Have you been trading the recent ES contract? If so, you’ve probably seen a number of days where price has been so random that you wonder how anyone could have been profitable. Some trading systems are better than others at identifying potentially profitable setups. In the video below, you can see how an Atlas Line short signal successfully indicated the direction of a big move ahead of time. The signal appeared at about 10:00 a.m. US/Eastern when a candle closed at 2869. The ATR allowed for a 2.5 point profit target. The large, catastrophic stop was about double this value. Keep in mind, that big stop is a safety net. John Paul believes that more often than not, a smaller profit, smaller loss, or breakeven trade will result instead of price hitting that large stop. Yes, the profit target and stop loss values for this strategy are always based on real-time conditions. That means really fast or slow conditions are not worth trading. The included live training teaches you how to pick the best trades to take. In most cases, you will be in a trade less than 20 minutes, due to the time-based stop strategy that you’re taught. It’s important to stick to the rules as over-trading or staying in a position for too long hoping that price will change direction is dangerous. This trade was a winner. If you were trading with five contracts, you should have won over $600. Remember, there is a lot of risk in day trading, so only trade with money that you can live without.
The Atlas Line does well with trending days. Traders like to use it to find trends early in the day and ride them up or down. Below is a picture of one of these days where we took a December sled ride down winner’s valley. Let’s be honest here – did your existing trading system call out a trade that early? Probably not. The Atlas Line usually gives you enough time to get in. The short signal was generated around 9:55 a.m. EST. That’s pretty soon after market open. Remember that the ATR (Average True Range) is used to determine the profit target. The ATR was around two points. If you were profitable on this trade, that’s a pretty good amount of winnings, depending on how many contracts you traded. This particular day did not have any Strength or Pullback signals. However, if you also used the ATO 2 software, you could have caught another great short trade. Do yourself a favor and switch to a daily chart from time to time. You get can some great insight. For example, the January Effect says to look for long trades during the remainder of the year. If we see a couple days of short trades in a row on a daily chart, that could be a sign of a retracement down, which may be followed by a move back up. Those bullish retracements may be some of the biggest opportunities that remain in the year. If you’ve been holding out on getting the Atlas Line, now is the time to make the investment.
Similar to the last Atlas Line trade I documented, the Atlas Line trade was taking under the guidance of both the chart signals as well as the overlying January Effect. Because the January Effect has advised traders to look for long retracement opportunities throughout the year, these long Atlas Line trades are considered more appealing than the short trades. That isn’t to say that one should avoid all short signals. There have been plenty of short winners. John Paul is a firm believer that when mutliple systems with a decent track record tell you the same thing (buy or sell here), then the advisement becomes more credible. For the next couple of months, you may want to pay extra attention to both your daily and 5-min charts. The daily charts will show you retracement opportunities. Remember, you are waiting for price to exceed the 50% level from the recent high and low on its way back up to the previous high. When that value is surpassed, the rules of the January Effect say to go long. Keep in mind this long movement may occur over multiple days. In between, on your 5-min charts, you may very well see short trades. Of course, if the overall direction of the market is long over a sigle day, you should see a trend up at some point. These upward trends are what the Atlas Line can help you capitalize on. Be careful of holidays. Thanksgiving and the day after (Black Friday) presented some tricky obstacles.
With over 300 videos published, DayTradeToWin has made a name for itself as one of the leading day trading educators. Here’s yet another video showing the Atlas Line finding a two-point winner in the E-mini S&P market. Normally, the Atlas Line strategy produces a signal within the first half-hour of market open. The day pictured is no exception. The ATR (Average True Range) is used to dictate the profit target. Because the ATR (with a period setting of four) is about two points, the profit target is also two points. Look at the size of the stop. Most traders would have a problem with such a large stop, but John Paul likes to put one of two other stop loss strategies into play before that big “catastrophic stop” is hit. I’m referring to the prove-it and time-based stops, which can potentially get you out at a smaller profit, at no profit or loss, or at a loss smaller than the catastrophic stop. You can configure profit targets and stop losses in advance via NinjaTrader’s ATM Strategy. It’s recommended that you do so, because you can reduce potential losses that come from forgetting to put a stop in place. In the live training, John Paul goes over ideas for these values. Remember that trading is risky and it wills subject your finances to significant loss. Hypothetical peformance cannot be used to determine success. Always check with a licensed broker and financial advisor to see if trading is right for you.
Catching price as it moves from a low point to a high point has been a focus of John Paul’s recent videos. Take a look at this cart showing E-mini price activity for the last year. Look at hope many times price drastically rose, dropped sharply for a short period, then broke the most recent high. You’ll see it time and time again. Intraday, the Atlas Line and other Day Trade to Win systems have been finding long opportunities consistently.
Recently, Day Trade to Win has been updating Atlas Line signals on its recent trades page. These are not actual statements of profit or performance. They’re all hypothetical – what a trader possibly would have made, excluding some trading factors, if the trades were taken and completed under ideal conditions. There are a couple reasons why you wouldn’t want to take an Atlas Line trade: an overbought or oversold market. This means price has likely moved too much recently and needs time to rest / regain strength. During news events, price action become very volatile. When a scheduled news event is about to occur, it’s best to stay out of the market. Otherwise, the volatility can easily tag your catastrophic stop loss (or your profit target). Reaching profit territory is the goal, but a lesser stop is preferred.
Day Trade to Win’s Atlas Line is added to your chart chart like a plugin, and it provides entry signals and a diagonal line to guide your trading. Currently, only NinjaTrader and TradeStation are supported. There are a couple different types of signals that can be produced: a long signal tells you to buy, and a short signal is for selling. These signals are designed to appear before big market moves, allowing you to enter a trade and ride it in the expected direction to make profit. The profit target and stop loss are managed by you, the trader.
The software is designed for 5-min charts and futures and currency markets. In theory, any market that is open overnight should be compatible, but a requirement is that the market must be reasonably fast moving.