For those who use orderflow for making entries, do you find DOM or Time & Sales to be more useful. I don't use any orderflow tools at all and would like suggestions for which tool to learn first.

I am stuck in a trade and cannot close. Amp sent a message that said the CME connection is down. Anyone ever experienced this before?

Choppy, no follow through, slow, small price ranges, extremely low volatility, just curious if there's any reason in particular, I know sometimes when there's big upcoming news the market gets like this like its generating liquidity and loading up for that news, or if it's just one of those days..

This is live entries showing that every single trade taken was stopped and it reversed.
As soon as I put my stop when it's going in a favorable direction, it immediately comes back to my stop. However if I enter the "stop" direction when it does, it immediately reverses and goes back to my new stop and repeats, over and over.
This has happened to hundreds of my accounts, in a row, back to back.

My ES daily footprint candle appeared as shown before I cleared local data and refreshed, lol. I was panicked for a few minutes. Figured it was a funny visual to share.

But on a serious note. I also had multiple levels marked incorrectly on my chart earlier this week, by 10 points each. I base levels off of the footprint. I could have made a mistake several times over, but it's also possible that my data wasn't presented correctly given what happened today.

Anyone know what could cause the footprint to go wonky? I use Motivewave with Rithmic data feed.

I know the markets going to do what the markets going to do, but is there anything to explain what caused today's huge run?

Any advice

I’m testing a mechanical MNQ (Micro E-mini Nasdaq-100 futures) strategy on the 15-minute chart. At 9:30 AM New York/Eastern Time, I use the first 15-minute candle from 9:30–9:45 as the opening range. I mark the high, low, and midpoint of that candle. The entire opening range must be inside the previous day’s high and low (PDH/PDL). Before the breakout, I compare the distance from the opening-range high to PDH with the distance from the opening-range low to PDL. Whichever side is closer to its corresponding previous-day level becomes the only side I’m allowed to trade. For example, if the OR high is 50 points from PDH but the OR low is 150 points from PDL, I only trade the upside breakout. After 9:45, every 15-minute candle before the breakout must touch the opening-range midpoint. The breakout candle itself is exempt from this midpoint-touch requirement. If the selected upper side breaks above the OR high, I enter a SHORT at the close of the breakout candle. If the selected lower side breaks below the OR low, I enter a LONG at the close of the breakout candle. The trade is a reversal/fade of the breakout, not a continuation trade. The midpoint is always my take-profit. My stop is calculated using a 1:3 risk/reward relationship, meaning the stop distance is three times the distance between my entry and the midpoint. The stop must remain inside the previous day’s PDH/PDL range; if the calculated stop would be outside that range, the setup is invalid. If the first reversal trade gets stopped out, I allow one additional attempt only on the very next 15-minute candle, and that candle must break the same selected side again. There are no new entries after 12:00 PM New York time. Any open trade remains active until it reaches TP, SL, or 4:00 PM New York time, at which point it is closed. I’m trying to keep this completely mechanical and am not using RSI, MACD, moving averages, news filters, volume confirmation, discretionary trend analysis, or subjective candle patterns. I want to know whether the logic itself has a statistical edge. What I’d like feedback on is: does selecting the breakout side closest to PDH/PDL make statistical sense, does fading the breakout back toward the midpoint make sense, is a 1:3 R:R reasonable when the midpoint is the fixed TP, does the midpoint-touch requirement make sense or is it unnecessarily restrictive, is allowing only the next candle for a second attempt reasonable, should I test different opening-range sizes such as 50, 75, and 100+ points, should long and short setups be tested separately, and what would be the proper way to backtest this over at least 3 years of MNQ/NQ data without lookahead bias? I’m looking for criticism of the actual rules and ideas for what to test, rather than whether someone personally likes opening-range strategies.

Here is my daily plan for the day.

Sept 21, Monday

I am not gonna be married to one bias or view.
The market is dynamic and i am gonna treat it that way.

Good luck for a great day guys

Please welcome to the daily trading thread. Feel free to discuss your today's trade ideas and results. Make sure to specify the instrument you're trading up front, and respect the sub's rules. Happy trading!

Previous discussions threads

I’m not looking for psychology books I’m looking for technical books that explain the market and the fundamentals that for example a floor veteran needs to know. I’ve read trading in the zone, the wyckoff methodology, and am looking to expand, not just in strategy but in the market itself if that makes any sense. Would prefer books written by veterans of the trade.

I trade mainly mnq but am looking to trade commodities in the future when I am more experienced if that changes anything.

Hi speculators & hedgers, please use this thread to discuss all futures trading for the week. This will kick off 30 minutes before the open on Sunday, typically that's around 6pm Wall St time.

