A major step forward.

Finally I did it : I traded yesterday, for the first time, the euro fx future (6E) instead of the eur/usd cash market. What a difference! A really professional instrument which makes scalping tremendously powerful. Here are the benefits of the migration:

1. Almost all entries/exits were filled with 0 spread, especially on limit orders, instead of the usual 0,5-1 pip on IB cash!
2. Absolutely precise control of the trade on a price ladder.
3. Lower commissions by 35%, 0,4 pips per trade round trip, instead of 0,6 pips.

All that putted together, it means at least 1 whole pip economy per trade. With 1M lot (8 contracts) that means $100 savings per trade!! Multiplying by 10 or 20 trades per day, the savings are in the thousands, every single day..

You may understand how impressed I am. I must be really naive for staying five years in the cash market. Futures are an absolute must for scalpers. I always wanted to make the migration but always postponed it for some reason. A comment of Thomas from Denmark in a previous post made me think about this again. A BIG thank, Thomas. I owe you a big favor!

Commissions

15 pips on this but a lot of trades and risk taken once. 7 pips given back as commissions. Too much. Trade less!

Barca

3 little trades between the two half times of the classico (Real -Barcelona). Actually the match made me miss the move up..

Bad morning

Fourth trade was a pure compulsive (revenge) re-entry which compromised the whole session. -10 pips.

Cautious

Cautious comeback to the charts, so much that I closed the third trade without reason and lost the move up.

Spring in Creta

Back home after a splendid week in Creta. Most tourists visit the island on summer BUT Creta is superb during the spring. Optimal temperatures (20-25 C), myriads of colors and smells and the luxury to play with snow on the White Mountains and less than an hour later, to swim in the sea..

The photo is from our "family workshop", teaching my little daughters to photograph wild flowers with a pocket camera..

Easter bunny

No trades since last Friday, I took a week off for Easter, to move around with family. I never trade via the hotel room connection, so I can only contemplate, in my hotel, the spectacular eurusd price drop of last Monday and today's recovery. More waves to come. Happy Easter!

Friday-2

Friday-1

Let it go!

Let the price move up instead of fragmenting it to several micro-trades, minimizing gains.

Coming late

Coming late in the trend minimizes the gains and increases the risk of a reversal.

Contra and straight

One silly contra trade to start the day, closed in extremis. Some pips after this, as the move up unfolded quietly. Just five trades. Christian, are you listening ?

One-trade day

Came late to the chart and I had just one trade, with late (risky) entry. I had to leave after this.

Still going up

Waves

Post-NFP (2)

Post-NFP (1)

Immediately after NFP news and I got serious (6 pips) slippage, for the first time in the last years. Risky times..