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FTSE100 - Daily Trades


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Hi,

I'm day-trading equities on the UK market for about a year and a quarter now. As I never made any consistent profits with that, I recently started focusing on the FTSE 100 index solely and would like to discuss my (and others) daily trades on the index in this tread. Hoping to find some likeminded traders also trading the FTSE 100 index. Shout, if you are one of them!

 

Before I start in, briefly my trading strategy on the index: (Not sure if this is according to TrendFollowers definition a trading plan, a trading strategy or a trading system or a mixture of all?)

- The goal is to make 20 points per day, so for example catching a move from 7340 to 7360

- Once I lose 20 points, I'm out for the day

- The 20 points can be separated in as many trades as it takes. 2 points here, 5 points there, etc.

- The quantity is static for the entire day and adjusts only as a function of the account equity (So it adjusts only at major equity breakthroughs). I'm currently trading a quantity of 1 for every £400 in equity in the account.

- Both long and short trades are allowed

- Trades are only opened within market hours (8.00am - 16.30pm), however positions can still run outside of market hours (no need to close an open position at 16.30)

- 5 min chart is the main trading chart, however 1 min chart and daily chart are open to keep an eye on

 

What do you think of this trading plan/strategy/system?

 

My trades for the day (13/09/2019; Screenshot attached shows the trades in ProRealTime😞

- Red day, max loss hit

1st trade was a short. Loss
Saw the bottom breakout at market open and then snap back up to opening level, with reversal at 7340 resistance. I entered on the way back down at 7355. Only been in profit zone for 1 minute, then it shot back up and broke 7340 resistance. Exit, not a good start. Down 6 points

 

2nd trade was short. Profit
After trading above the 7340 resistance it just broke, it fell back below it, where I re-entered. This time I was able to ride the down-wave and set my profit at day-break-even. Success. Back at 0.

 

3rd trade was  long. Profit
Double bottom was forming at 7330 support. I entered on way back up at 7334. Lot of consolidation made me nervous and I exited early with a small profit. Better small profit than small loss I thought. Up 3 points

 

4th trade was a long. Loss
Then the index shot up, broke the 7340 resistance and the VWAP at 7345. I entered at a mini flag pattern for a break over 7350 resistance. Reversed at 7350 resistance and I got out at break of 7340 support. Huge blow, another one and I'm out for the day. Down 9 points.

 

5th trade was a short. Loss and max-loss hit. Day over
Consolidating below the 7340 support, now acting as resistance. Bottom break out. I enter short. Turns out to be a false breakout and reversal. Break of 7340 resistance and I exit at break of 7350 resistance. Done for the day. Down 19 points

 

If you also trade the FTSE100 index, would love to hear your trades of the day!

Take it easy

Dan

Trades 2019-09-13.jpg

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22 minutes ago, DSchenk said:

What do you think of this trading plan/strategy/system?

Interesting Dan, do you have a means for determining short term direction? For example on the Dax & Dow thread I look at the H1 chart with the daily pivots, price above the pivot I'm looking for longs and shorts below.

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Interesting. I've not looked into Pivot Points yet, but will have a look at it, the next trading days and see if it works out.

I'm determining short term direction by

  • looking at trends and breakouts from those trends
  • Bounces off or break through VWAP or EMAs
  • Bounces off or break through key levels of support/resistance (high/low of day, round price values, etc.)

For example, today we had this pre-market channel, trending upwards between lows of 7350 and highs of 7365. This channel broke at around 7.15 (before my trading hours) with the break below the 200EMA on the 5min chart. From there it continued to make lower lows and lower highs. Short term direction at market open: down-trend

I then expected a reversal at the double bottom at 7330 (one of my positive trades today), however, I didn't expect it to be that strong and breaking far above the VWAP. I expected it to turn around at the VWAP at 7345, where I would've taken another short position with target at low of day and re-enter short at a potential break of that level or long at potential reversal.

As I can now see a few hours later, in theory that is what has actually happened, just instead of reversing at the VWAP at 7345, it reversed at the 200EMA at 7352 and from there a nice 30 point move downwards with making new lows on the day. I had the right idea in principle, just slightly wrong set-up timings.

