SPX Trading Strategy for ThinkorSwim

[barbaros]

From how I see it and understand the strategy to unfold, the entry was at 14:00 and NOT 13:50. The first dot to clear the zero line was on the close of the 13:50 bar. The 14:00 bar then went high. Totally agree on this being a scalping strategy and there are a lot of other examples where if you got in at the open of the "trade" bar you could scalp and get out before a change of direction, but I don't see this being one of them.

Help me out. What am I missing?

 

[rfb]

Nice post @barbaros! Can you show @Arkitekt the SPX entry. You have ES here and I believe the time reference by @Arkitekt was for the SPX. entry today.

 

[Arkitekt]

Thanks this is super helpful to see where you are coming from. Looks like you are using a 1 min chart in conjunction with the 10 min to time an entry. There are times when a warning sign pops up but no trade happens after on the next bar but I guess it is obvious it is going to be a no go if you are looking at the 1 min chart as well. Lots of ways to use this strategy! Thanks again.

 

[barbaros]

Thanks this is super helpful to see where you are coming from. Looks like you are using a 1 min chart in conjunction with the 10 min to time an entry. There are times when a warning sign pops up but no trade happens after on the next bar but I guess it is obvious it is going to be a no go if you are looking at the 1 min chart as well. Lots of ways to use this strategy! Thanks again.

You don't have to have the 1 min chart to trade this strategy. It sometimes makes you not be able to remove emotions and miss trades. If you are trading SPX with options, you definitely don't need the 1 min chart of SPX. You would be looking at your option price instead.

If a warning arrow pops up and no confirmation for entry, do not trade it. You don't need to 1 min chart for that either.

 

[barbaros]

Nice post @barbaros! Can you show @Arkitekt the SPX entry. You have ES here and I believe the time reference by @Arkitekt was for the SPX. entry today.

SPX and /ES behave almost the same.

 

[bhaskar_madugula]

This is my observation, I think something can be improved but I don't know. After we get arrow let us say for puts...the price first goes down and then it goes up and finally it goes down. I have observed this pattern few times.

 

[am3ncorn3r]

@Hypoluxa if I read through this thread correctly, you will only place a trade when the Macd dot just crosses the zero line correct? For example if you look at today (EST). The MACD started out the day above the zero line for most of the day but crossed over at 13:50. There you would have taken a Put, correct?

I know you've mentioned several times that you've only tried this on SPX and AMZN, I mainly trade SPY so I'll need to tailor it to that but could you point me in the right direction of what I should be looking at to make tweaks?

 

[slrank82]

@am3ncorn3r check the very last post on page 2, @Hypoluxa describes in detail what he looks for when tweaking the settings.

 

[PhillyEaglesS]

@Hypoluxa if I read through this thread correctly, you will only place a trade when the Macd dot just crosses the zero line correct? For example if you look at today (EST). The MACD started out the day above the zero line for most of the day but crossed over at 13:50. There you would have taken a Put, correct?

I know you've mentioned several times that you've only tried this on SPX and AMZN, I mainly trade SPY so I'll need to tailor it to that but could you point me in the right direction of what I should be looking at to make tweaks?

If you keep AH (extended hours trading) turned off for SPY, it’s almost identical to SPX. I use them interchangeably for this method depending on the confidence I have in a move / scale I want to use for a particular trade.

 

[Hypoluxa]

@Hypoluxa if I read through this thread correctly, you will only place a trade when the Macd dot just crosses the zero line correct? For example if you look at today (EST). The MACD started out the day above the zero line for most of the day but crossed over at 13:50. There you would have taken a Put, correct?

I know you've mentioned several times that you've only tried this on SPX and AMZN, I mainly trade SPY so I'll need to tailor it to that but could you point me in the right direction of what I should be looking at to make tweaks?

You are correct with the 13:50 signal. Good luck with SPY....I've tried to tweak this for SPY, TSLA and ZM...no luck yet as they are a completely different volatile stock and volume size.

 

[Let the Bulls Run]

You are correct with the 13:50 signal. Good luck with SPY....I've tried to tweak this for SPY, TSLA and ZM...no luck yet as they are a completely different volatile stock and volume size.

