ES Trades 3/2

ES 3min

Before 7am EST, all downward movements were motive waves; all upward, corrective. High for the day for now is a mere 2.5 points higher than open and 6 points away from the high of the day's trading range, pivot's nowhere in sight, and newer lows have been reached with no sustainable bottom in sight.

While I'm usually unwilling to sell at such levels, today, I see no reason to just sit and watch. Counting waves have helped tremendously. Yet to figure out why I didn't do that before in scalping. I was probably too busy keeping a lookout for other things such as candlestick patterns, - which I've found rather unreliable in futures trading (except for maybe the stars and hammers, and, occasionally, the engulfing and haramis; hanging men work alright on the 3min).

Still relying largely on the tape to get in and out of trades during pre-US market hours. During active trading hours, the NYSE tick seems a saner choice.

Today's a relatively calm day for me. With the exception of the very first entry (which I held for too long again - doesn't matter that it didn't turn out to be a losing trade, I hate turning scalps to daytrades), I've kept to my rules about not sitting. Chose entries that were likely to go in my direction immediately. Charts were used to identify key S & R levels, market depth gave me a clue as to who is bailing when these levels are not reached/breached.

ES' looking like it could go up on a double bottom at 711.25 if it were to visit that level again before testing the high of day at 733.75.

Calling it a day.

For today: USD 200