YM - DOW Traders

I’ve been trading NQ for the last few years. I’m tired of the pullbacks and fakeouts. ES has less of the fakeouts but it’s pretty slow. I’m looking for: 1. Following structure the best. Vwap and the deviation bands 2. Less fakeouts and pullbacks. More real direction I watched it for the first time yesterday and we had a pullback to vwap at market open and then it just trended up all day 500 pts. Is this a typical thing ? Is it really this easy usually ? just looking for overall guidance on how ym moves Also if you search ym on YouTube there’s very little Videos it’s like no one trades it . I mean if you bought 1 ym con at 10am yesterday you would of made $5000 profit by 3pm Please do not reply with any NQ / ES stuff. I’m not looking at them anymore. I don’t need comparisons or any info . Only looking for YM guidance . I know I need to put in the screen time to learn it. Just any advice would be appreciated As far as what to watch for YM is it only GS, MSFT AND CAT. Are they the best to watch for confluence?

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u/[deleted] 1 1 day ago

[removed] — already gone when the archive first saw it
u/VMIGekko96 2 1 day ago

I traded YM for a while, NQ was too fast. Ended up having the opposite problem, was so slow. Switched to GC and really like it, great setups for the type of trading you do (same as me)
u/Pale_Candidate_390 OP 2 1 day ago

I have tried GC in the past but I remember there being huge wicks. I know gc can run hard like YM but when I traded gc I would be in lots of profit and then it would always pull all the way back. Maybe it’s different now I’ll look at gc. Ym was slow but it was not too difficult to trade but I only watched it for one day . Do you find gc to follow structure ?
u/VMIGekko96 1 1 day ago

Yes but you're absolutely right about the pullbacks, I had to get used to sizing down and widening my stops. Also have to make sure your targets aren't too aggressive, pay yourself and leave runner
u/MiserableWeather971 1 1 day ago

I really would try and think of dollar moves… ym is not faster than es in terms of $ moves in a session. Overall it’s less volatile. Nq then es then ym in terms of dollar volatility
u/Pale_Candidate_390 OP 1 1 day ago

The stocks it follows. GS, MSFT and CAT can have some huge swings . Yesterday they were moving $15+ dollars
u/MiserableWeather971 1 1 day ago

I’m aware of how it works, but it still is in 3rd place. Really simple math. How many points a day does it move on average? Multiply that by its point value. Then compare to es and nq. Nq currently is averaging $6k per day per lot, es $3000, ym $2200, rty $1700…. That’s the overly basic version. If we measure rotational volatility. The spread widens waaaay farther for nq and ym….. So we take this info and first off decide if an instrument is even suited for trading style. For example an orderflow trader would likely disregard ym completely. Most other styles it wouldn’t matter. What sort of movement is a user more comfortable with.
u/Electrical-Call-7292 1 1 day ago

Trended up all day 500 points? Are you a long biased trader? The spreads on ym can be rough. Just fyi. I’ve traded it a few times and I needed way more profit than I normally need to cover fees and spread. Wasn’t desirable trading for my style.
u/OkScientist1350 2 1 day ago

You want RTY, the Russell. It’s in the middle between ES and NQ.
u/Pale_Candidate_390 OP 1 1 day ago

I have never tried the RTY. Does it follow structure well? Are there stocks to look at along side RTY to give you direction ?
u/Sphan_86 1 1 day ago

This is what I've heard also
u/MasterCandles 1 1 day ago

I like YM. I trade YM with ORB for a while. Especially “cross the boxes” trades. It tends to do that a lot.
u/Old_Stable3308 2 1 day ago

I trade NQ overnights and ES during cash hrs. I’ll occasionally trade NQ during the day.
u/Sphan_86 1 1 day ago

I was thinking about doing this also
u/ILoveLaksa 1 1 day ago

Would the logic be that NQ moves cleaner and slower overnight without the crazy wicks, while ES has better depth and respects levels more during regular cash hours?
u/Old_Stable3308 1 1 day ago

NQ overnights has less volume than NQ during days but it can still wick hard with little to no notice but I find it does follow a pattern most of the time overnights. From Asia open to Tokyo open to London open into cash hrs. ES during the day I’m part of a discord where we trade spy spx es and Nq during the day where we track options chain, order flow, etc… where we discuss the direction it’s going and discuss Vpoc, Val, vah, ib range, orb range, upcoming data, meetings or speakers, etc….. for the day. We call out longs or shorts and why we have conviction in that move.
u/johnnybagofdonuts123 1 1 day ago

It’s a totally different beast. Spreads are wide. If you trade 2000 tick charts, for example, on NQ, the equivalent is about 100 on YM.
u/yipeedodaday 1 1 day ago

Yesterday was an easy day on ym. Not every day is that easy
u/Flaky_Push_6826 1 1 day ago

YM is great, MYM is what I like to trade, 5 to 10 cons, scale in and out. But DOW goes through much slower and longer transition Cycles, zoom out on the 4hr and you'll see. Chop can exist for weeks, the last few weeks I've been short MYM at open alot, these past few days have been the opposite. Just watch and learn its behaviors, honestly way easier than MNQ, but got to size up on it which can get risky if you don't manage right. MYM definitely respects levels, alot better than any other index.
u/Pale_Candidate_390 OP 1 1 day ago

I enjoy trading range days. When price goes between vwap deviation bands. Trend days are my worst because I’m always looking for pullback