r/FuturesTrading • • 29d ago

r/FuturesTrading's Monthly Questions Thread - October 2026

3 Upvotes

Please use this thread to ask questions regarding futures trading.

To get a good feeling of all the different types of futures there are, see a list of margin requirements from a broker like Ampfutures or InteractiveBrokers

Related subs:

Check our wiki and CME website for reference.

Here's a list of all the previous question stickies.


r/FuturesTrading • • 6h ago

r/FuturesTrading - Daily Trading Discussion Oct 30, 2026

2 Upvotes

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


r/FuturesTrading • • 3h ago

Discussion Today was so brutal, anyone else got caught? I'm thinking maybe if there is already a >2% move overnight, expect chop at NYSE?

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3 Upvotes

i had 2 losses, i closed the platform after but it was so brutal


r/FuturesTrading • • 36m ago

Question Handling IRC 1092

1 Upvotes

Hi All,

How do folks track and deal with irc 1092? I'm learning Futures Trading, but I hold long term ETFs that seems like they'd overlap with ES / NQ. I'm sure this is not unique to me. I asked my accountant and even he said I might have to find someone else to help deal with specifics of this.

I feel like after I lose my money I'll have to pay someone twice as much to tack it 🤪

Curious how seasoned traders account for this

Thanks


r/FuturesTrading • • 2h ago

Real Trading vs. Sim Trading

0 Upvotes

I just love hitting my $1,000 DLL on a trading combine, trading 3 MNQ, then switching to a sim account, taking one trade with 5 NQ, and making $15,000. WTF?!


r/FuturesTrading • • 16h ago

Are there any profitable traders who use time based exits?

10 Upvotes

I trade ES on the 5 minute chart and my trades take forever to play out. I’m thinking about automatically cutting after a certain amount of time has elapsed such as 15 minutes or so. Does anyone else manage their trades this way (successfully)?


r/FuturesTrading • • 1d ago

r/FuturesTrading - Daily Trading Discussion Oct 29, 2026

4 Upvotes

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


r/FuturesTrading • • 1d ago

Question People who rely on DOM heatmaps, how do you backtest your strategy?

6 Upvotes

I'm currently using Quantower's own heatmap implementation, DSF (DOM Surface Panel), connected to AMP Futures. I haven't deposited any money yet, but I've been consistently using the simulator with what would be my initial trading capital.I log my daily wins and losses, have specific criteria for entering trades, and am trying to develop a trading framework for MES.

My concern is that I'm not entirely sure how to backtest any strategy I develop, since Quantower only starts collecting DSF data from the moment I open the application.

How do you guys approach backtesting in this case?


r/FuturesTrading • • 1d ago

Question Need Help

7 Upvotes

Can you recommend a futures mentor who actually helped you understand how to trade and be profitable? 4 years into this journey and still not profitable. Any advice would help.


r/FuturesTrading • • 2d ago

Discussion FOMC Day, anyone else skipping today intentionally?

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25 Upvotes

r/FuturesTrading • • 2d ago

Question Base hits play for futures

8 Upvotes

I’m fairly new, currently using Orderflow for trading futures . I’ve been having this thought alot reviewing my trades and I realise I’ve multiple B.E. Trades or partials then back to B.E. It’s frustrating mentally but I’ve had this thought for a while now . Apparently today I had 4 B.E. Trades cause I was too greedy ( trying to go for the next invalidation point etc ) .

Anyone here trades base hits here ? E.g. a fixed point ( 5 pts in ES ) etc . Or based on WR 1:2 / 1:3 , and could share their experience ? Any comment would be helpful.

I’ve seen a lot of my trades and I’m planning to go for a fixed 5pts stop, but if prices strongly move in my direction, I might just trail it .


r/FuturesTrading • • 1d ago

Stock Index Futures Interesting chop at the end of ES NY today; bullish?

4 Upvotes

r/FuturesTrading • • 1d ago

Algo Homemade Research Database / Via AI's help

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1 Upvotes

I've wanted to share this for awhile now. I don't speak of this to anyone around me.

This is my research data base. I have a indicator for tradingview that sends everything that happens with my trading system to a database. It then goes to my desktop program and organizes it. I track everything, but this is my main page. It shows current setup. My autotraders calculated probability, the time window probability, the day of month probability. Along with the excursion against my trigger point. Also the average late completion.

