FAQ

There are many very compelling reasons why most serious traders prefer to trade futures to stocks or forex. Here are a few of those reasons.

1. Commissions are exceptionally reasonable compared to stocks and forex. (With forex, you pay a spread instead of a commission.)
2. Small account size. Anyone can day trade without needing $25,000+ in the account! You can day trade and swing trade our livestock sector with as small as $4,000 in your account.
3. Taxes are less complicated. You are not required to list every sale on your tax return! (US).
4. Profits are subject to a lower tax rate. All gains and losses are capital gains allocated 60% long-term and 40% short-term regardless of the holding period (including day trades).
5. Market liquidity. Our popular Futures contracts are always liquid enough and offer low slippage. Market orders are instant.
6. More bang for the buck. Futures contracts offer more leverage than stocks.
7. No market makers playing games with the particular stock. The futures markets are so huge it is almost impossible for anyone to manipulate them
8. No insider trading.

We use them for both. We rarely miss a trade because of it. It's especially effective in the meats, since they are primarily pit traded and also on the CME. When the market blows through our stop limit and then pulls back even 1 tick below/above the limit price, we can hold the floor to a fill at the limit price.

I wanted my subscribers to be aware that there is a way to remove the slippage on entries. As with anything there is no free lunch. Sometimes this approach may miss a winning trade. Mark claims this is rare and the gain from no slippage is well worth it.

For my website, I cannot recommend this entry method. 1) It would be almost impossible for me to show hypothetical results. I would have to look at time and sales on every trade entry. Also there would be many times that some subscribers would get filled and others would not. 2) Can you imagine the clamor of complaint if the subscriber missed a very profitable trade? If a broker uses this method the client must be fully aware that they are giving up a few infrequent profitable trades for the benefit of no slippage on ALL entries.

Now you can decide for yourself if this method of entry is for you.

The market recommendations for the day and swing trades are needed before the markets open for pit trading. They are usually posted on the Website around midnight. After posting, an email announcement is sent to each subscriber

You may have trouble following my NG and CL counts. If I look at a daily chart of NG or CL using the most active contract month, I can't see them either. My data looks more like you will see if you ask for a weekly chart using nearby contracts.

Actually I construct my own data files with my own software. I use the following rollover rule for natural gas and crude oil. I roll the contracts into the next month on the eleventh market day from the end of the month preceding expiration. So I have a dataset that is very similar to a nearby futures continuation chart. That's why the difference. It's the only way I can fit Elliott Waves over a number of years.

All the entry orders recommended in Dave's Corner are for the pit trading sessions on US futures exchanges in either Chicago or New York. They are always to be placed as day orders. If I ever intend for an entry order to be placed in the after hours trading session, I will explicitly state that in the commentary.

I always recommend placing protective stop loss orders immediately after a position is entered. Some of the futures markets have night sessions and trade virtually 24 hours per day. I definitely think that the protective stop loss order should continually be in the market all night. For most markets this prevents the occasional huge overnight move that can stop your position out far above your intended amount of risk. Risk control requires that you have protective stop loss orders working all the time the markets are trading. .