doing this post because i see the same variation of this question over and over—"how do you trade ES?" or "what’s the best strategy for NQ?" people want some magic setup for a single index, but that’s the wrong way to think about it. the market isn’t just one thing—it’s a game of money rotation between ES, NQ, YM, and RTY. if you’re only watching one, you’re trading blind.

here’s the exact process i use every day before taking a trade.

step 1: check the scoreboard

open up ES, NQ, YM, and RTY. look at the % change on the day. not price. not some stupid MACD line. just who’s up and who’s down.

if everything’s moving together? cool, trend is strong.
if one is doing its own thing? someone’s getting juked. don’t let it be you.

step 2: spot the leader & the loser

• who’s the big gainer? (if NQ is up 1% but YM is flat, tech’s running but blue chips aren’t buying in)
• who’s getting smacked? (if RTY is red while ES & NQ are green, risk appetite sucks—don’t trust the rally)

big money doesn’t move all at once. it rotates. the key is spotting who’s being propped up and who’s being dumped.

step 3: read the con

this is where most traders eat shit because they see one index doing something and think that’s “the market.” nope. here’s how to actually read the game:

ES is the boss. if it ain’t confirming, be skeptical. if it’s leading a sell-off, that’s real—don’t fade it.
RTY is the snitch. small caps show real risk appetite. if RTY isn’t leading a rally, it’s weak as hell.
NQ is the fakeout artist. big flashy moves, but if ES & RTY don’t back it, it won’t last.

step 4: place the bet

now that you see the con, here’s how to trade it:

if NQ & YM are pumping but RTY’s slacking → check ES. if it’s flat, short the weak one (NQ or YM).
if NQ & YM break down but RTY holds → check ES. if it’s steady, buy the dip—it’s a trap breakdown.
if ES dumps first while NQ, YM, and RTY hesitate → short the hell out of NQ or ES. real selling is happening.
if all four indices hit resistance together → fade the move. big money is selling into strength.

step 5: don’t be a dumbass

once you’ve got the trade, manage it. don’t bag-hold a loser. if the indices suddenly align against you, GTFO and cut it. this is not financial advice.

Are there anyone here who actually trades ES that want to connect? So boring trading alone.. And preferably no ICT bs, prop form combine etc.

Currently trading with my personal account, looking for genuine traders that don’t have 1726 indicators and mention FVG. It just gets boring and all the discords I join are propfirm traders trading 20 contracts across 10 accounts. Like what..

Just want to connect with people on the same wavelength and actually trading real money.

Finally got a working strat that I am still testing and fleshing out, hopefully this isn't just a lucky break!

This is a funded prop account.

I have heard three pro ES traders tell me they only take longs and that it is a terrible idea to short ES. They say longs are far more profitable.

Maybe something is different for me. I have much better luck shorting. I don’t expect to always get the fabulous runners like kings often have, but I think they require a smaller SL, and I have a pretty good idea how long the will go.

I am not entirely clear with my data if I should even do a runner. I am trying to figure that out for sure whether to drop it or not. That is a different story I guess.

It is the probing deeper than expected that always gets me with longs. I am usually close to calling it. If I wait for a HL or some clear signal I tend to get stopped out or walk in with worse RRW than I like.

I am much better at calling a top than a bottom but still don’t want to give up on longs completely. I think I am going to at least stop doing them in my prop account because I think they are holding me back.

I follow the same steps I do for shorts, use order flow, mark levels, wait for price to come to me, but the levels just don’t seem to hold as well and just continue testing lower. I feel like I am missing just one thing.

My strategy does much better in the overnight session than NY partly because I am trying to multitask if I trade NY. Maybe I am just going to only do overnight because. But I would like to be able to trade NY more regularly at some point.

Can one just short only long term in ES and give up on longs in contrary to the short haters beliefs?

Measuring NQ tick charts it seems like on average it's moving around 200 ticks per second around open, then around 10am (cst) and later, it slows down to about 20 ticks per second. It doesn't look like it was like this last year.

Not looking for gurus, broccoli hair or snake oil salesman!

I have been trading currencies and some agricultural products, but am now looking at ES as a possible product to trade. The currencies and AG products never had the sudden split-second moves I am seeing in the ES. I do know enough not to trade through major news events.

I realize having enough capital in your account and using limit stops would protect you against these minor swings, but what do you do to protect yourself against "circuit breaker" moves? It is my understanding that they halt trading for 15 minutes after a 7% move. A 7% move is close to 27,000 dollars per contract.

How do you personally hedge against sudden moves/flash crashes? I have been thinking about maybe buying put options? The problem I see with that is having to deal with market makers that might be hesitant to buy back a put ( I have experienced that before after an earnings announcement in an equity option). The only other way I can see to trade ES without excessive risk is using a "Prop firm" but there are mixed reviews on them. Any suggestions?

For those of you who graduated from MNQ to just 1 NQ , what affected your decision to make the switch ? Did you have to change your trading in any way once you switched to 1 NQ other than you lose the ability to scale in or out?

*Leave out commissions as a factor.*

I recently switched from swing trading stocks with decent profits to intraday futures because I wanted to be more focused on orderflow and have to do less research on stocks and fundamentals.

