TOTD – Context is Critical

Merritt BlackFutures TOTD

We hope you learn something as we share trades from our new Futures Desk as a Trade of The Day! Today we’re focused on using Market Profile to frame an awesome contextual view in the ES Futures. Let’s dive in. Context is critical. It allows us to see the circumstances in which intraday trade is developing within! This, again, is critical. We’re going … Read More

TOTD – Try Again!

Merritt BlackFutures TOTD

We’ve gotten great feedback as we share trades from our new Futures Desk as a Trade of The Day! Today we’re back in my realm- that is, using Market Profile! Simple lesson today. Sometimes trades try and work, then fail. BUT…. then they set up again! I like to see my guys stick with their game plans, and refrain from recency bias … Read More

TOTD- Simple S&P Scalp

Merritt BlackFutures TOTD

It’s time for the Futures Desk Trade of The Day! Have you guys noticed one of the key themes of most of the TOTD’s from our desk? For me it’s that the trades are not rocket science, and in fact they are quite simple. The key things I see in the posts so far as I study our own traders … Read More

Drills For Skills

Merritt BlackFutures, Trader Development

A few weeks ago I was working with a futures trading student that had been a bit beaten up as of late. We chose to take the path of stripping his trading plan down to its core. We chose to go back to basics. That’s not all though. We also came up with a plan to use market replay to … Read More

Are you overly negative, or ignorantly positive?

Merritt BlackFutures, General Comments, Trading Psychology

It’s the end of the trading session. You’re a good boy- so you’ve definitely journaled and now you’re ready to begin your post-market review. This is where things get interesting for me as a mentor. Let’s consider two traders: Overly Negative Nick, and Ignorantly Positive Pablo. They both made the exact same trade decisions that session, but let’s see how … Read More

5 Pillars of Trading Success

Merritt BlackFutures

These five pillars will help your trading consistency, which should be your ultimate goal. Interestingly enough, the 5 pillars of trading success have nothing to do with the actual act of trading or even analyzing markets. They involve the work that goes into developing into a trader, as well as developing as a trader. The trades you end up making … Read More

SMB Futures Private Session

Merritt BlackFutures, General Comments

I recently had a wonderful session with a group of developing futures traders and Dr. Brett Steenbarger. (His blog is a must-bookmark at traderfeed.blogspot.com if you’ve been living in a cave and haven’t bookmarked it already!) We like to combine aspects of coaching and mentoring together whenever possible. After some opening comments regarding the current low volatility environment and the … Read More