trade, the 2-step (Price Patterns Technical Analysis Futures Video). At 9:18am EST we entered the market short with a basis of 77.77; the selling pressure didn’t last long, but we were still able to scalp off +4 ticks (2 contracts) before closing our trade out at a profit of +8 ticks ($80).
The third trade of the morning came shortly after the second, and once again on the Crude Oil (Symbol CL). After the U.S news had been released and the volatility had died down some, we looked to enter the market once again, but this time with the trend, which was to the long side. With the U.S Unemployment rate coming out, the Crude Oil market began a strong rally, at which point we decided to jump on the trend and scalp a few ticks from it ( Crude Oil Futures Day Trading Video). At 9:38am EST we entered the market long with a breaker pattern and a basis of 78.41. As the market continued its rally, we were able to take profits at our first profit target of +4 ticks (2 contracts) for a total of +8 ticks before closing the trade ($80).
The fourth trade of the day came on the Euro futures, (Symbol 6E). The euro market had kept itself in a rather tight range in the early hours, but as more volume entered the markets, its range began to expand, but still produced a rather choppy market overall. With most of the news events being released for the day, the volume was showing a steady increase in the Euro market and we noticed that more buyers were beginning to enter the market, as our Pace of the Tape indicator flashed green for the go ahead (Euro Currency Futures Day Trading Video). At 9:41am EST we finally entered the Euro market long, with a breaker pattern. Our stop limit order was executed at 1.4890 and we quickly watched as the Euro trended higher, triggering all of our profit targets at +4 ticks (2 contracts) +8 ticks and an additional +9 ticks for our final contract, giving us a total profit of +25 ticks ($312).
Our fifth trade of the day had us returning to the Crude Oil market one last time. It wasn’t long after our last trade on the Crude Oil market, that it began to quickly reverse in its uptrend, and began its sell off for a majority of the remaining trading day. With the overall trend to the downside, we began looking for possible trade set-ups. We finally saw a perfect breaker pattern to the short side at 10:26am EST. We entered the market at 77.70 and watched price action closely to see if more sellers would enter the market (Scalping Futures Day Trading Video). As the larger sell orders came across the ticker tape, we were able to take profits at +4 ticks (2 contracts) +8 ticks and another +3 ticks for our final contract, giving us a total profit of +19 ticks (190).
The final trade of the day came on the Gold market (Symbol GC). With the gold market continuing to make new all time highs seemingly each day, today was no different. The U.S news events seemed to give the market the extra volume to set yet another all time high for the price as it rallied past 1100/ounce post U.S equities open at 9:30am EST (Gold Futures Day Trading Video). Once the market had set the new highs for the day shortly after the U.S Equities open at 9:30am EST, the buyers quickly began taking profits and more sellers began to pull price back into the 1090’s. At 10:31am EST we finally saw a great set-up to take with the short term trend, our breaker pattern. We entered the Gold market short with a basis of 1093.0 and quickly saw sellers push price further down, triggering our first profit target of +4 ticks (2 contracts) before closing our order for a total of +8 ticks ($80).
Most of the markets around the world rallied today, especially when the U.S equities market opened at 9:30am EST. There was great price action in most of the markets, but with a wide array of news events, trading those markets was more difficult than we thought it would be (Identify Market Sentiment For Day Trading Futures). We were still able to scalp some profits from the markets though, going 1 for 2 with a total profit of $80 on the Mini-Russell market.
Our first trade of the morning came on the Mini-Russell market (Symbol TF). The Mini-Russell didn’t show much volatility in terms of price action until the opening of the U.S Equities market at 9:30am EST, and price continued to consolidate into the 560’s range (E-MINI Futures Day Trading Video). With the opening of the U.S markets, volume slowly entered with it, and all the major indexes in the U.S began to make a strong rally. With major news coming out from Europe and the U.S at 9:30am EST we waited patiently for the market to give us a trade set-up. At 10:02am EST our opportunity finally came with a perfect 2-step short pattern. We entered the market at a basis of 573.1, and were able to lock in profits on our first target of +4 ticks (2 contracts) before closing the order, for a total profit of +8 ticks ($80).