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14 minutes ago, dmedin said:

What time were you awake?  The 'clear sign' of a downward move were between 07:00 - 07:30.  Oh hindsight, how I adore thee!

I looked at the H1 ftse with pivots and the 7am European open candle sliced down through the pivot point (orange) like a hot knife through butter, the bears were in control ever since.

image.thumb.png.175c92b304991fd532b7d3d04e086b25.png

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28 minutes ago, dmedin said:

What time were you awake?  The 'clear sign' of a downward move were between 07:00 - 07:30.  Oh hindsight, how I adore thee!

I do my analysis usually between 7.30 and 8.00am. So from that perspective the downtrend was already noticeable.

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10 minutes ago, Caseynotes said:

I looked at the H1 ftse with pivots and the 7am European open candle sliced down through the pivot point (orange) like a hot knife through butter, the bears were in control ever since.

Agree and very interesting. I've put pivot points on my chart now. Since then we saw 3 more approaches to the pivot point from below and 3 times rejected (although slightly overshot twice). Very interesting indeed. Thanks for the tip, Casey

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1 minute ago, DSchenk said:

Agree and very interesting. I've put pivot points on my chart now. Since then we saw 3 more approaches to the pivot point from below and 3 times rejected (although slightly overshot twice). Very interesting indeed. Thanks for the tip, Casey

no prob, but be aware that because they are based on the previous day's OHLC and IG has a 1 hour Sunday candle the Monday auto draw PPs will be skewered. 

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Morning everyone.

Trading session today:
Fell straight into the trap with the skewed pivots on Monday :D
Thought I had configured my platform correctly with not showing weekend data. Although then found out as it was already too late, that this doesn't have any effect on the pivot points, they still calculate referencing to the Sunday data. LOL. Found the right settings eventually, so for next week should be fine.
(note, the chart attached is showing the correct pivot points - not the one I traded on)

 

4 Trades, 4 Losses

1st Trade: Long, Loss
Top breakout at market open. I thought we were already above the pivot point, so I went in long.
In reality we were still below the pivot and consequently saw a rejection at that level. I got stopped out as the hourly candle made new lows. Down 12 Points

2nd Trade: Short, Loss
Now we were breaking below the pivot, or so I thought. When we were approaching it from the bottom, I was going short with stop loss above the pivot.
In reality, pivot was obviously somewhere else entirely and I got stopped out quickly. Down 20 Points.

3rd Trade: Short, Loss
Decided to take another trade, even if already at max-loss for the day. (Rules and so, right)
Short as it broke again below the pivot. Stop above the high of the previous spike up.
Got stopped out quickly again. Down 30 points.
That's when I looked up the pivot points online and found out where they really are :D

4th trade: Short, Loss
Now that I had the right pivot points on the chart, i wanted to take at least one trade under correct assumptions.
Saw a rejection at pivot and entered short. Reversed quickly and broke above pivot, where I stopped out.
Calling it a day.

Lesson learnt I would say. Don't trust the automated generated indicators without double-checking them first :)

Have a better start in the week than me, all.

Take it easy

Dan

image.png.cc7c314a95010c4c8deb0ce84aa4c67d.png

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16 minutes ago, dmedin said:

(H+L+C)/3 or (H+L+O+C)/4? 😕

definitely the default (H+L+C)/3 which to my observations is the one most likely to be adhered to therefore the one that is used by the greater number of traders. I've pointed out numerous times price reversing at one of these levels 'to the tick', that can only happen if large size traders have set up pending orders at exactly that level.

@DSchenk was unlucky today as the Sunday 1 hour candle (gap) was of a fair size so the subsequent PPs it generated for Monday were believable, but on a normal Sunday the Monday PPs look like this pic below and there is no mistaking they are skewered.

Pivot1.thumb.PNG.efb845f8dc69285ec17d64b56f959355.PNG   

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Hi guys, today's recap below.

8 trades, 4 winners, 1 Break-even, 3 losers

Not hit my target or max-loss today, but called it a day due to time passing the 90 mins mark. Might trade again at US open in the afternoon.

