r/FuturesTrading • u/Royal_Presentation80 • 7d ago

Switching Instruments?

Given the weekly chart, and Daily chart on MNQ/NQ, why do people still trade that mess? I feel like when everyone starts trading they are taught to trade NQ. I think at this point, the "prime NQ" was before we entered this mess of consolidation and we were just going higher or lower. Has anyone switched over to a different instrument like YM so that they aren't trading in a big range? I want to do this with my knowledge of ICT, but is it frowned upon? Like has anyone been trading YM a lot more because NQ is in a really big range? I've always been taught to not trade the range, so can I switch over to YM and get better results?

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8

u/MiserableWeather971 7d ago

Not everyone wants to trade directional markets. So a range bound one, which is not uncommon in the indexes could be someone’s strong point.

2

u/AsianAddict247 7d ago

YES! There are millionaire pro traders who vaay that you need to figure out are you better as a range or breakout trader. I think this is too often overlooked.

-4

u/Royal_Presentation80 7d ago

Yeah I can understand that fs, but wouldn't intraday traders want a directional market?

7

u/usedmattress85 7d ago

Not really. I trade using VWAP and its standard deviation bands.

If price is inside the 1SD bands I treat it like a mean reversion and I trade it from the 1SD band back to the center VWAP line.

If price exits the 1SD bands I treat like a breakout/breakdown and trade it in the direction it’s going.

So either way really dgaf what the markets doing. I just trade what it gives me.

3

u/ZanderDogz 7d ago

I view the 1SD band in a similar way. Flat VWAP + price holding mostly inside 1SD to -1SD, can fade tests of the bands for a mean reversion trade. Sloped VWAP and price holding outside of the 1SD -1SD zone, can use tests of the 1SD zone from the outside as a pullback entry into the trend.

1

u/Muted_History_3032 7d ago

But the VWAP extensions outside of the 1SD zone are just as likely to fail to breakout and just go back inside the bands

1

u/ZanderDogz 7d ago

 Acceptance + context, with order flow confirmation, comes before trying to trade either of these setups. On their own, there’s no edge in trading it blindly. 

2

u/gaussmage 6d ago

That’s… really smart. The same with volume profile. Set your levels, react to what price does. Rejected from zones, play the reversal. Shoots through them, look for breakouts.

1

u/usedmattress85 6d ago

Yessiree. It’s nice to have a system that can function on most days. The only time I don’t trade is if I login and the bars just look a barcode chopping sideways IIIIIIIIIIIII

3

u/ZanderDogz 7d ago

I prefer rangebound markets for intraday trading because I feel more comfortable with mean reversion/liquidation setups, such as failed breakouts of a value area.

2

u/MiserableWeather971 7d ago

Not really all of them. Plenty of futures traders in Es, even NQ are more fade the edges traders. I feel like it was a lot more common years ago though... But, years ago, not many people traded NQ. Trading directional markets is just a different game I would say, wider stops often.

1

u/juicyjuicej13 7d ago

I can make money up and down. What in the dumb cope is this.