Blog
The futures trader’s blog
In-depth articles written from official sources (CME Group, CFTC, BLS, the Fed, the NinjaTrader Help Guide): contract specifications, risk per trade, reading the order book, volume profile, economic releases and a working method. Each article links to the free tool that puts it into practice.
Futures contracts and risk
Futures tick value and point value explained: ES, NQ, GC, CL, DAXTick value is what decides how much you gain or lose on every minimum price move. The calculation, verified figures and official sources.Read the article →Micro vs E-mini futures: ES/MES, NQ/MNQ, RTY/M2K risk comparedA micro contract is not just "smaller": the exact risk difference from its E-mini equivalent, backed by official figures.Read the article →NQ vs MNQ: Contract Size, Tick Value and Risk ComparedNQ and MNQ move tick for tick together. The only structural difference is size: MNQ is one tenth of NQ, which changes the dollar value of every tick you trade.Read the article →How to calculate futures position size from your risk per tradeHow many contracts for a given risk? A three-step method, using the official tick values of ES, MES, NQ and MNQ.Read the article →Forex vs Futures: Key Differences for TradersSpot forex is an over-the-counter market where a dealer quotes your price; futures trade on a central exchange with standardized contracts, public volume and a clearing house. Here is what that changes for a trader.Read the article →Futures Trading Risk Management: A Practical FrameworkFutures risk management in four layers: a fixed risk per trade, position size from stop distance and point value, daily loss limits, and a plan for gaps, slippage, correlation and news.Read the article →
Order flow
How to Read the DOM (Depth of Market) in Futures TradingThe DOM shows the limit orders waiting above and below the market, price by price. Learning how to read the DOM means separating what is offered from what actually trades, and knowing what the ladder never shows.Read the article →Absorption in Order Flow: How to Identify It on Futures ChartsAbsorption in order flow is heavy aggressive volume that fails to move price because passive orders keep taking the other side. Here is how it appears on each tool, and why it is only confirmed after the fact.Read the article →Order Flow vs Price Action: Differences, Strengths and LimitsPrice action reads the result of the auction from the open, high, low and close; order flow reads the trades and resting orders that produced it. Comparing order flow vs price action shows two tools for different questions, each with blind spots.Read the article →How to Read Time and Sales in NinjaTrader 8Time and Sales in NinjaTrader 8 lists every trade with its time, price and size, coloured by where it printed against the bid and ask. Here is how to set it up, what each column means and how to read the prints.Read the article →Market Orders vs Limit Orders: How Futures Prices Actually MoveA limit order waits in the book at a chosen price; a market order takes whatever is waiting. Market vs limit orders is the mechanism behind every tick: price moves when the best level is used up or withdrawn.Read the article →Iceberg Orders and Hidden Liquidity: What Traders Can ObserveIceberg orders show only a slice of their size and refill as that slice is filled. You never see the whole order, but the tape and the ladder leave traces worth knowing, along with their limits.Read the article →
Volume profile
Point of Control, Value Area High and Value Area Low ExplainedThe point of control and the two value area edges are three prices drawn from one distribution. What each one measures, how software computes them, and the settings that quietly move them.Read the article →High Volume Nodes vs Low Volume Nodes (HVN vs LVN)An HVN is a price area the market accepted; an LVN is one it hurried through. Telling them apart, and knowing how each tends to behave when price returns, is one of the most practical uses of a volume profile.Read the article →Auction Market Theory for Futures TradersAuction market theory reads every futures market as a continuous two-way auction searching for prices where trade can happen. It gives traders a precise vocabulary for balance, imbalance, acceptance and rejection, and it has clear limits.Read the article →Volume Profile vs Market Profile (TPO): What Each One MeasuresBoth draw a sideways distribution of price, both have a POC and a value area, and they are often confused. Volume profile counts contracts; Market Profile counts time. That one difference changes what each shows.Read the article →Fixed Range vs Session Volume Profile: When to Use EachA session profile answers “where did this day’s auction do business?”. A fixed range profile answers “where did this particular move do business?”. Choosing between them starts with the question, not the tool.Read the article →How to Combine Volume Profile and Order FlowVolume profile tells you where to look; order flow tells you what happens when price gets there. Used in that order, each one covers the other’s blind spot.Read the article →
NinjaTrader 8
