Mini I.B.

Set-up is VERY simple take the first 1/2 hour of RTH and if price trades above buy, and if it goes below sell short.

For mini Russell 2000 use targets of 2 points and a stop of 2 points.

For mini S&P500 use targets of 2.5 points and a stop of 2.5 points.

So far this March the ES has triggered 4 profits and 2 lossers or a gain of +$896.00 trading 4 contracts. It tends to perform better over a longer period. But the TF continues to outperform the ES month after month.
And trading 4 contracts in the past month would have yielded +$3150.00 on the ES

The TF on the other hand trading in the past month has yeilded +$6400.00 via trading 4 contracts

*these are actual results that counted my slippage but not comm.

This is a great thread, & a great system Joe has shared with all of us. I've traded the 15 & 30 IB for a couple years. I seem to do better on the 30 IB when I just follow Joe's rules & not try to second guess the system. Please correct me Joe if I'm wrong, but the IB system is a mathamatical probablity of human behavior, thats why it's profitable over time. The system is simple, following the rules & executing is the hard part. When market internals are extreme, nyse ticks, breadth candles & volume, I leave one to for a runner now & then, but only if the momentum is there. After using the 30 IB on the ES for a while you will notice the 30 min hi/lo lines many times become supp & resis for the day. Thanks again for sharing Joe!

I was conversing with someone via email and was asked do I use indicators with this, I stated that I do not but brought up something that I noticed in ford 2 years ago witch is the reason I trade this today. The rule is simple; almost all of the time Ford makes its high/low for the day in the first 15min. With that I have noticed that when the ES says buy on the 30min and Ford says sell it is usually a loss in the ES So one could use Ford 15B.

7/31 ES said short, Ford 15B said long -2.5 in the ES
8/03 Ford did a massive gap news related, although the ES went the other way the ES resulted in a win.
8/10 ES said long, Ford 15B said short, Ford won costing the ES 30B -2.5

I am not saying follow Ford, this is not in stone since it does filter some winner. Just a clue to market internals since Ford is heavy in instatutional trading. Just something to watch for clues as an indicator maybe....

Thank you Joe for the insight on the Ford relationship! Do you take the 30IB trade in the afternoons or just the first breakout? Do you filter any of the trades by not going long into resis or short into supp? I've traded this off & on for a couple years but this thread & your ideas have helped me with what I was already doing.

quote:

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Originally posted by CharterJoe

I was conversing with someone via email and was asked do I use indicators with this, I stated that I do not but brought up something that I noticed in ford 2 years ago witch is the reason I trade this today. The rule is simple; almost all of the time Ford makes its high/low for the day in the first 15min. With that I have noticed that when the ES says buy on the 30min and Ford says sell it is usually a loss in the ES So one could use Ford 15B.

7/31 ES said short, Ford 15B said long -2.5 in the ES
8/03 Ford did a massive gap news related, although the ES went the other way the ES resulted in a win.
8/10 ES said long, Ford 15B said short, Ford won costing the ES 30B -2.5

I am not saying follow Ford, this is not in stone since it does filter some winner. Just a clue to market internals since Ford is heavy in instatutional trading. Just something to watch for clues as an indicator maybe....

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Joe - Thanks for all your input on this !!!!

I've rethought this approach and tweaked it.
On the 5B, I just use a 5min chart. I approach it visually, in that I'll set my stop in the middle of the first 5 min bar.
The booger in all of this is, to really gain some ground you almost have to use Trailing Stops to catch a large move. It seems that all ya need is 2 good strong moves of 8pts or more in a month (20 days) to make up for the losses that happen about 15% of the time.

Anyone else doing something similar??

Are your trailing stops set to the middle of the previous bar, too?

quote:

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Originally posted by piperian

I've rethought this approach and tweaked it.
On the 5B, I just use a 5min chart. I approach it visually, in that I'll set my stop in the middle of the first 5 min bar.
The booger in all of this is, to really gain some ground you almost have to use Trailing Stops to catch a large move. It seems that all ya need is 2 good strong moves of 8pts or more in a month (20 days) to make up for the losses that happen about 15% of the time.

Anyone else doing something similar??

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PaulR wrote Are your trailing stops set to the middle of the previous bar, too?


My Trailing Stops are set for 4 Trailing and 8 Distance.

How do you trade the 5B, Paul?

I've used the 6 1 M bar approach that was defined earlier in the thread. Haven't used it consistantly. Some occasional successes. Don't have any filtering technique.

quote:

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Originally posted by piperian

PaulR wrote Are your trailing stops set to the middle of the previous bar, too?


My Trailing Stops are set for 4 Trailing and 8 Distance.

How do you trade the 5B, Paul?

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quote:

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Originally posted by PaulR

I've used the 6 1 M bar approach that was defined earlier in the thread. Haven't used it consistantly. Some occasional successes. Don't have any filtering technique.

quote:

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Originally posted by piperian

PaulR wrote Are your trailing stops set to the middle of the previous bar, too?


My Trailing Stops are set for 4 Trailing and 8 Distance.

How do you trade the 5B, Paul?

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Paul, I'm not saying I know better, this is just what I'm doing.
5min chart on the NQ. Bracket 1st bar, 1 tick Above/Below. Stop loss of either 2pts, or the middle of the first bar, depending on the size of the bar. Sometimes the dang thing is HUGE.
I've noticed 1 thing. If the 1st bar is mostly wick (I use Candlesticks), with a little green on the bottom, I stay out. Almost never seems to work cuz I'll get filled, price will go 2 ticks in my favor, and then reverse hard.
Oddly enough, if the 1st bar has a little green in the middle, even it it's a HUGE bar, the trade works out.
Also odd, if the 1st bar has a little red on either end, OR the middle, the trade seems to work.
So UP bars that are kinda quasi-Doji looking are death.

Once filled, I hang on for 2pts on. This week, I'll trade 3cts, and try my best to let the 3rd run, with a Trailing Stop.
1 12point run makes up for a TON of losing days.

Thanks for the detail, pip. Much appreciated. If you get a chance sometime might be good to post a sample chart of a set up.

Take care.

(duplicate post in "Mini I.B. vs 7am-9am Breakout" thread)

I have been a member of mypivots for a little over a year now, using the posts as a springboard for learning about the futures and currency markets – I’ve really appreciated the research and insight of so many of the contributors.

I’m now at the point where I’d like to begin systematically back testing one or two strategies for potential trading. I like the concept of breakouts (just finished Fisher, currently reading Crabel) – this thread and Charter Joe's 7am-9am GBP/USD Breakout thread are especially interesting in this regard.

I’d appreciate some advice from the folks here. The IB and 7-9 threads are now over a year old: do both concepts still perform reasonably well in live trading? If so, which of these would you recommend that I begin my back testing with:

1. The 30B
2. The 5B
3. The 7-9 currency breakout

I have a full time job so I need a scheduled window of time to trade in. I plan to trade single lots, primarily intraday. I am methodical by nature and prefer smaller, steady gains to wild gains… and wild losses.

Any thoughts gratefully received! Thanks.

Isaac