FuturesBlog.com – Emini and Futures Market Analysis by Chuck Kowalski

Emini Trading Strategies

Posted on February 9, 2010 by Chuck Kowalski

There are several trade setups that I look for everyday when I’m trading the E-mini S&P.   They are mostly short-term trades that can last from 1 minute to several hours.  

The key is to use discipline and consistency.  No trade strategy or setup will work every time.  Make sure you don’t take any big hits that are outside of normal risk parameters on any one trade.  Jumping from one strategy to another everyday will likely cause you more harm than good. 

Markets rotate from trending days to range days.  I have found that I can actually do very well just using a range trading strategy everyday.  Strong trend days will cause losses, but I will still be right more often than I am wrong in the long run.  If you constantly juggle from a trending strategy to a range trading strategy, you could conceivably be wrong everyday.   

Below are a few market strategies I like to use for day trading the emini S&P:

• Pivots - Trading pivot points is a good part of the framework for my trading.  I have had the most success day trading the emini S&P with these reference points.   

• 3-4 Pushes Higher - This is an excellent setup that often leads to a lengthy market reversal.

• Trading Failed Breakouts - It takes patience and discipline to take advantage of failures.  You are basically taking advantages of other traders misfortunes as they run for the exits.   

• Entry On Retracement After Signal - This trading strategy helps minimize risk by waiting for better entries, but it comes at the expense of missing some trades.