How to Use Footprint Charts in NinjaTrader 8Two ways to get a footprint chart in NinjaTrader 8, what each one needs, how to prepare the chart so the numbers are readable, and a step-by-step routine for using it at your levels.Read the article →How to Install Custom Indicators in NinjaTrader 8 (ZIP Import)Most NinjaTrader 8 indicators arrive as a ZIP archive imported with Tools > Import > NinjaScript Add-On; source files (.cs) are copied and compiled instead. Both methods to install indicators in NinjaTrader 8, step by step, with the errors to expect.Read the article →NinjaTrader 8 Chart Settings for Futures BeginnersMost of what a NinjaTrader 8 chart shows is decided in one window, the Data Series. The NinjaTrader 8 chart settings a futures beginner should understand, plus the platform time zone and chart templates.Read the article →NinjaTrader 8 Setup Guide for BeginnersA practical NinjaTrader 8 setup path for beginners: account and simulation, installation, market data connection, the settings to change on day one, and a first chart ready for indicators.Read the article →NinjaTrader DOM Tutorial: Reading and Trading from the Order BookHow to use a NinjaTrader DOM in practice: the SuperDOM, the TEVO DOM window, how each one sends orders, and the settings that keep practice on a simulation account.Read the article →Tick Replay in NinjaTrader 8: What It Does and When You Need ItTick Replay feeds historical bars to your indicators one market data event at a time, so order flow tools calculate history the way they would have live. What Tick Replay changes in NinjaTrader 8, how to turn it on and when to leave it off.Read the article →
Scalping
Scalping Futures: Ticks, Costs, Slippage and What It Really InvolvesScalping futures means trading for a few ticks at a time. The style lives or dies on details that longer-term traders can ignore: tick value, costs per round turn, slippage, liquidity and the speed of your own decisions.Read the article →Order Flow Scalping: A Workflow With the DOM, Footprint, Tape and Big TradesOrder flow tools show liquidity and aggression tick by tick, which tempts scalpers to trade everything they see. A workflow decides in advance where to look, what would justify a trade and when to do nothing.Read the article →
Macro and the economic calendar
How to Read an Economic Calendar: Actual, Forecast, PreviousAn economic calendar shows when data and central bank decisions are due and what the market expects. How to read the actual, forecast and previous columns, revisions, impact ratings, units and time zones, and how to plan around releases.Read the article →How Central Bank Interest Rates Affect Currency MarketsCentral bank interest rates move currencies through expectations: what matters is the expected gap between two countries' rates and how each decision, statement and press conference changes it.Read the article →How US Inflation Reports Affect Futures and Forex MarketsUS inflation reports move futures and forex because they change expectations for Federal Reserve policy. What CPI and PCE measure, when they come out, and how a surprise travels from yields to the dollar, index futures and gold.Read the article →Nonfarm Payrolls: How the US Jobs Report Moves Futures and ForexNonfarm payrolls is the headline of the US jobs report. What the Employment Situation measures, how its two surveys work, why revisions matter, and how the release moves Treasury yields, the dollar, index futures and gold.Read the article →How Geopolitical Risk Moves Futures and Forex MarketsGeopolitical risk moves futures and forex through four channels: commodity supply, safe-haven demand, risk appetite and policy expectations. How oil, gold, currencies and volatility react, and why headlines are so hard to trade.Read the article →Sanctions, Tariffs and Trade Disputes: What Traders WatchSanctions and tariffs move futures and forex when they change commodity flows, export earnings, trade balances or inflation. Who imposes them, which markets react, which official data show the real effect, and why trade headlines are unreliable.Read the article →
All articles in this section : Macro and the economic calendar →
Method and analysis
How to Backtest a Futures Strategy Without Fooling YourselfA backtest replays a set of rules on past data. Done carelessly, it mostly measures how well the rules were fitted to that data. Here is how to build one that can at least fail honestly.Read the article →How to Read the COT Report: Commitments of Traders ExplainedThe COT report shows who holds the open positions in US futures markets, by category of trader. How the legacy, disaggregated and TFF versions differ, how to read net positioning, when the data come out and what they cannot tell you.Read the article →How to Write a Trading Plan for Futures: A Step-by-Step TemplateA trading plan settles before the session what you trade, when, on which setups, with how much risk and how you review the results. A six-step method and a one-page template for futures traders.Read the article →How to Keep a Trading Journal: What to Record and How to Review ItA trading journal links every result to the decision behind it. What to record on each trade, how to review the records every week, and which simple statistics are worth tracking.Read the article →Trading Statistics Explained: Win Rate, Expectancy, Profit Factor and DrawdownWin rate alone says almost nothing about a trading method. Expectancy, profit factor and drawdown combine how often you win, how much you win and how badly it can go, and each of them has blind spots.Read the article →Multi-Timeframe Analysis for Futures: A Top-Down MethodMulti-timeframe analysis gives each chart one job: higher timeframes for context and levels, a middle one for the setup, the lowest one for entry and stop. How to build the hierarchy and what to do when timeframes disagree.Read the article →
Educational content. These indicators are not investment advice and guarantee no result. Futures trading involves a risk of loss that can exceed the initial investment. Terms of use · Disclaimers