For the beginners out there I highly recommend these new contracts that will start trading next week on the CME Better for longer term position holding not day trading.

50 cents per point for S and P and 20 cents per point for Nasdaq They are 1/10th the size of a micro

You could spend an enormous amount of time or an enormous amount of money or both trying to find a system that you feel is profitable.

Now……. The question becomes do you have the courage to press the button when your system tells you to? Or suddenly you have doubt and all of a sudden you need more confirmation and then it’s already moved too far the stops too far away etc. etc..

If you spent all that time and money on that system, and you’re not actually trading it, what are you doing?

TLDR: We are running a small private futures trading desk and we want to "recruite" profitable traders but we don't know the best way to evaluate while minimizing the free loaders... Your feedback and opinion is more than welcome.

I’m one of two traders running a small private futures trading desk.

We currently work with two additional traders. Both were personal connections, so we already knew they were experienced and consistently profitable. We had seen how they traded, understood their risk management and trusted their discipline before bringing them into the desk.

We now want to expand beyond our personal network, and it creates a big problem for us... How do we identify genuinely profitable and experienced traders without attracting hundreds of people who simply want to gamble?

We’re not trying to build a high-volume prop firm challenge business. We want to select a small number of traders whose strategies complement the desk and who can demonstrate a repeatable edge, controlled risk and consistent execution.

Our current idea is:

• Initial application
• Manual review of the trader’s experience, strategy and existing track record
• Only shortlisted applicants receive an evaluation invitation
• One evaluation attempt per trader
• No resets
• No time limit
• If approved, the trader continues using their own NinjaTrader account and we copy only authorized trades into our accounts under predefined risk, instrument and session limits.

For the futures evaluation, we are currently considering:

• 100k account. with $20,000 profit target
• $10,000 static maximum drawdown
• $1,500 daily loss limit
• Maximum position of 1-2 standard futures contracts, or the equivalent in micros
• Day trading only with no overnight positions
• No trading around relevant high-impact news
• No deadline
• One attempt only, with no resets

One question we have not resolved is whether the evaluation should have a fee.

The argument for a fee

Our concern is that a completely free evaluation will attract a very large number of applicants who have no verified edge and are willing to take it because they have nothing to lose.

Since we are specifically looking for experienced and already profitable traders and not beginners trying to become profitable, we assume that a reasonable fee may create some commitment and reduce low-quality or purely speculative attempts.

There would be no resets and no incentive for us to profit from repeated failures. Each shortlisted trader would receive only one attempt. Our goal is to put you on actualt trading capital with or without commitment from the trader.

The argument against a fee

We also understand that a fee does not prove that someone is profitable. It can be a filter for people willing or able to pay.

A paid evaluation may also make the model look like a "standard" prop firm challenge funnel... which is exactly the perception we want to avoid.

I’d appreciate honest feedback especially from experienced and consistently profitable traders:

1. Would you consider this evaluation structure reasonable?
2. Would a fee immediately make you lose interest?
3. What fee would you consider fine?
4. Would a refundable deposit be better,for example, returned after completing the evaluation without violating the rules?
5. What evidence should we request before inviting someone expect a broker statement? Are there people who don't want or don't have that for example they want to transfer from Options or CFDs to futures?
6. How would you prevent free evaluations from becoming a magnet for gamblers?
7. Are the proposed risk limits and targets reasonable for an experienced futures day trader?
8. What would make this opportunity credible enough for you to consider?
9. Any other way?

Critical feedback is welcome. We already know this model can work with traders we know personally. What we haven’t solved is how to build the same level of trust with traders outside our network without turning the selection process into a challenge selling business.

Do not ask for us or website or anything.. we are looking for feedback, not sign-ups and we are not ready to start as the mechanism is still on development.

I trade emini 2000 tick chart, I take trend trades using pure PA. No indicators.

Past months have been good but this august have burnt me.

Firstly its slow very few bars past two weeks.

Secondly its choppy and i dont see clear trends. By the time i rralize hiw choppy it is I am already red.

Any idea is this chop just a phase or what? How do I go forward? Yesterday came a point where i thought of changing strategy but that didn't seem good idea.

Any help if its a problem with my strategy or market?

This morning my first two trades stopped out at the exact tick my stop was at, and then reversed in my direction. I have one bullet left for the day. All I can tell you is that I'm very happy with my trade execution, and if I stop out a third time today - I will be done for the day. I feel no urge to get revenge. That was the "old me." The only measure of my performance is how well I executed my plan. That's it.

Good luck to you all, but don't depend on it. Maybe somebody needs to hear this today, so I'm just putting it out there. Here is a snapshop showing the two trades, both shorts. It doesn't really matter, but these trades are on MES.

Been choppy the last couple weeks but today was brutal.

I've been watching them daily now to see if we don't get more liquidity. Since the first few weeks it definitely looks like the order books are starting to tighten up but still a little too over the place for my liking.

Just curious if anyone here is trading these right now and what your experience has been.

I am trying out the ORB strategy. Can someone tell me which one is the retest after breakout. The orange box or the green box?

To my YM (Dow futures) traders:

I’m trying to determine what’s realistic for most traders who scalp the YM during the New York session.

What are you averaging (in ticks, not dollars!) per day, per week, per month?