After our first trade of the day, we began to scan the markets for another possible trade set-up. It wasn’t long though before we were watching the Mini-Russell once again (Symbol TF). The price action had begun to consolidate after our first trade, but after a small break-out to the long side, we began to look for a possible reversal in the trend. The short term reversal occurred at 10:24am EST, in the pattern of a 2-step, which we were able to capitalize on once again. We entered the market at a basis of 572.7, and had our first profit target set at +4 ticks from our entry price. After seeing price action test our first target three times, we decided to lock in any profits we could by moving our stop up to our entry price, but unfortunately price action moved against us and we were stopped out at entry; nothing gained or lost on this trade, but proper money management once again saved us money (Futures Day Trading Account Management Video)!
Another great day of profits for the School of Trade and all its members! We once again saw some sluggish volume early on in the morning session, but once the U.S traders began entering the market, the volume began to steadily increase (Identify Market Sentiment For Day Trading Futures). We only took two trades today, but that is all we needed to take, we went 2 for 2 with a total profit of $440.00.
Our first trade of the morning came on the Crude Oil market, (Symbol CL). The Crude Oil market sold off in the early morning hours, and then proceeded to make a rough looking head and shoulders pattern before breaking the neckline into the 11:00am EST hour to continue towards the highs of the day (Price Patterns Technical Analysis Futures Video). We didn’t see much volume in the market pre 9:00am EST, and the price action was beginning to make a $2 range throughout the morning and continuing throughout the day between 78.50- 76.50. With trading beginning in the open outcry pits at 9:00am EST, more volume began to enter the market, and a quick reversal in price action was beginning to occur. This is when we decided to enter the market, with the volume in our favor; we entered long at 9:12am EST with a basis of 76.70. After our 2-step pattern executed perfectly, we didn’t have to wait for too long before all three of our profit targets were hit, giving us profits of +4 ticks (2 contracts) +8 ticks and +3 ticks for our final contract for a total of +19 ticks ($190)
We looked to diversify our trading profits this morning, and continued to scan all markets for a perfect trade set-up, which we found almost an hour later on the Gold futures market (Symbol GC). The gold market kept itself in a rather tight range this morning from 1055-1065, but still offered some great price action for us to trade off of. After we took our first trade on gold, we actually ended up taking another one, but upon entering the market the spread widened to 4 ticks, so we stayed away and closed at break-even. We began to see some strange price action in the Gold market after 10:30am EST today and it became very tough to trade. Unfortunately, due to the odd price action we also had to sit and watch 2 more trades pass us by, but in the end we did the right thing by protecting our capital first. Our winning trade on the Gold market though came at 10:28am EST with a great Breaker pattern long; with a basis of 1063.5 we were off to the races as soon as our order executed, giving us some great profits of +4 ticks (2 contracts)+8 ticks and an additional +9 ticks for a total of +25 ticks ($250) (Gold Futures Day Trading Video).
Well it was yet again another great Monday morning for all of us at the School of Trade! We saw some great volume today in the markets, thanks to some added volatility courtesy of the U.S news events released later on in the morning. It is also important though to remember that we have the FOMC day on Wednesday, so volume was a little bit sleepy today early on, and you should expect the same tomorrow as well. Even with the inconsistent level of volume, we were still able to go 5 for 6 today with a profit of $495.00. Let’s review those great trades…….
Our first trade of the morning came on the Crude Oil market, (Symbol CL). Today, the Crude oil market produced a rather large channel throughout the day, oscillating from roughly 78.60 to 77.00. Early price action was slow to start, most likely to the FOMC decision about to take place later this week, but the opening of the pits trading at 9:00am EST as well as the U.S Equities market at 9:30am EST brought the market lower with added volume. It once again tested the highs of the day shortly after that, but when watching the tape at the highs, it was clear that the market participants looked to keep the range they had set early on in the morning (Identify Market Sentiment For Day Trading Futures). As the market was selling off earlier in the morning after the open outcry pits began to trade, we looked to take advantage of the short side pressure and join the sellers. At 9:16am EST we entered the crude oil market based off a Breaker short patter at 77.15. Once our order had been executed, we didn’t have to wait long before our first price target had been reached, allowing us to take profits at +4 ticks (2 contracts) before closing our trade with a total of +8 ticks ($80).