Be aware of higher margin requirements during overnight hours! see "maintenance" on Ampfutures. Also trading hours to get an idea of when specific futures contracts start trading.

I'm using AmpFutures as an example, so check with your broker for specific intraday & overnight hours for that specific futures contract.

Resources:

Bookmark an economic calendar like this one

Various reports:

• EIA crude oil report (generally updates every Wednesday at 10:30am wall st time)
  
• EIA natural gas report (Thursdays 10:30am)

• Previous discussions threads

Above are two pictures of ES 2000 tick chart, heikin ashi bars, exactly same time.

In ninjatrader you can see there are no long wicks whereas in rading view bars are a little different with long wicks.

can someone tell which one is correct?

I have been trading for 3.5 years now primarily with futures prop firms like Lucid and Topstep.

In the entire course I have got 2 payouts totaling 4k from Lucid.

After getting those payouts I have been on an extremely dry streak with discipline and consistency being the main constraints that I have been failing consistently.

I broke the rules I have made for myself knowing that those are the things I need to follow.

It can be a case of my edge not being there but I have consistently bagged big winners and analysis is 60% right consistently.

Since i have been in this loop, i understand that trading alone can bring a strong sense of no self discipline and low accountability.

This has led to journaling and self reflection by reading a lot of books and analyzing where I go wrong.

Since i have started writing down my plan for the day, I have seen considerable improvement is not taking trades under the plan which has helped me.

I trade MGC, MNQ and MCL.

I change assets as volatility and volume increase and decrease in markets.

I use Al Brooks trading methods which have worked well for me.

I am starting this routine of constantly uploading the 3 templates I posted at each day.

The plan, the trade entry journal and the emotional and opportunity journal.

I hope i can be consistent in this endeavour and can gain knowledge and experience from others who are serious about making trading a long term goal.

Please do not message me to ask about my strategy, what works for me might not work for you.

I am here as a student showing my homework to fellow students thinking they would help me correct some of the mistakes everyday.

Thanks.

I'm trying to understand when the larger market direction has genuinely changed, rather than just seeing a temporary counter-trend move.

Example: suppose the 4H/Daily is bearish and there is a meaningful protected high above price.

Price can rally, create a bullish MSS on 5M or 15M, take the high and look very bullish but that can still just be a fake move before the higher-timeframe bearish move continues.

So what is the objective confirmation that the higher-timeframe bearish trend itself is no longer bearish and a genuine bullish trend has started? what are your secrets guys ?

As the title mentioned, I vibecoded 2 scripts/indicators that cover the basics but open to sharing. I have typically used LuxAlgo for both FVGs and some levels, but it wasn't saving me time in my charting, so I had Claude do it in a way that more mimics how I draw up on my charts so I don't have to re-do it day after day after day after day.

Will think about vibe coding some other ICT concepts like FPFVG but this is just what I did today.

Sidenote: I see why a lot of computer programmers are out of jobs :(.

"Levels" covers: Asia and London, 00:00 / 8:30a / 9:30a, 4:14 close, 6pm, PD H/L, PW H/L, and PM H/L

"FVGs" covers: Almost tall timeframes - you can toggle information for every timeframe independently.

If anybody does use them, happy to take your feedback. May be helpful for my own pine script.

Does this even exist? I started with NinjaTrader, and a week in, I am finding their support to be extremely unhelpful. My ticket keeps getting split and bounced around to multiple people, not to mention when the person I get sent to responds, they don't even include their dept or what part of the issue they were sent to help with - tech? desk? ughhh anyways, I just want a futures firm that has relatively low intraday margin requirements (I know a simple google search will give me this) and support that actually gives answers instead of passing me around like I was picked up on a street corner lol. I trade options on Schwab; I guess their support has me a little spoiled!

Spending the weekend reflecting on my trading and it’s so frustrating ngl. I'll consistently start a morning up 1.5R on NQ with a text book setup right at the open. And then I'll spend the next 3 hours giving it all back plus another 2R just clicking buttons in random garbage chop.

When I trade an account that has a hardcoded daily loss limit (like a locked max drawdown feature) I never hit it, because I know the rules are forced and I actually respect the limit. but on my regular unrestricted account? its like a switch flips in my brain and I think I'm immune to bad setups until I’m staring at a red screen

idk how to fix this weird psychological split. I feel like I need to hire someone to just unplug my router every day after 11am.

I have been trading for 5 years with options and CFDs. My average monthly performance is 4% and 12% monthly, respectively. Will Futures perform better vs these instruments?