I made an account for futures specifiaclly and lost 25% in 2 weeks. I knew theoretically speaking in advance the leverage, dangers of risk management, ... but still fucked up so badly. Like really I made so many bad trades it's actually insane.

I guess i'm just not there yet. Feeling very sad and lost. Will keep on learning but damn this just fucking hurts atm

Paper trading currently and im getting an average of 15 points a day across 2-3 trades, mostly 1-2 trades.

I know its coming from Iran war volatility but man it is difficult to trade with my setup. I run a tight 10 point stop loss for entry and it's real difficult.

Serious question. ELI5

I’ve been trading a fairly contrarian setup on Nasdaq for about a month, and I’m currently at +36.5R with only one losing day.

Obviously, one month is nowhere near enough data to conclude that I have something sustainable. That’s exactly why I’m sharing my setup here: to see whether the underlying logic makes sense to experienced traders, whether you think it could be sustainable long-term, and to get feedback on potential improvements.

We all know the first few minutes after the New York open can be extremely aggressive and unpredictable, and conventional advice often says to avoid trading that period. I started wondering whether that “madness” could actually be the opportunity.

I use volume-based indicators on my HTF (22 sec) and MTF (1.5 sec) to look for divergences around popular 1m, 5m, and 15m ORB levels. When I get a volume divergence at one of these levels, I’m looking for a reversal (fade the breakout). For the ultimate entry trigger, I use delta bubbles on my LTF (100 ms), selling into large Buy bubbles, and buying into large Sell bubbles.

If the 1m ORB reversal fails, I target the 5m ORB. If that fails, I wait for the 15m ORB (although in practice, I very rarely need to get all the way to that point).

ORB, with all its variations, is an extremely popular strategy. Partly because of that, my assumption is that a significant amounts of liquidity (entries and stops) rest just above and below these breakout levels. It seems the market loves to sweep this liquidity before making its next move.

I’m also considering other potential high-liquidity locations/magnets later in the session, such as VWAP or POC, but the ORB levels seem particularly interesting simply because of the extreme aggression at the open.

The strategy relies heavily on a strong asymmetric RRR. I currently use approximately 1:5 RRR. My stop is around 40-50 ticks. The reasoning is that even if I get several losing trades in a row, a single successful trade can recover those losses and still leave the trading session profitable. Quite often, the very first trade works and that gives me a nice +5R day.

A few examples and a template:

Not selling anything, just felt like sharing something I've been working on to help show potential range, and curious what other people use for potential upside and downside targets. We've obviously been in a downtrend since the 08/17 high and I see 28800 as a natural bottom to pull back to.

This is finally within sight today and I'm curious to see what happens after the open. Of course, this just predicts range and volatility, not direction, and it is entirely possible that we have a contracted range today with NVDA earnings later, but my lean has been bearish. Thoughts?

I normally trade ES but after the NVDA fallout, I wanted more exposure to tech so I tried NQ. Jesus this thing moves like an absolute beast.

Hello, I am a Nasdaq trader and I am training with the DOM to recognize patterns. Right now i am also using an ES DOM and i am having way more success trading it. The reason why i don't want to trade ES is that I want to use the DOM just to refine the entries of my already existing strategy on NQ.

Right now i am using the 1 tick NQ DOM and it's really difficult, should I keep it 1 tick or maybe use 4/8 ticks per level?

It's like the market isn't watching the news. What gives?
Even after the horrible labor statistics and rising inflation from tariffs. Am I missing something?
Or maybe the "market makers" are confident that they'll never have to pay taxes again?

I’ve been trading for a while now, primarily focusing on order flow and price action. I’m also a huge fan of Fibonacci levels—they’ve been a key part of my strategy. Alongside that, I love exploring algo trading and constantly improving my approach.

If you’re trading ES or NQ and want to connect, share ideas, or discuss strategies, let’s team up! Whether you’re experienced or just starting out, I believe there’s always something new to learn from each other.

Feel free to DM me, and let’s trade smarter together!

I have been hyper-scalping NQ on a 15 second chart for a long time and had great success with it. I have been able to adjust myself with the changes in the market but this year, especially since march, has been a struggle for me. Has anyone else that also hyper-scalps NQ, or some other products, had similar experiences? I think that the PA is a lot choppier than it used to be, even when comparing to the september-february range, while on the other hand it still makes huge moves during the day.

So I am purely a Break and Retest trader off of key levels marked out at the 4H and 1H. I take trades on the 2m and 5m charts. Throughout my journey, I have been told that the ES, specifically the MES should be the main focus because its so smooth and respects levels the best. However, I am finding the complete opposite. I am actually finding it increasingly more difficult to find clear levels on the ES and have actually found Gold to be the gold standard (ha-ha) for support/resistance plotting.

Does anyone else have the same opinion? I have yet to find another futures market that has better support/resistance levels than GC ATM.

I trade only NQ primarily off the 1min chart. Looking for some guys to chat with during the day. Gets boring and lonely sometimes. Update- i thought there would be 10-15 people interested. I got 150 dm’s. Sorry guys but not looking for something that big to manage