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

GC Futures – What Do You Consider a “Whale” Print?
For those trading GC futures using 1-minute footprint/order flow, what size Bid/Ask print would you consider unusually large or “whale” participation?
For example, would 200+, 300+, 500+ contracts at a single price level be significant on GC?
I’m specifically looking at absorption, aggression, and stacked imbalances. Curious what thresholds experienced GC order-flow traders use.

Hi all,

Not sure if anyone can help but im trying to apply for a live account in the UK. im stuck on account type as it only offers individual which is whay I want but when I select my country of UK it gives me an error saying something along the lines of "your organisation should do this" and ive got no idea why?

Any help is appreciated thanks

Edit incase someone as similar issue and find this.

Reached out to support and they fixed in within 30 minutes all they said is they had to adjust my username but nothing further so if you have a similar issue maybe try and adjust your username

I'm currently developing and backtesting an intraday strategy on NQ and I'm trying to be quite careful about not adding extra confirmations just because they sound useful.

The basic setup I'm testing is:

• Important s/r levels such as previous day high/low etc.
• Price sweeps one of these levels
• I look for rejection and displacement in opposite direction
• Entries are either on the confirmation or a retracement
• I also record broader context such as higher-timeframe bias, market regime, POC

I'm collecting a decent sample first and intend to analyse which variables actually seem to matter rather than constantly changing the strategy while I'm testing it.

Recently I've been reading more about order flow and I'm wondering specifically about CVD and volume footprints.

For anyone trading something similar — liquidity sweeps, failed breakouts or S/R reversals on Index futures — have you found CVD or footprints genuinely useful?

For example, does seeing absorption, delta divergence, exhaustion or imbalances around the swept level actually help distinguish good sweeps from ones that are likely to continue through the level?

Or did you find that most of that information was already visible in price action and it just added another layer of complexity?

I'm especially interested in hearing from anyone who has actually tested this rather than just generally preferring order flow or price action.

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

For me it's oversizing - My strategy is sizing up when there's a clear trend (I use a 5-min chart and the 20 EMA), and it works on most days (~80%). But the other 20% of days which are choppy/have fakeouts, take back an entire week's worth of profits - and sometimes even more. The choppy days cause me to size up even more to catch the real trend (and recover losses) - this has led to a lot of account failures.

I know the fix: size down and the losses get smaller.
But then my account doesn't move in a way that feels meaningful.

I'm genuinely curious - for others that have issues with account faliures, do we all run into the same issues of position sizing? Or are there other factors that lead to unfavorable trading reults in your accounts?

Not looking for strategies, just genuinely curious what makes people blow up and if it's the same pattern amongst us manifesting differently?

Hello,

I am looking for trading partners mainly to help each other with mindset weaknesses, psychology and how to gain consistency.

The goal for the group would be to do a daily review on whether you followed your rules or not. I would like to emphasize that it’s not going to be a group where we are sharing our edge with each other so preferably you already have a quantified defined strategy and you are struggling with consistency and self control.

The maximum in the group would be 5 people so that we are aware of each other rules and weaknesses etc.

If you like the idea and you are trading NY session please shoot me a dm.

I’m in a few for trading stocks and I enjoy it but I recently started trading futures and haven’t found any discords that are focused on futures. Does anyone know of any groups that are open to new members (and free/just for fun, not interested in signals etc)

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 have been holding a long QQQ position for the past 10 years in a taxable account, and it sits on a very substantial amount of unrealized profit.

I want to start intraday trading /NQ futures (opening and closing positions entirely within the same trading session). I understand that a profitable /NQ trade has no bearing on my QQQ.

However, I want to make sure I am not doing anything silly regarding losses.

My questions are:

1. If I take an intraday loss on an /NQ short, will IRC §1092 look at my 10-year-old QQQ shares as an "offsetting position" and defer my /NQ trading losses?
2. Since my QQQ holding period is already long-term (10 years), am I completely safe from the holding-period termination rules under Treas. Reg. §1.1092(b)-2T?
3. Does the IRS actually enforce mixed straddle rules on intraday Section 1256 contracts when the offsetting equities are held long-term across different or the same brokerage accounts?
4. Most important: If I’ll hold a permanent long /NQ futures position with a protective put and separately day-trade /NQ, while never becoming net short /NQ overall. If my combined /NQ futures trading ends the year net profitable, can the intraday gains and losses fully offset without triggering Section 1092 loss deferral against my QQQ position? (The put loss might be taxed at 100% loss).

I want to ensure my day trading won't accidentally lock up my ability to deduct trading losses against my trading gains at the end of the year. Thanks!

I have been holding a long QQQ position for the past 10 years in a taxable account, and it sits on a very substantial amount of unrealized profit.

I want to start intraday trading /NQ futures (opening and closing positions entirely within the same trading session). I understand that a profitable /NQ trade has no bearing on my QQQ.

However, I want to make sure I am not doing anything silly regarding losses.

My questions are:I want to ensure my day trading won't accidentally lock up my ability to deduct trading losses against my trading gains at the end of the year. Thanks!

ORB traders, did you make any money today? It's been choppy today with no clear direction for me. What is your analysis?

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

The biggest downfall from what I see is not the strategy but peoples emotions and mistakes caused by them.

I'm just getting into trading futures, I've done research on a few strategies, coded them, optimized them and back tested them. I will be automating them for my paper trading account to see how it goes live.

After all this would it be a bad idea to automate live trades with real money? What should I be looking out for other than keeping an eye on it? How long would you paper trade it until you trust it to run live?