@Hypoluxa Something I’ve considered was trying this program on not only tweaking the best parameters for SPX, and also for looking for the best best metrics for other stocks like you mentioned. I had a friend use this program a while back for something similar and it was very beneficial. Maybe someone reading this has experience with JMP and we all could further collaborate. Just putting it out there. https://www.jmp.com/en_us/home.html

 

[Hypoluxa]

This is my observation, I think something can be improved but I don't know. After we get arrow let us say for puts...the price first goes down and then it goes up and finally it goes down. I have observed this pattern few times.

You'll experience this with every stock....just set your buy limits lower.

 

[rad14733]

You don't have to have the 1 min chart to trade this strategy. It sometimes makes you not be able to remove emotions and miss trades. If you are trading SPX with options, you definitely don't need the 1 min chart of SPX. You would be looking at your option price instead.

If a warning arrow pops up and no confirmation for entry, do not trade it. You don't need to 1 min chart for that either.

@Arkitekt I agree with @barbaros that 1m adds too much emotion and causes premature entries and exits... In fact, 3m is probably the lowest timeframe I'd recommend for scalping... Depending on security volatility I use 3m or 5m timeframes for option scalps and then watch longer timeframes for confirmations of trend... A few months ago I was having anxiety issues and my account got chewed up by focusing too close to the price actions using 1m and 2m timeframes... Don't make the same costly mistake...

 

[Arkitekt]

@Arkitekt I agree with @barbaros that 1m adds too much emotion and causes premature entries and exits... In fact, 3m is probably the lowest timeframe I'd recommend for scalping... Depending on security volatility I use 3m or 5m timeframes for option scalps and then watch longer timeframes for confirmations of trend... A few months ago I was having anxiety issues and my account got chewed up by focusing too close to the price actions using 1m and 2m timeframes... Don't make the same costly mistake...

Totally agree.

 

[am3ncorn3r]

@Hypoluxa any chance you post a screenshot of the settings for the Sma’s? I think with the new tos the values for them got flipped

 

[rad14733]

@Hypoluxa any chance you post a screenshot of the settings for the Sma’s? I think with the new tos the values for them got flipped

Why would you need a screenshot of the 3 SMA and 9 SMA as stated in the first post...??? They are already in the first post... TOS updates have nothing to do with these forums and they don't change the Studies and Strategies during updates either... The Study Settings Panel has changed but the settings are the same... Kinda hard to not know the difference between price and length, even if they were switched but I don't think they were...

 

[Daybuck]

@Hypoluxa if I read through this thread correctly, you will only place a trade when the Macd dot just crosses the zero line correct? For example if you look at today (EST). The MACD started out the day above the zero line for most of the day but crossed over at 13:50. There you would have taken a Put, correct?

I know you've mentioned several times that you've only tried this on SPX and AMZN, I mainly trade SPY so I'll need to tailor it to that but could you point me in the right direction of what I should be looking at to make tweaks?

It would be nice for those of us with smaller accounts to be able to apply this strategy to SPY. If you figure out the tweaks to make it workable , please keep us advised. Good luck

 

[Hypoluxa]

It would be nice for those of us with smaller accounts to be able to apply this strategy to SPY. If you figure out the tweaks to make it workable , please keep us advised. Good luck

I only tweak for the stocks I trade...since you trade SPY, google and also search on here what the best setups are for trading SPY. That's how I learned as much as I have - searching here, google and YouTube. Then you can branch out on your own from there and then maybe YOU come back and tell us what we need to do

 

[Daybuck]

@Arkitekt I agree with @barbaros that 1m adds too much emotion and causes premature entries and exits... In fact, 3m is probably the lowest timeframe I'd recommend for scalping... Depending on security volatility I use 3m or 5m timeframes for option scalps and then watch longer timeframes for confirmations of trend... A few months ago I was having anxiety issues and my account got chewed up by focusing too close to the price actions using 1m and 2m timeframes... Don't make the same costly mistake...

Not trying to change the dynamic of this entire strategy, but maybe you can kill two birds with one stone by changing the setting to fit 5 minute bars as opposed to 10 minute bars. This is a great combination of indicators and absolutely not trying to take anything away from what Hypoluxa created but if you are looking to pin entries better, then it may be worth researching with 5 minute set up. Just thinking out loud

 

[Daybuck]

I only tweak for the stocks I trade...since you trade SPY, google and also search on here what the best setups are for trading SPY. That's how I learned as much as I have - searching here, google and YouTube. Then you can branch out on your own from there and then maybe YOU come back and tell us what we need to do

Sorry, Im not a coder. May as well be written in chinese to me!