Calming Down

This post will be a bit peculiar, largely a reflection of the progress made. I've also adapted my trading and, overall, just calmed down.

Over on the futures trading front done so via TopstepTrader, I'm progressing well in the $50K Combine. If I stay disciplined, I do expect to pass Step 2 by the end of this month. The revelation I've had over the past month is that I do my best when I identify the larger market structure. I'm simply not a scalper, but I am improving my entries upon observing structural changes.

Over on the futures front, I stopped using the 1,000-contracts volume charts. I also stopped trading the NQ. Despite having a lower tick value, NQ is simply too volatile. I've taken hard hits trying to trade in the noise.

I've taken a step back and realigned my focus back on ES. Not only that, but I increased my charts to 5,000-contracts volume bars. This does mean that I'll see less intraday movements. But less is more. Instead of looking and analyzing the rapid chaos caused by the 1,000-contracts volume chart, I have improved my ability to look at two key price behaviors - ranges and trends. After "calming down" and focusing on the bigger picture, despite losing information on smaller tick fluctuations, I'm doing better.

Admittedly, the transition of this mentality to FX is still a struggle. The thing about futures is that there's an expectation for you to commit to a session. Since I trade the ES, I follow the New York open at 9:30 AM EST and trade until about 12 PM EST. I take a break as noon tends to be rather quiet. I've noticed that from 2PM EST till close, there tends to be a directional move so I'll keep an eye open for an opportunity here.

Since FX is a continuous market, trading a specific session is rather difficult. In addition, I'm not well versed with session specific strategies such as trading the London open or gap plays. This is something that I should probably be a bit more conscious of since there's really no point in holding through these swings. If these swings are predictable, they could further optimize my entry for longer term plays.

That said, I believe that I am still making progress on the FX front. Taking a similar approach to futures, I plot my levels on the daily and sometimes 4-hour time frames. This allows me to analyze what the larger structural imbalance is telling me. I will then use the 1-hour and lower time frames for entry. I don't think that I'll ever be successful trading on the lower time frames. Scalping simply isn't for me. Due to my time commitment, I'm not at the stage of monitoring the intraday levels in real time. This might change down the road where I'll watch certain pairs during certain sessions. It's unlikely I'll ever participate in taking intraday trades since I don't have a spread advantage and my nature is to capitalize on bigger structural moves.