 

Trade 1: Long, Profit, Up 1 Point
Breakout to bottom on market open. Seeing signs of bouncing off S1 and also 7300 lvl. Entry long. Taking some quick profits to start the day.

Trade 2: Short, Profit, Up 2 Points
Looks like bouncing off VWAP. Entry short. Taking quick profit at signs of reversing at 7310 lvl

Trade 3: Long, Loss, Down 2 Points
Entry long at signs of bounce off 7310 lvl. However, stopped out. Unfortunate, as straight afterwards 40 points rally begins. Stop loss set too tight

Trade 4: Short, Loss, Down 6 Points
Signs of bounce off 200EMA. Short entry. Exit on breaking through EMA 

Trade 5: Long, Profit, Back to 0
Flag pattern above 200EMA. Entry long. Exit at signs of reversal at 7340 lvl

Trade 6: Long, Breakeven, Still 0
Flag pattern at 7340 lvl. Entry long. Failed to take profits in hindsight at 7350 lvl and mR1, which are two resistances essentially at same lvl. Stupid me. Exiting trade at breakeven.

Trade 7: Short, Profit, Up 6 Points
Going short after break of Pivot. Exit at 200EMA.

Trade 8: Short, Loss, Up 4 Points
Looks as it would break 200EMA and VWAP. Entry short. Reverses and breaks above. Exit. Calling it a day

 

@Caseynotes Still a bit confused with those pivot levels.
My levels today are:

Pivot: 7336
S1: 7305
R1: 7364

I looked up pivot levels on 3 websites and 2 match, the other says something different, while all 3 are slightly different to my numbers.

http://www.livecharts.co.uk/Members/display_stock_pivots.php

Pivot 7340
S1: 7302
R1: 7359

https://uk.investing.com/technical/indices-pivot-points

Pivot: 7340
S1: 7302
R1: 7359

https://www.dailyfx.com/ftse-100

Pivot: 7339
S1: 7310
R1: 7361

 

What is correct? What isn't? Or are these small differences normal and down to the various calculating methods? Confusing.

 

image.thumb.png.65c620dd685ebf7d54108abb5dbf3c1b.png

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24 minutes ago, DSchenk said:

What is correct? What isn't? Or are these small differences normal and down to the various calculating methods? Confusing.

These below are IG's default as they appear on the MT4 platform whereas the web based platform places the pivot at 7336 instead of 7335 and match your top set so there is a very slight difference in the way the 3 platforms show the data, I would use your top set because IG's charts and default indys are used by 10s of thousands traders and really that's what it comes down to, that they be recognised by the majority.

image.png.4baf1247731b7e2a0fbf6b494ddc5e0a.png

  • Like 1
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Hi,

I have decided to focus purely on FTSE 100 Index too. I too target 10-20 points per day and have pretty tight rules which I occasionally break, but shouldn't! I try to trade purely between the hours of 7:30 am and 9 am. I don't carry positions overnight and certainly don't over the weekend.

Looking forward to following!

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2 hours ago, ACoops said:

Looking forward to following!

Looking forward to seeing your trade reports! Maybe we can share some knowledge here!

 

My trades for today:

6 Trades, 4 Wins, 1 Break-even, 1 Loss
New record of reaching daily target: 11 minutes (previous was 14 minutes)

Trade 1, Long, Profit, up 3 Points
Spike down at market open, with reversal at 7300 support lvl. Entry on way up. Exit at VWAP

Trade 2, Long, Profit, up 20 Points, daily target reached
Again spiking down to 7300, I play exactly the same game. Entry on way back up. First had target again at VWAP, but then I saw the GBPUSD spiking down in a massive red candle. Indicator that the FTSE is shooting up shortly. I removed my target and voila, FTSE was shooting up. I took profits at my daily target lvl.