The second trade of the morning came about an hour later, due to the release of news in the U.S, and we were able to identify a great set-up on the Mini-Russell (Symbol TF). The Mini-Russell consolidated amid the early hours of electronic trading, but once the U.S equities market opened up at 9:30am EST, the sellers jumped on the opportunity with significant volume, pushing the market even further south (E-MINI Futures Day Trading Video). The sellers finally found a bottom around 10:00am EST, at which time the buyers began to rally once again towards the highs of the day. Once this happened, we knew it was time to enter the market, with volume seeming to be on our side, we entered the market at 10:19am EST off a Breaker long pattern. Once our order had been executed though at 566.8, it seemed that the buyers no longer wanted anything to do with the market, and price action began to slow down considerably. Upon seeing this, we decided it was best for our trading account to exit the trade at our entry price, +/- 0 ticks.
Not long after our scratch trade on the Mini-Russell occurred, we decided to scan the markets for another set-up, this time taking refuge in the Crude Oil market once again. The Crude Oil had continued to oscillate, finding a top around the mid-$78 price level. It wasn’t long before the sellers took over control of the market, allowing us to look for a possible entry to the short side ( Crude Oil Futures Day Trading Video). At 10:29am EST we found just that; with a Breaker to the short side. We placed out stop limit order at 78.17 and were executed shortly, once in the market, volume kicked in with more sellers coming across the ticker tape, allowing us to get +4 ticks (2 contracts) before closing our trade with a profit of +8 ticks ($80).
It was only a matter of minutes before our next trade set-up yet again on the Mini-Russell market (Symbol TF). The market had been pulling back sharply from its latest decline in price action, and we looked to take advantage of this pullback (Scalping Futures Day Trading Video). The short term trend began to change ever so slightly to the long side, which is when we entered the market long with a Breaker patter at 10:32am EST. Once in the market, it wasn’t long before we were able to scalp off some quick profits from the market, with an entry price of 568.6, we quickly picked up +4 ticks (2 contracts) for a total of +8 ticks on the trade.
The fifth trade of the morning came only minutes after we had closed our trade on the Mini-Russell, but this time it was on the British Pound futures (Symbol 6B). The British pound futures also kept a rather tight price range today, hardly exceeding 1.6430 – 1.6330 (Sideways Market Day Trading Futures). The market oscillated multiple times today inside this range, and we waited patiently for a trading opportunity. At 11:02am EST opportunity finally knocked and we were there to take advantage of it. With the market coming off its recently made lows, it began to pull back to the long side, which is when we took our trend reversal trade, the 2-Step, long at 1.6382. As soon as our order had been executed, larger buyers came across the ticker tape, obviously wanting to push this market higher, which indeed it is, allowing us to take profits at +4 ticks (4 contracts) and again at +3 ticks (4 contracts) for a total of +28 ticks; we trade double the contract size on the British pound because of tick value ($175).
We ended up trading later into the morning than usual today because there was a steady flow of volume still in the market. At 12:08am EST we once again saw volume pick up on the Crude Oil market, (Symbol CL), allowing us to enter the market for one last trade. With the market trending to the short side, we were able to identify a Breaker price pattern and enter the market shortly after that at a basis of 78.32 (Price Patterns Technical Analysis Futures Video). With not only the trend, but also the volume of the market on our side, it wasn’t long of a wait before we took profit from the market at +4 ticks (2 contracts) for a total of +8 ticks on our last trade of the day. Review Our Trades From Yesterday! See All Of Our Previous Trades Click Here To See How We Set-Up Our Workspace
Another great day of trading for the School of Trade! We saw a number of different news events come out during our trading session this morning; at 8:30am EST Unemployment Claims and U.S GDP q/q was reported. Then at 9:30am EST Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner spoke as well as at 10:30am EST we had the Natural Gas storage stats being released. With all these news events affecting all the markets we trade in different ways, we had to be careful to pick only the very best set-ups on the most liquid markets. This proved to work just fine for us, as we went 5 for 6 today, with a total profit of $780; and all done on a $4,000 trading account (Futures Day Trading Account Management Video)!
We started off our trading day on the British Pound futures (Symbol 6B). Since the start of the European trading session, the pound futures had been in rather narrow choppy uptrend, but started to oscillate with wider price swings once greater volume enter the market in the U.S (Sideways Market Day Trading Futures). After seeing price rally after the 8:30am EST news events, we looked to enter the market with the added volume; and waited for a set-up. Shortly after the news had been released we saw a possible Breaker short set-up, and were able to enter the market at 8:37am EST at 1.6493. Once our order had been executed, we were quickly given the opportunity to take some profits, and closed our trade with +4 ticks (4 contracts) giving us a total of +16 ticks for our first trade of the morning ($100).
