Daytrading Emini Futures for Daily Income

Day trading the Emini S&P Futures really is a great way to make a living! I hear and read a lot of articles, newspaper ads, and even one or two ezine's that claim day trading is a sure fire way to lose all your money. I totally disagree. On the contrary, it is an incredible way to work a few hours a day and make a very nice 6 figure income.

No doubt, a lot of new day traders find themselves in peril and ultimately lose their money day trading. This bothers me when I read about it. It gives the successful day traders, such as myself - a bad name. I know quite a few day traders who have been succeeding at this for many years. What I learned is that success leaves clues! Meaning, the successful day traders seem to all be doing the same thing while the unsuccessful day traders are also doing the same thing - which, to no surprise is opposite of what the successful traders do!

We need to look at the root of the real problem, which is: Why are most day traders losing all their money? I think thats a real simple question to answer. Usually it is a lack of discipline and a solid set of day trading rules. Sometimes it is under capitalization and fear. Fear in itself is probably the biggest of the day trader "killers".

You may purchase books, seminars, and perhaps create your own strategies to day trade. All this is great, but if you can not follow the rules to the letter - you simply will not be a successful day trader. Discipline to follow the rules is a tough thing to acquire! I admit when I first started I had a hard time because I was always changing up my rules. That cost me tens of thousands of dollars. Read more about my successes and failures:
http://www.eminitradingstrategies.com/emini-trader.html

Finally, I learned that the key to successful day trading was trading for income. I do not trade for a target price. I know how much money I need to make every day and I go out and make it, once I achieve my daily profit objective, I simply quit for the day.

My trading methods are very simple and easy to learn. They require discipline! You must under every circumstance follow the rules. My methods generate at least 1 point daily trading the S&P 500 eminis. I back that by a double money back guarantee!

I post my real trading results on my blog every day
http://www.eminitradingstrategies.com/emini-trading-blog/ I do not post "hypothetical" trades. I post real trades with real fills! Some of my trades are winners and some are losers. Either way I put them up there for the world to see. I urge you to look at them. Every now and then I take a day off, on those days I DO post hypothetical results and I make it clear I did not trade that day! However, even with my hypothetical trades, they are very realistic trades that would have been filled on limit orders!

Please when people tell you day trading doesn't work, don't believe it. You can earn a very nice living day trading. It's my opinion that the people who bad mouth it are simply the "wannabes" that didn't make it. Instead of complaining about it, find out why it did not work for you! Did you really follow every rule? Did you maintain discipline all the time? Whatever you do, please do not berate the people that really do it! And do it successfully everyday.

Just recently I've decided to teach my trading methods. Some of the reasons I am doing this is that I am tired of hearing so many negatives about my industry. I also have a strong desire to teach. I've shared my methods with a handful of people and I enjoy teaching, and love seeing the excitement and enthusiasm in them. If you have the discipline to follow a solid set of rules, you can be a very successful day trader.

Please stop by my website at http://www.eminitradingstrategies.com to learn more!

Thanks for reading my post. I can be reached at info@eminitradingstrategies.com

David Marsh

Reuters - Auto retailers swung to quarterly losses in the third quarter, beaten down by the decline in U.S. car sales, tight consumer credit, and a weakening U.S. economy as well as hurricane-related damages.

Stock Trading Buy Or Sell Stocks Using Finotec Trading Platform
Online Trading
Automated Forex Trading System Online Forex Investing

Trading Timeframe Selection

Well, I've had a frustrating week. No opportunity to trade until Friday, and no opportunity to work on my website and newsletter service. NOT HAPPY!!!

But then, that happens to us all from time to time. Life has a habit of failing to consult with us, prior to messing with our plans.

What happened? Well, before I was trading I used to work as a pilot, with a specialty in aviation safety. I've maintained a link to that industry, and still do some work on a part-time basis. Usually it's not a big deal at all, and I can fit it in around my life. Sometimes though, a bit of a crisis happens (safety's like that!) and I've got to travel away, and well... my plans just don't matter anymore.

Yeah, I know. I've got no-one to blame but myself. After all, I choose to do this. And this probably has no relevance to your life. So let me get to the point - how does this story relate to the title of this article - 'Trading Timeframe Selection'.

Ok, those of you who have been around my website for a while know that day-trading is my thing. I like the short timeframes. Anything more than 5 minutes is way too long for me. Why is that? Well, several reasons really:

1. More action.
2. Tighter stops (I hate large losses).
3. Psychologically, I'm a bit of a control freak - I like to monitor a trade from start to finish.
4. I can sit in cash when I'm not trading, so it's no problem if I get called away and can't trade for a day or two.

Really, it's all psychology!

I used to trade daily charts several years ago, and really hated the 'surprise' each day when I woke up to see what the US market had done to my position overnight. Now, when I'm trading, I can manage the trade closely. And when I'm not trading, I'm out of the markets. Simple!

Day-trading is just a perfect fit for my psychology. And it just happens to fit my lifestyle as well, because if I have to go away quickly I'm not leaving open trades in the markets.

For some crazy reason, about six weeks ago, I decided that I should look into trading daily charts again because that would give me more time to work on the trading education website & newsletter. I decided to trade options on equities, which would allow me to place defined-risk trades and profit from theta decay. Great plan! So I set about simulation trading for a couple of months, just to be sure it would work for me. Well, everything went fine until this week.

Suddenly, I couldn't monitor my trades. I'm left in the market with an overall delta positive portfolio, and no access to a computer to adjust the trades, and the Dow drops 358 points. Not a big deal really, as it's simulation. The position had been in profit, and is only sitting on a slight loss now, so with three more weeks till expiry there's still a great chance to work my way out of trouble. Of course, had it been live I would have phoned my broker and closed out all positions.

But here's the real lesson for me:

1. Daily charts do not match my lifestyle,
2. Daily charts do not match my psychology, and
3. Daily charts do not match my risk tolerance.

I wasn't comfortable holding positions overnight when I couldn't monitor them. And the whole 'speed' (or lack of speed) of the game frustrated me. Could I get used to it? Absolutely! But why bother when I've already found my niche. I'm a day-trader. Why try to change?

So, what's your perfect timeframe?

The only way to find out is to try the different alternatives. These days you can get a demo or simulation platform for almost every market, and timeframe. So there's no excuse for not trying the different timeframes to find the one that fits your psychology like a glove.

Try the short timeframes for a couple of weeks. Try the intermediate timeframes for a month or so, say the 1 or 4 hour charts. Try the daily charts for a couple of months. While you're at it, try the weekly charts.

What you're first attracted to is not necessarily the right fit for your psychology or lifestyle. When I first got into trading I traded the weekly charts on stocks. This changed quickly to daily charts. And then over several years it progressively got shorter and shorter. Maybe day-trading would not have suited me back then, but the thing is, I never even thought to try anything else. Had I done so, I might have saved myself years of 'daily chart' pain.

So what are you waiting for? Test your timeframes, and find the right one for you - the timeframe that matches both your lifestyle and your trading psychology.

Happy trading,

Lance Beggs

Copyright 2008. Lance Beggs. All Rights Reserved.

Would you like to learn more about how I trade the forex and equity index markets? Check out the articles, videos and trading resources on my website right now at http://www.YourTradingCoach.com

Reuters - The U.S. government is considering direct financial assistance to facilitate a possible merger between General Motors Corp and Chrysler LLC, a private sector source familiar with Treasury discussions told Reuters on Monday.

Preparing My Mind
Online Stock Market Trading For Beginners
Commodities Futures Trading Emini Commodity Trading