Trade 3, Long, Loss, back to up 14 Points, ****
When I hit target within the first hour of the day, I usually try to then place another trade, where I try to set my stop-loss to break-even as soon as possible.
Went long at break of mR1. Didn't work out. Exit on pulling back down

Trade 4, Short, Profit, up 22 Points
Straight went into short at red candle making a new low. Took profits at Pivot

Trade 5, Long, Break-even 
Looks like reversal at Pivot. Long entry. Set stop-loss to break-even which got hit shortly after.

Trade 6, Long, Profit, up 22 Points (small profit, not even half a point)
Still looks like it would trend above Pivot. So another long trade. I saw too much consolidation though and exited quickly. Mistake in hindsight as afterwards shot up.

 

Still a bit confused with Pivot points though. It seems like even with the same formula there are two options to calculate it. Either you take the full dataset (midnight to midnight) or you only take the during market hours dataset (8.00-16.30)

My platform today showed with standard settings (midnight to midnight):

P: 7318
R1: 7345
S1: 7286

However, when setting to calculate only based on market hours (8.00-16.30) I get the following:

P: 7320
R1: 7348
S1: 7290

Online both seems to exit. First two websites use market hours, the latter one the full dataset.

http://www.livecharts.co.uk/Members/display_stock_pivots.php
and
https://uk.investing.com/technical/indices-pivot-points

P: 7320
R1: 7349
S1: 7291

https://www.dailyfx.com/ftse-100

P: 7318
R1: 7345
S1: 7286

@Caseynotes Can you recommend which one is the better one to take?

Take it easy

Dan

image.png.2cf33aa2ef701f58c735e70357bbccf4.png

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18 minutes ago, DSchenk said:

Can you recommend which one is the better one to take?

sure, the one present on the greatest number of trader's charts will be the IG default;

(HLC)/3 midnight to midnight.  You only want to change the Monday one to chop out the Sunday 11pm one hour candle.

For ftse I get these settings on the mt4 platform (below pic),  btw what does to m stand for as in mS1 on your prt charts?

image.thumb.png.9aa643d2525f9cf16bae540fdafa25f1.png

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Right. Thanks again.

Midnight to midnight it is then going forwards. (except Mondays)

The 'm' indexed pivot points are "mid points". Something available in PRT.

I figured as the FTSE doesn't move that much, R2, R3 and S2, S3 are hardly ever relevant. And instead I have a closer look at the MidR1 and MidS1.
Do you think it doesn't make sense to take these into account, because probably less traders are having those on their charts?

 

image.png.9e07c8d2cb5d5d66b7d37f56161875ef.png

 

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2 hours ago, DSchenk said:

Looking forward to seeing your trade reports! Maybe we can share some knowledge here!

 

My trades for today:

6 Trades, 4 Wins, 1 Break-even, 1 Loss
New record of reaching daily target: 11 minutes (previous was 14 minutes)

Trade 1, Long, Profit, up 3 Points
Spike down at market open, with reversal at 7300 support lvl. Entry on way up. Exit at VWAP

Trade 2, Long, Profit, up 20 Points, daily target reached
Again spiking down to 7300, I play exactly the same game. Entry on way back up. First had target again at VWAP, but then I saw the GBPUSD spiking down in a massive red candle. Indicator that the FTSE is shooting up shortly. I removed my target and voila, FTSE was shooting up. I took profits at my daily target lvl.

Trade 3, Long, Loss, back to up 14 Points, ****
When I hit target within the first hour of the day, I usually try to then place another trade, where I try to set my stop-loss to break-even as soon as possible.
Went long at break of mR1. Didn't work out. Exit on pulling back down

Trade 4, Short, Profit, up 22 Points
Straight went into short at red candle making a new low. Took profits at Pivot

Trade 5, Long, Break-even 
Looks like reversal at Pivot. Long entry. Set stop-loss to break-even which got hit shortly after.

Trade 6, Long, Profit, up 22 Points (small profit, not even half a point)
Still looks like it would trend above Pivot. So another long trade. I saw too much consolidation though and exited quickly. Mistake in hindsight as afterwards shot up.