Our next trade came rather shortly after our first, but this time on the Crude Oil market (Symbol CL). With the natural gas storage numbers being released later in the morning, we weren’t sure if the crude market would produce much of anything; but today it actually did! With good volume and just the right amount of volatility added to the market, we were able to take some great trades off it this morning. It rallied strong after the GDP and Unemployment figures were released, and didn’t pullback in price until the start of the open outcry pit trading at 9:00am EST (Identify Market Sentiment For Day Trading Futures). At this time we saw a great opportunity to enter the market to the short side because of greater volume enter the market, and larger sell orders coming across the ticker tape. At 9:02am EST we decided to enter the market short with a 2-step pattern and a basis of 78.67. While in the market, we didn’t have to wait long for our profit targets to get filled and even got a chance to let our final contract run with price action, locking in profits of +4 ticks (2 contracts) +8 ticks and +7 ticks for a total of +23 ticks ($230).
Seeing this trend to the short side continue in the Crude Oil, we didn’t wait long before entering that same market once again to the short side (Scalping Futures Day Trading Video). With a continuation of the trend setting up, we looked to take a Breaker pattern to the short side. This is exactly what we did at 9:08am EST, as we entered the crude oil market with the trend on our side and a basis price of 78.35. With the trend in our favor, we were able to scalp off another +4 ticks (2 contracts) on this trade, for a total of +8 ticks ($80).
We continued to wait patiently as the market trended higher in the Crude Oil market. It wasn’t long before the Crude Oil had made a run at its daily highs; giving us yet another opportunity to trade. After seeing the market test the previous highs, it was clear to use, based off our technical indicators, that the buyers were not going to hold price for long, anticipating this, and waiting patiently for our price pattern to set-up for an entry, we looked to take the market short after the buying pressure had been exhausted (Swing-High Swing-Low Technical Analysis Day Trading Futures Video). Finally at 9:41am EST the buyers looked to take profits, and sellers once again entered the market, giving us a great Breaker short pattern and enabling us to enter the market at 78.67. Price soon took off to the short side as more and more sellers joined the market, giving us the chance to take profits at +4 ticks (2 contracts) +8 ticks and an additional +4 ticks on our final contract, for a total of +20 ticks ($200).
After seeing the Crude Oil market test its daily highs once before, we continued to watch the market as, after a slight pullback, it rallied once again and finally broke the highs of the day around the $79 price level. It was evident though to us, via the P.O.T indicator, that the buying pressure would not hold for long, thus giving us a change in the short term trend and a possible trade set-up. At 10:08am EST we were given our quick trend change, and were able to take advantage of it with a 2- step short ( Crude Oil Futures Day Trading Video). We entered with added selling pressure coming into the market, with a basis of 79.13; and it wasn’t long before our profit targets were getting hit, helping us lock in profits at +4 ticks (2 contracts) +9 ticks and an additional +15 ticks for a total of +32 ticks ($320).
Our sixth trade of the morning, and our last came on the British Pound futures (Symbol 6B). Simply put, we thought the market was going to go higher based off our price pattern set-up, but unfortunately, since the market is always right, we were wrong on this trade. As all of our traders are taught, you simply can’t have every trade be a winner. Although it was a disappointment to take a loss as the last trade of the day, it also provided us with another learning experience, that all traders take a loss at time and no one is perfect. Our trade set-up at 11:06am EST as the British Pound was looking to make new highs, so we entered the market with a Breaker patter long at 6589; and ended taking a full stop out of -24 ticks (-$150).
Well it’s been another wacky Wednesday here at the School Of Trade!! There was a good amount of news coming out today, which gave us some great volume and volatility to trade off of. We stayed away from the Crude Oil market this morning, which is usually our bread and butter, mostly because of the inventories figure being released at 10:30am EST (history had shown added volatility on these days). Instead we were able to find some great price action in a few markets that many trades usually over look, the Mini-Russell and the British Pound futures. We were able to go 4 for 4 today, with a total profit of $380!
Our first trade of the morning came on the Mini-Russell (Symbol TF). The Mini-Russell’s price action was fairly choppy until the U.S equities market opened at 9:30am EST, at which point more volume began to filter into the market. With price now beginning to oscillate more, we began to look for quality set-ups in the market (Sideways Market Day Trading Futures). At 9:42am EST our price pattern finally allowed us to enter the market with a 2-step long at 583.8. We quickly realized that momentum was to the long side, as we watched more and more buyers come across the ticker tape, this gave us a great opportunity to take profits at +4 ticks (2 contracts) +8 ticks and +2 ticks on our final contracts, for a total of +18 ticks ($180).