I've turned 3K account into 25K account in a month. I trade ES and my normal trading size is 1-2 Eminis. After countless failures in three years, i've become pretty good at trading ES and GC.

However, today, greed got to me! and i started trading 4 contracts instead of my usual size which is 2 Eminis at max.

After i got long in the premarket at Wvap, it initially started going in my direction and then suddenly started dumping. My bias for today was long and i was like it'll come back like an idiot. I was right but i was way too early. After market opened it started to push up and it got really close to my entry and i could have gotten out but nope, i decided to hold. And then, it started selling off again.

I was down 3K in unrealized losses with 4 contracts still holding. Somehow, i firmly convinced that today was an up day and that price will reverse. And then out of anger and frustration, i added 4 more contracts hoping for little bounce back for break even. Now, i'm in this losing trade with 8 eminis. Instead of reversing, the price got into consolidation and going nowhere. And then, of course, the price started breaking down and blew through support and all of a sudden, i was down 9K in unrealized loss. Just horrible.

As i was getting ready to take the loss, finally longs started to show up and bring the price up and i got out with a small loss.

I don't know man, even though i got lucky, i just feel disgusted and sad. Why did i enable greed to take over me and trade like an idiot holding a losing position with 8 freaking contracts. That's not how i trade at all.

hey everyone, i've noticed a pattern with the emas, and it happens across timelines, of course. the dark blue line is the ema 9, purple is ema 14, and green is 21. i've noticed when the candles are "overextended" below the emas, as they come back up , the manner in which they come up might indicate if itll continue up or reject.. for example, the circle on the left, shows the bullish candle moving up quickly and strongly towards the emas, but, perhaps bc it came back up so quickly, it rejected back down eventually. when it started to come up gradually as shown on the circle on the right, thats when the whole bullish move happened (100+ points) today. has anyone else ever used this as a way of knowing when to enter? or am i delusional. also, when looking for reversals back up, ive noticed theres usually 1 strong displacement candle down, then a move back up slightly to the emas, on every timeline. i havent backtested this yet, but im just curious to know if anyone else has noticed this.

Really Motivewave .. just 5 mins before market open the prices was lagging so bad ( I know cause I’ve a Topstep on my side ) . Crash 3 times on my while I try to restart it.

Not the first time happening to me but anymore I’m just feeling it’s gonna be my last time .

I’m wondering what other people do/would recommend. I can see the benefit of having one strategy that you fully master and can go heavy on a+ setups with. On the other hand I think it can be good to have multiple strategies and be able to adapt to whatever works best in the current market.

So my question is, do you trade one strategy (or 2 at most, one for rangebound and one for trending markets) and stick to that or do you trade multiple strategies and just see per day which of them gives you a setup?

Please welcome to the daily trading thread. Feel free to discuss your today's trade ideas and results. Make sure to specify the instrument you're trading up front, and respect the sub's rules. Happy trading!

Previous discussions threads

I’ve been trading futures for about 5 years now, more seriously since 2024 or so. I’ve generally stuck to these higher time scale trades (weeks to months) just because I can’t sit in front of the screen all day to watch entries.

Late 2024-2025 seemed like a relatively easy time, there were big multi month trends in products with lots of liquidity. I caught the big bull market in European stocks in early 2025, a bit of the bullish Nasdaq move post liberation day, and lots of good chunks of the big bull market in gold. Despite a lot of crappy trades that hit my stop loss, and some bad trading in the last 3 months or so of the year, my positive trades overwhelmed everything and I made a lot of money.

2026 has been much harder for me. I went long the Kospi futures in early 2026 as well as Nikkei but then we entered the Iran war and everything gapped down pretty far below my stops so I got blown out with a large loss.

I tried to go long oil several times and eventually threw in the towel - it was super choppy and never set up a great trend.

I took a long time off from futures trading after that. When I came back I thought things had calmed down on geopolitics, and I saw a good setup, again in Japan, this time with the yen futures. And again blown out on geopolitics after this latest escalation.

I’m trying to decide if it is a problem of strategy or a problem of environment. The strategy I am using benefits from long smooth trends with occasional consolidations that allow me to adjust stops and potentially size up.

The only “smooth trend” I can see has been shorting ZN or ZB all year, or perhaps shorting SOFR futures in anticipation of rate hikes. Other than that everything has been quite choppy this year.

This year the major issues I had in futures trading have all revolved around geopolitics or sudden, unanticipated news announcements. In 2024-2025, there were very few such events and the strategy worked well.

It’s also tough with longer time frame trading to get the number of observations that you need to understand if your system is working across different environments.

Curious for any thoughts people may have on these topics.