The best way to gain confidence in your trading is to backtest your strategy. Most traders backtest their strategies by looking at historical data to see where trade setups occurred. They use a spreadsheet to write down where a potential setup occurred and what the PnL would have been.
Download free backtesting logger (PDF) to initially test your strategy.
For quick tips how to backtest see video below
We mostly trade MNQ or NQ but there are lots of traders who prefer to trade ES and CL. Due to the nature of Nasdaq it produces the most moves.
Please look at these screenshots taken from the same period of first 30 minute before 10 oclock. All of instruments show significantly high win ratio.
MNQ about 15 setups 1 looser
ES About 6 Setups no loosers
CL 4/2 about 12 setups one looser. Cl can be traded at 4/2 or 6/3 settings for bounce trader.
RTY 6/3 About 7 setups
YM
About 15 Setups few loosers
Marking your charts is essential practice for traders, espesially for scalpers like we are. For short term scalpers we cant document our feelings, support and resistance levels on every trade, because there is so many of them that we take. However marking your charts is very much needed. It is very doable and I am going to show you how.
To mark a chart in NinjaTrader, you can use the Drawing Tools that are available in the chart’s toolbar. These tools allow you to add various types of annotations to the chart, such as lines, trendlines, fibonacci retracements, and more.
To access the Drawing Tools, first make sure that the chart is in focus. Then, click on the “Draw” button in the toolbar at the top of the chart. This will open a menu with a list of available drawing tools.
First we need to dowload an additional custom indicator that allows us to mark with bigger size arrows on our charts. Default up and down arrows are small and not practical in the long run, so we need to be able to mark with bigger arrows.
Download this free ChartMarkersPlus indicator from ninjatrader ecosystem and install it in your control panel. This indicator looks like this
Next, in recent version of Ninjatrader they included “drawing tile tool” . You can learn about it here and it is availble under default indicators provided by Ninjatrader.
Next include drawing tile tool in your list of indicators and click properties. Make sure you select ArrowDownP and ArrowUpP. P stands for Plus from ChartMarkersPlus.
Now those arrows will be available in your drawing tile tool. You can add or remove elements from it very easily.
I suggest you create a template for your arrows. Double click on arrow and customize it how you want it to look like and before saving it, click template – save – name it – Save as Default.
Now everytime you click arrow to apply it to your chart, it will remember your template.
How to turn off trade executions from your chart?
How to remove grid lines from the chart?
Keep in mind that the specific steps for using the Drawing Tools may vary depending on the version of NinjaTrader that you are using. You can refer to the software’s documentation or seek assistance from the NinjaTrader support team for more detailed instructions.
Are you looking for the best strategy to trade futures market in 2023? Do you need a strategy to pass evaluation accounts such as Apex, Leeloo, Bulenox or Topstep? Consider Bounce Method strategy for your trading.
Lets look at repeatability factor in your strategy. Repeatability is the number of times your setup occurs in your trading session.
For example, if your trading session is first hour of opening then you take your setup and calculate how many times your setup occurs during your trading session. Please don’t count setups that occur in other times where otherwise you would not take it. Only count setups during the time you actually trade. If your setup occurs on average two times in first hour then your repeatability factor is 2.
Why repeatability factor is important in your trading?
It is important because of several things:
First. More Profits. The more repeatable your strategy is, the more chance you will have to get profited. If your profitable setup occurs often, then you will get a chance to often get profited from a trade. The less your strategy is repeatable, the less chance you will have to get profited from a trade, simply because it occurs fewer times.
Secondly. More chance to fix mistakes. If your repeatability factor is high then if you make a mistake in the beginning of you session your strategy will occur enough more times to provide you with opportunity to fix your mistakes.
I mean if your setup occurs only once a day, if you made a mistake then you will have to wait until another day to try to cover for your loss. Many of us short term scalpers prefer to fix our mistakes the same day.
Lets look at repeatability factor of Bounce Method. We take MNQ and only look at first 60 minutes of opening. On average for that week we had about 15 valid setups during first 60 minutes.
I personally don’t know any other method that produces so many valid setups in each trading session. If you need to pass eval accounts, let Bounce Method be of your choice.
Traders often wonder how long does it take to become a consistently profitable trader. This phrase is found in so many blogs. You came here because you also want to know the answer. Some say you can become consistently profitable in just a few months while others say it would take you years. What should be your expectations on how long it takes to become profitable?
There is circulating formula 90 90 90 that says 90% of traders loose 90% of money within 90 days. That’s about right generally speaking. This is true if you do not have a mentor and you do not have a strategy that you can rely on. Having a mentor will significantly reduce your learning curve towards profitable consistency.
I would want to give you a actionable answer, I understand not all will agree but at least I will try to not generalize to a point where there is no answer at all, like so many coaches do. I would want to hear a helpful answer.
Here it is
Speaking from experience, I want to suggest that time it takes to become consistently profitable is not very long and it depends on two factors.
Having a solid trading strategy.
I mean you write down your strategy to its details. Where you take the trade and where you avoid it. When you trade and when you close the lid and walk away. Save pictures of your general and A+ setups. You need to visualize what your favorite trade setups are. Put it all in binder and call it “Playbook“. Professional traders think like a Playbook. Read it every morning so your memory will be fresh to your setups. Your mind needs to remember and visualize your setups.
Lets assume you worked on your strategy carefully and you back tested it and determined the strategy is profitable. Now you need to “believe” in your strategy. That’s where second factor comes in
Habitually executing your strategy for 30 days.
When you execute your Playbook for 20-30 days straight, without deviation, I am willing to say that you became consistently profitable trader. Your job now is to keep it that way.
Sounds simple?
It is simple and its not. We traders always battle with our own emotions that prevent us from executing our own trading plan. Once you habitually executed your plan for 30 days, it means you conquered your emotions. You learned to practice your playbook. You just developed a habit that will catapult you into consistent success.
Its not our goals that take us there, its our habits we form, they take us to the consistently profitable destiny. Professional traders are habitual traders.
Think of Playbook as your daily mentor and your 30 days as your habit formation period to become a consistently profitable trader.
If you are looking for a scalping strategy, please consider using Bounce Method a scalping strategy that specializes in trading futures and uses NinjaTrader platform.
Having these 2 factors completed is a huge step towards consistency in your trading. I wanted to make my answer easy and actionable for you and didn’t want to complicate things. Of course there are other aspects to trading but if you focus on Playbook and Habits, I am sure you will have success.
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