We waited a short while for our next trade to set-up, with the U.S news at 8:30am EST as well as the opening of the U.S equities market, we needed to be patient with our set-ups. We were able to take our next trade off the British pound futures, which actually rallied due to all the news in the early morning hours of the U.S session. The rally continued until about 10:00am EST, when buyers began to take profit, allowing the market to make some quick changes in its trend and giving us more trading opportunities (Price Patterns Technical Analysis Futures Video). As the market began to pullback from its highs of the day, we looked to enter the market long once again. At 10:11am EST we entered the pound future long with a classic Breaker set-up. We set our buy stop limit at 1.6390 and were executed promptly; allows us to take some quick profits of +4 ticks (4 contracts) before getting scratched out of our remaining contracts, for a total of +16 ticks ($100).
The third trade of the day came later on in the morning and was also taken on the British Pound futures (Symbol 6B). We had noticed that price had tried to rally higher, but with no success, began to pullback once again. After seeing this pullback in price, we began to look for a continuation in this trend, or a change in the short term trend. It wasn’t long before we saw buyers stepping back into the market, and with larger orders coming across the tape, we noticed the market was beginning yet again another short term rally (Scalping Futures Day Trading Video). At 11:11am EST we decided to join the buyers in the short term trend with a Breaker pattern. We entered the market at a basis of 1.6387; and we were quickly able to pickup +4 ticks (4 contracts) before our remaining contracts were scratched from the trade, giving us a total of +16 ticks on the trade ($100).
Our final trade of the morning came once again on the Mini-Russell market (Symbol TF). After our first trade off the Mini-Russell, the market began to consolidate until more volume entered the market. Once news events in the U.S markets were released, the Min-Russell began to sell off sharply, allowing for us to take advantage of the added volume in the market. At 11:42am EST we were able to identify a quality set-up in a 2-step short with our basis being at 575.2. We watched the price action patiently, waiting for sellers to enter the market, but after seeing our Pace of the Tape flash yellow and then red bars, we knew price action had began to slow down and decided to exit the trade at our entry price, +/-0 ticks on the trade ($0) (3 Key Components To A Day Trading System Video).
It was yet another great day in the markets for all of us at the School of Trade. We were able to take 2 trades, and went 2 for 2 with a total profit of $470.00 on 4 contracts. Both of our trades this morning came on the Crude Oil market (Symbol CL). The Crude oil market retraced off its highs yesterday afternoon, and never looked back, closing inside the $78/barrel price at the end of the day. The commencement of trading in the open outcry pits at 9:00am EST this morning as well as the U.S Equities opening at 9:30am EST only brought the market lower yet again, into the $77 price level. It wasn’t until the late morning when price action began to trend back up towards $80/barrel (Identify Market Sentiment For Day Trading Futures).
When we finally saw the pace of the tape increasing at a speed we liked (showing green P.O.T bars), and noticed more and more participants entering into the market, we knew it was time to take a trade. At 10:19am EST we noticed that price was beginning to retrace off its lows of the day, and after a slight pullback in price, we noticed the sellers might not be finished with the market. We decided to enter the market to the short side with a Breaker pattern completing its formation, and our order was executed at 78.32 ( Crude Oil Futures Day Trading Video). Once in the market, we kept a keen eye on all of our technical indicators to ensure the best possible outcome. It wasn’t long before our momentum was turning to the short side, and more sellers came across the ticker tape, allowing us to take some quick profits at +4 ticks (2 contacts) for a total of +8 ticks on our first trade of the morning ($80).
Our second trade came shortly after our first was closed at a profit and was also taken on the Crude Oil market (Symbol CL). The selling pressure didn’t last long, and hindsight showed us we got out at just the right time, because buyers began to quickly file into the market and sellers raced to take profits (Scalping Futures Day Trading Video). With strong buying pressure entering the market, and larger than normal order flow ticking across the tape, we looked for a possible entry signal into the market. At 10:26am EST we got exactly that, and entered the Crude Oil market long with a Breaker pattern. Our stop limit order was filled instantly, with a basis of 78.75; and we watched as the buyers soon took over the market, pushing price much higher than we expected, allowing us to take profits at +4 ticks (2 contracts), +8 ticks and an additional +23 ticks on our last contract, netting us a total of +39 ticks on our final trade of the morning ($390).