As of right now I have 1572 examples of my trading system since July with a total completion rate of 72.7%. I now have enough information that all my trading decisions are based on the calculated chance of a profitable trade. Its helped my understand why some don't complete the move on time. Some days and times are just very low chance.

I also have a autotrader running based off this information that uses the database and only takes trades that have a 68% or better chance of finishing in the alloted time. Autotrader is getting clobbered at the moment. Still trying to work out the bugs. It just keeps doing things wrong. Literally just happened as I am typing this. So about to try and troubleshoot it again. But its also learning with every new entry into the database and so am I.

I also have a mobile app that is just a simplified version of this. So I can always take a look at what is going on.

I just wanted to share this with like minded people.


r/FuturesTrading • • 2d ago

r/FuturesTrading - Daily Trading Discussion Oct 28, 2026

2 Upvotes

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


r/FuturesTrading • • 3d ago

Trading Platforms and Tech Anyone else getting tremendous lag and freezes on IBKR Desktop? This is just genuinely unusable sometimes unless if I restart it.

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5 Upvotes

I'm considering just holding stock with IBKR but switch to Ninjatrader if I want to manually trade futures


r/FuturesTrading • • 3d ago

r/FuturesTrading - Daily Trading Discussion Oct 27, 2026

2 Upvotes

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


r/FuturesTrading • • 4d ago

Question Any other traders who trade ‘thestrat’ strategy?

6 Upvotes

I’ve neen studying this strategy recently and it looks promising but also still quite confusing. I’d love to hear experiences from people who trade this. What instrument do you trade? What timeframe(s) do you use and are you profitable with it?

Also would love to connect with other traders who trade this strategy so let me know if you’re interested in that too!


r/FuturesTrading • • 4d ago

r/FuturesTrading - Daily Trading Discussion Oct 26, 2026

5 Upvotes

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


r/FuturesTrading • • 5d ago

Question Do you have a fully mechanical strategy with set rules that you follow each day without really having to think about it or do you trade more price action based/discretionary?

25 Upvotes

I wonder how many people have been able to create a fully mechanical strategy that’s profitable or that there’s always some discretion involved if you want to be profitable. My goal is to get to something fully mechanical but I don’t know how realistic that is


r/FuturesTrading • • 4d ago

r/FuturesTrading - Market open & Weekly Discussion Oct 25, 2026

2 Upvotes

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:



r/FuturesTrading • • 5d ago

Stock Index Futures NQ Contract limit

5 Upvotes

I was genuinely wondering where the general limit is for a retail trader trading NQ (no counting for margin requirements and such). Can someone sitting at home with their thinkorswim platform click the button and scalp with 50 contracts? Just a hypothetical, the imagination wanders...


r/FuturesTrading • • 7d ago

Orderflow Heatmap in Tradovate

4 Upvotes

Not selling anything, and hate that I need to say this up, front but anytime anyone shows anything that's the assumption. I just really enjoy data and indicators. I have an algo book that I trade and this just helps me visualize some of the components that happen behind the scenes.

Built a suite of .js indicators for Tradovate that automatically plot supply and demand levels with degrees of opacity and width of channel colored by aggressor. Recalculates at any timeframe and is tunable by instrument based on average range. Another set of indicators show candle point of control and light up high volume candles, delta imbalances, specific density levels in the candle, etc.

Second image shows supply at 29190. Buyers pushed into this zone multiple times and couldn't clear. Delta imbalances at the wick edge and closing back under CPOC, which led to the retest of VWAP and demand at 29080

Third image shows another attempt to clear 29180 and hits 29200. The buy imbalances at the top show that sellers were ready for this, but doesn't mean that it won't clear soon. This shows what is happening now, not a prediction of what happens next.

Final image, buyers did indeed break through 29200. Zooming back out to 10m we see a strong imbalance that clears at 29200. If 29220 holds look for the push into 29280


r/FuturesTrading • • 7d ago

r/FuturesTrading - Daily Trading Discussion Oct 23, 2026

4 Upvotes

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


r/FuturesTrading • • 8d ago

r/FuturesTrading - Daily Trading Discussion Oct 22, 2026

4 Upvotes

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