 

Still a bit confused with Pivot points though. It seems like even with the same formula there are two options to calculate it. Either you take the full dataset (midnight to midnight) or you only take the during market hours dataset (8.00-16.30)

My platform today showed with standard settings (midnight to midnight):

P: 7318
R1: 7345
S1: 7286

However, when setting to calculate only based on market hours (8.00-16.30) I get the following:

P: 7320
R1: 7348
S1: 7290

Online both seems to exit. First two websites use market hours, the latter one the full dataset.

http://www.livecharts.co.uk/Members/display_stock_pivots.php
and
https://uk.investing.com/technical/indices-pivot-points

P: 7320
R1: 7349
S1: 7291

https://www.dailyfx.com/ftse-100

P: 7318
R1: 7345
S1: 7286

@Caseynotes Can you recommend which one is the better one to take?

Take it easy

Dan

image.png.2cf33aa2ef701f58c735e70357bbccf4.png

 

 

Are you taking into account the volume?  That was a really strong signal to go long and stay long just after 08:00.  Such a big spike in volume means it's more likely to be valid.

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Yeah, I keep an eye on volume, that's why it's showing at the bottom of my chart :D

However, I haven't been able to discover a strong relation between volume spikes and trend direction.

Sometimes I see orders of the magnitude of 10-20k and the chart doesn't do anything special.

Other times you see just average volume and the chart does huge turnarounds.

For example what happened at 8.30 with that spike down and then going straight back up and making new highs vs previous candle? All happened on low volume

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3 hours ago, DSchenk said:

Do you think it doesn't make sense to take these into account, because probably less traders are having those on their charts?

yes they will be on less charts but I understand your point about the size of the moves in ftse, no harm in trialing them though you might find marking out the immediate prior high and low has more relevance.

 

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Trades for today:

6 Trades, 4 Wins, 2 Losses; Result: Up 6 Points
Bit of a choppy trading session for me with ups and downs. Although plenty of opportunities would've been there in the market. Just need to get better on capitalising them.

Trade 1, Short, Win, Up 4 Points
Spike down on market open (same as yesterday). Short entry and covering profits right before S1.

Trade 2, Short, Loss, Back to 0
Looks like bouncing off VWAP, entry short. Breaking through VWAP. Cutting losses.

Trade 3, Long, Win, Up 4 Points
Noticed the perfect flag pattern forming too late. Still decided to enter. Exit close before Pivot. (Closed too early in hindsight)

Trade 4, Long, Win, Up 5 Points
Consolidation forming at mR1. Entry at bottom of consolidation, exit at mR1 for small profit.

Trade 5, Short, Loss, Back to 0
Continues to get rejected at mR1. Deciding to go short. Get stopped out above mR1. Bad luck as reversing back to Pivot afterwards.

Trade 6, Long, Win, Up 6 Points, calling it a day
Bouncing off pivot; entry long. Exit on another rejection at mR1. Done for the day.

 

image.thumb.png.e641c8976355e5d5e271b9b84d86e1c0.png

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5 hours ago, DSchenk said:

Screen recorded my first 2 trades today. One win, one loss. That's life :) 

@nit2wynit You might find this useful as shows PRT platform. Seems you still struggle with it :) 

 

 

Yeah still struggling......Even just with knowing how much it'll cost to place a trade.  How can that not be a paramount need to know?  and as we're both aware, the amount of trades unavailable;  you don't know till to go to place it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WTF!

I've subb'd to your channel.  I'll take a look at what you're using for Screen recording too.

Edited by nit2wynit
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Guest Mark27000
17 minutes ago, nit2wynit said:

...Even just with knowing how much it'll cost to place a trade.  How can that not be a paramount need to know?  and as we're both aware, the amount of trades unavailable;  you don't know till to go to place it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! WTF!

 

Why dont you just tear off a trade ticket and use that to enter the trade ....Thats what I do although I already know how much it costs ,I prefer to use a deal ticket to enter a trade but still use PRT for charts 

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2 minutes ago, Mark27000 said:

Why dont you just tear off a trade ticket and use that to enter the trade ....Thats what I do although I already know how much it costs ,I prefer to use a deal ticket to enter a trade but still use PRT for charts 

Cheers Mark but i don't even know what that means :O  Tear off a Deal Ticket?

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