Well today’s price action sure proved to use that it was a Monday morning! We saw some decent volume enter the market as the U.S markets began to open up and begin their trading, but didn’t take any trades until later in the morning. We saw many great trading opportunities, but the price action wasn’t quite was we were looking for. Fortunately, we were still able to take 2 trades today and going 2 for 2, we closed out our day with a total of $320 in profit!
Our first trade of the morning came on the Crude Oil market (Symbol CL). In the early electronic trading hours, the Crude Oil market had rallied roughly a dollar, and then began to consolidate at its highs until the start of the open outcry pits began trading at 9:00am EST; at which point price rallied even stronger into the $81 price level. The opening of the U.S equities market at 9:30am EST brought the Crude Oil market even higher into the 81.50 levels, but the rally didn’t last long, and it started to pullback strongly as sellers entered the market and buyers ended up taking profits. It wasn’t long before the Crude Oil market was testing the high $79.00 price level once again, giving us even more opportunities for possible trades ( Crude Oil Futures Day Trading Video). We finally were able to execute one of the School of Trade’s set-ups, the Breaker short, at 11:15am EST. With price action as well as the trade pattern setting up perfectly, our order was executed at a basis of 80.57 and the sellers in the market didn’t wait long before selling the market even further. The selloff allowed us to take profits at +4 ticks (2 contract), +8 ticks and +16 ticks for our final contact, netting us a total profit of +32 ticks on our first trade of the morning ($320).
Our second trade of the morning came shortly after our first, when we began to see increasing price action via the Pace of the Tape indicator, on the British pound futures (Symbol 6B). The British pound futures trended higher for most of the morning, and it wasn’t until the late morning that it started to take back about 50% of its rally. With the price action finally showing us a top around 11:00am EST, we waited patiently for another quality set-up to take into the lunch hours of the U.S markets. At 11:59am EST price action finally gave us a great opportunity, setting up a Breaker pattern to the short side. We were able to enter the market with a basis of 1.6340, and waited patiently for the market to make its decision on a direction. After seeing price action slow down considerably to a crawling pace, via our P.O.T indicator, we made the decision to exit our trade early, at our entry price (+/- 0 Ticks). Granted, the bottom soon fell out of the market , which would have resulted in a profitable trade for us, but it is of utmost importance for all traders, of any skill set, to react to price action, and not try to predict it, which is exactly what we did; and it saved us money (3 Key Components To A Day Trading System Video)
Our first few trades of the day came on the Crude Oil market (Symbol CL). The Crude Oil market basically trended down the entire day, with brief periods of pullbacks. Initially in the early morning hours the Crude Oil market sold off quite strongly, due to the Canadian Employment Change and Unemployment Rate, which came out at 8:00am EST. Once those negative numbers had passed, we began to look for our first possible trade, given the added volume in the market at that time (
Our second trade of the morning, which also came on the Crude Oil, was taken shortly after the open outcry pits began to pick up in volume at 9:00am EST. With the added volume in the market, we noticed that price action was beginning to find a brief top for the moment being, and we quickly looked to take the market short with our trend reversal trade, the 2-step (
The third trade of the morning came shortly after the second, and once again on the Crude Oil (Symbol CL). After the U.S news had been released and the volatility had died down some, we looked to enter the market once again, but this time with the trend, which was to the long side. With the U.S Unemployment rate coming out, the Crude Oil market began a strong rally, at which point we decided to jump on the trend and scalp a few ticks from it (
The fourth trade of the day came on the Euro futures, (Symbol 6E). The euro market had kept itself in a rather tight range in the early hours, but as more volume entered the markets, its range began to expand, but still produced a rather choppy market overall. With most of the news events being released for the day, the volume was showing a steady increase in the Euro market and we noticed that more buyers were beginning to enter the market, as our Pace of the Tape indicator flashed green for the go ahead (
of the day had us returning to the Crude Oil market one last time. It wasn’t long after our last trade on the Crude Oil market, that it began to quickly reverse in its uptrend, and began its sell off for a majority of the remaining trading day. With the overall trend to the downside, we began looking for possible trade set-ups. We finally saw a perfect breaker pattern to the short side at 10:26am EST. We entered the market at 77.70 and watched price action closely to see if more sellers would enter the market (
The final trade of the day came on the Gold market (Symbol GC). With the gold market continuing to make new all time highs seemingly each day, today was no different. The U.S news events seemed to give the market the extra volume to set yet another all time high for the price as it rallied past 1100/ounce post U.S equities open at 9:30am EST (
Our first trade of the morning came on the Mini-Russell market (Symbol TF). The Mini-Russell didn’t show much volatility in terms of price action until the opening of the U.S Equities market at 9:30am EST, and price continued to consolidate into the 560’s range (E-MINI Futures Day Trading Video). With the opening of the U.S markets, volume slowly entered with it, and all the major indexes in the U.S began to make a strong rally. With major news coming out from Europe and the U.S at 9:30am EST we waited patiently for the market to give us a trade set-up. At 10:02am EST our opportunity finally came with a perfect 2-step short pattern. We entered the market at a basis of 573.1, and were able to lock in profits on our first target of +4 ticks (2 contracts) before closing the order, for a total profit of +8 ticks ($80).
