Scalp Trading: Futures

Status: Scaffolded - Content pending Last Updated: 2025-12-11

How Futures Scalping Works

Futures scalping in TTG focuses on price action, volume, and session structure to identify short-duration setups with defined risk.

The Technical Agent focuses on:

• Price action (bar highs/lows)
• Support/resistance from swing points
• Volume patterns
• Trend identification from sequential bars

Data Collection

Data Type	What We Get
Current Price	Real-time snapshot
Historical Bars	2 days of 1-minute candles
Bars to AI	20 most recent bars
Volume	Yes
Market Context	ES correlation for direction

Analysis Flow

1. Data Collection (2 days, 1-min bars)
           │
           ▼
2. Technical Agent analyzes:
   - Support: Recent swing lows from bars
   - Resistance: Recent swing highs from bars
   - Trend: Higher highs/lows or lower highs/lows
   - Volume: Comparing current to recent average
           │
           ▼
3. Macro Agent checks:
   - ES/NQ direction
   - Market regime
   - News sentiment
           │
           ▼
4. Wild Card Agent checks:
   - Economic calendar (FOMC, CPI, etc.)
   - Session timing
   - Rollover dates
           │
           ▼
5. Supervisor synthesizes:
   - Entry zone
   - Stop loss
   - Targets
   - Contract selection

How Analysis Works

Price Action + Volume:

1. Support Levels: Identify where price bounced (recent bar lows)
2. Resistance Levels: Identify where price rejected (recent bar highs)
3. Trend Direction:
   • Higher highs + Higher lows = Uptrend
   • Lower highs + Lower lows = Downtrend
4. Volume Confirmation:
   • Moves WITH volume = higher conviction
   • Moves WITHOUT volume = suspect

Common Futures for Scalping

Symbol	Contract	What It Tracks
ES	E-mini S&P 500	S&P 500 index
NQ	E-mini NASDAQ-100	Tech-heavy index
MES	Micro E-mini S&P	Smaller ES contract
MNQ	Micro E-mini NASDAQ	Smaller NQ contract
CL	Crude Oil	WTI crude
GC	Gold	Gold futures

Position Sizing for Futures

Futures use contracts with defined point values:

Contract	Point Value	Tick Size	Tick Value
ES	$50/point	0.25	$12.50
MES	$5/point	0.25	$1.25
NQ	$20/point	0.25	$5.00
MNQ	$2/point	0.25	$0.50

Risk Amount = Account Size × Risk Percent
Stop Distance (points) = Based on support level
Contracts = Risk Amount ÷ (Stop Distance × Point Value)

Example (MES):
- Account: $10,000
- Risk: 1% = $100
- Stop: 5 points below entry
- Point value: $5
- Risk per contract: 5 × $5 = $25
- Contracts: $100 ÷ $25 = 4 MES contracts

Exit Rules

Condition	Action
Price hits Target 1	Exit 50% of contracts
Price hits Target 2	Exit remaining 50%
Price hits Stop Loss	Exit 100% immediately
Time Stop (15-30 min)	Exit 100% at market

Futures-Specific Considerations

Session Times

Session	Hours (ET)
Globex Overnight	6 PM - 9:30 AM
Regular Session	9:30 AM - 4 PM
Extended	4 PM - 6 PM

Best scalping: Regular session for volume and liquidity.

Rollover

Futures contracts expire quarterly. Be aware of:

• Front month vs back month
• Rollover dates (volume shifts)
• Contract continuation

What the Trade Plan Looks Like

Direction: LONG
Contract: MESZ25 (Micro E-mini S&P Dec 2025)
Entry Zone: 5,950.00 - 5,952.00 (support bounce)
Stop Loss: 5,945.00 (5 points below entry)
Target 1: 5,960.00 (10 points, exit 50%)
Target 2: 5,970.00 (20 points, exit remaining)
Time Stop: 30 minutes max
Contracts: 4 MES
Max Risk: $100 (1% of account)

Note: Analysis based on price action + volume + key levels.
Focus: structure + volume + session context.