After our first trade of the day, we began to scan the markets for another possible trade set-up. It wasn’t long though before we were watching the Mini-Russell once again (Symbol TF). The price action had begun to consolidate after our first trade, but after a small break-out to the long side, we began to look for a possible reversal in the trend. The short term reversal occurred at 10:24am EST, in the pattern of a 2-step, which we were able to capitalize on once again. We entered the market at a basis of 572.7, and had our first profit target set at +4 ticks from our entry price. After seeing price action test our first target three times, we decided to lock in any profits we could by moving our stop up to our entry price, but unfortunately price action moved against us and we were stopped out at entry; nothing gained or lost on this trade, but proper money management once again saved us money (Futures Day Trading Account Management Video)!
Our first trade of the morning came on the Crude Oil market, (Symbol CL). The Crude Oil market sold off in the early morning hours, and then proceeded to make a rough looking head and shoulders pattern before breaking the neckline into the 11:00am EST hour to continue towards the highs of the day (
We looked to diversify our trading profits this morning, and continued to scan all markets for a perfect trade set-up, which we found almost an hour later on the Gold futures market (Symbol GC). The gold market kept itself in a rather tight range this morning from 1055-1065, but still offered some great price action for us to trade off of. After we took our first trade on gold, we actually ended up taking another one, but upon entering the market the spread widened to 4 ticks, so we stayed away and closed at break-even. We began to see some strange price action in the Gold market after 10:30am EST today and it became very tough to trade. Unfortunately, due to the odd price action we also had to sit and watch 2 more trades pass us by, but in the end we did the right thing by protecting our capital first. Our winning trade on the Gold market though came at 10:28am EST with a great Breaker pattern long; with a basis of 1063.5 we were off to the races as soon as our order executed, giving us some great profits of +4 ticks (2 contracts)+8 ticks and an additional +9 ticks for a total of +25 ticks ($250) (
Our first trade of the morning came on the Crude Oil market, (Symbol CL). Today, the Crude oil market produced a rather large channel throughout the day, oscillating from roughly 78.60 to 77.00. Early price action was slow to start, most likely to the FOMC decision about to take place later this week, but the opening of the pits trading at 9:00am EST as well as the U.S Equities market at 9:30am EST brought the market lower with added volume. It once again tested the highs of the day shortly after that, but when watching the tape at the highs, it was clear that the market participants looked to keep the range they had set early on in the morning (Identify Market Sentiment For Day Trading Futures). As the market was selling off earlier in the morning after the open outcry pits began to trade, we looked to take advantage of the short side pressure and join the sellers. At 9:16am EST we entered the crude oil market based off a Breaker short patter at 77.15. Once our order had been executed, we didn’t have to wait long before our first price target had been reached, allowing us to take profits at +4 ticks (2 contracts) before closing our trade with a total of +8 ticks ($80). 
We started off our trading day on the British Pound futures (Symbol 6B). Since the start of the European trading session, the pound futures had been in rather narrow choppy uptrend, but started to oscillate with wider price swings once greater volume enter the market in the U.S (
Seeing this trend to the short side continue in the Crude Oil, we didn’t wait long before entering that same market once again to the short side (
We continued to wait patiently as the market trended higher in the Crude Oil market. It wasn’t long before the Crude Oil had made a run at its daily highs; giving us yet another opportunity to trade. After seeing the market test the previous highs, it was clear to use, based off our technical indicators, that the buyers were not going to hold price for long, anticipating this, and waiting patiently for our price pattern to set-up for an entry, we looked to take the market short after the buying pressure had been exhausted (
After seeing the Crude Oil market test its daily highs once before, we continued to watch the market as, after a slight pullback, it rallied once again and finally broke the highs of the day around the $79 price level. It was evident though to us, via the P.O.T indicator, that the buying pressure would not hold for long, thus giving us a change in the short term trend and a possible trade set-up. At 10:08am EST we were given our quick trend change, and were able to take advantage of it with a 2- step short (
Our first trade of the morning came on the Mini-Russell (Symbol TF). The Mini-Russell’s price action was fairly choppy until the U.S equities market opened at 9:30am EST, at which point more volume began to filter into the market. With price now beginning to oscillate more, we began to look for quality set-ups in the market (
We waited a short while for our next trade to set-up, with the U.S news at 8:30am EST as well as the opening of the U.S equities market, we needed to be patient with our set-ups. We were able to take our next trade off the British pound futures, which actually rallied due to all the news in the early morning hours of the U.S session. The rally continued until about 10:00am EST, when buyers began to take profit, allowing the market to make some quick changes in its trend and giving us more trading opportunities (
The third trade of the day came later on in the morning and was also taken on the British Pound futures (Symbol 6B). We had noticed that price had tried to rally higher, but with no success, began to pullback once again. After seeing this pullback in price, we began to look for a continuation in this trend, or a change in the short term trend. It wasn’t long before we saw buyers stepping back into the market, and with larger orders coming across the tape, we noticed the market was beginning yet again another short term rally (
Our final trade of the morning came once again on the Mini-Russell market (Symbol TF). After our first trade off the Mini-Russell, the market began to consolidate until more volume entered the market. Once news events in the U.S markets were released, the Min-Russell began to sell off sharply, allowing for us to take advantage of the added volume in the market. At 11:42am EST we were able to identify a quality set-up in a 2-step short with our basis being at 575.2. We watched the price action patiently, waiting for sellers to enter the market, but after seeing our Pace of the Tape flash yellow and then red bars, we knew price action had began to slow down and decided to exit the trade at our entry price, +/-0 ticks on the trade ($0) (
When we finally saw the pace of the tape increasing at a speed we liked (showing green P.O.T bars), and noticed more and more participants entering into the market, we knew it was time to take a trade. At 10:19am EST we noticed that price was beginning to retrace off its lows of the day, and after a slight pullback in price, we noticed the sellers might not be finished with the market. We decided to enter the market to the short side with a Breaker pattern completing its formation, and our order was executed at 78.32 (
Our second trade came shortly after our first was closed at a profit and was also taken on the Crude Oil market (Symbol CL). The selling pressure didn’t last long, and hindsight showed us we got out at just the right time, because buyers began to quickly file into the market and sellers raced to take profits (
Our first trade of the morning came on the Crude Oil market (Symbol CL). In the early electronic trading hours, the Crude Oil market had rallied roughly a dollar, and then began to consolidate at its highs until the start of the open outcry pits began trading at 9:00am EST; at which point price rallied even stronger into the $81 price level. The opening of the U.S equities market at 9:30am EST brought the Crude Oil market even higher into the 81.50 levels, but the rally didn’t last long, and it started to pullback strongly as sellers entered the market and buyers ended up taking profits. It wasn’t long before the Crude Oil market was testing the high $79.00 price level once again, giving us even more opportunities for possible trades (
Our second trade of the morning came shortly after our first, when we began to see increasing price action via the Pace of the Tape indicator, on the British pound futures (Symbol 6B). The British pound futures trended higher for most of the morning, and it wasn’t until the late morning that it started to take back about 50% of its rally. With the price action finally showing us a top around 11:00am EST, we waited patiently for another quality set-up to take into the lunch hours of the U.S markets. At 11:59am EST price action finally gave us a great opportunity, setting up a Breaker pattern to the short side. We were able to enter the market with a basis of 1.6340, and waited patiently for the market to make its decision on a direction. After seeing price action slow down considerably to a crawling pace, via our P.O.T indicator, we made the decision to exit our trade early, at our entry price (+/- 0 Ticks). Granted, the bottom soon fell out of the market , which would have resulted in a profitable trade for us, but it is of utmost importance for all traders, of any skill set, to react to price action, and not try to predict it, which is exactly what we did; and it saved us money (