At Online Trading Academy, we teach traders our core strategy that allows them to identify where the institutional traders are entering and exiting the markets. If you know that these traders routinely make millions of dollars at day trading, it makes sense that if you follow their actions and copy them you could be profitable as well. The key is knowing where they are beginning their orders and where they are completing them.

Institutions trade in extremely large size. However, if they tried to buy or sell all the shares they wanted at the same time, they would cause the demand or supply equation to become too imbalanced and prices would move away from their preferred entry or exit price very fast. They would never be able to purchase or sell shares where they wanted to.

So, to enter or exit properly, these institutions must work the order. This involves placing many smaller orders that, filled over time and in a range, will eventually complete their intended goal of buying or selling a large amount in a range that they deemed a good price. I experienced this first hand while working as a trader for a hedge fund.

Lessons from the Pros - Futures

As individual traders, we look to the charts to see where these institutions are placing their trades. The pattern can be obvious if you know what to look for. The other thing we need to be sure of is that when we find these chart patterns or set-ups, they are as close to the origin of the buying or selling pressure of the institutions as possible.

Think of an institutional trader who needs to buy three million shares of Facebook (FB). The average volume of FB is 25 million shares per day. This breaks down to a bit over three million shares an hour (there are 6.5 hours of trading in the US markets per day).

If they put in the full order all at once, everyone would know there was major demand and prices would jump upwards too quickly. Instead, the trader will buy as many shares as they can without pushing the market out of their preferred range. As some point, the number of sellers will diminish, perhaps even going to zero. Eager buyers (including the institutional trader) will push their bids higher to attract more sellers to give up their shares. This is the set-up we look for.

Most of the time prices will rise out of the range where the institutional trader will be willing to buy. Whatever orders they were not able to complete will be saved until prices return into the preferred buying zone.

This is where we, as individual traders, can buy as well. Once you have identified the origin of the institutional buying zone, you can place a buy order in that zone as well. When prices return to the level and you buy, the unfilled orders of the institution should absorb the remaining sell orders and propel the price higher, as it did before. Thus, you profit by riding the purchasing power of the institutions.

The traditional technical analysis techniques of Support and Resistance will not work this way. Think about it. If prices move due to the institutional orders, then every time prices return to the origin of those orders, there would be less orders to turn price around! Imagine the ocean. When waves hit the beach, it erodes the beach by removing sand.

So, we get the best trading opportunities buying and selling when the institutions are placing their orders. Unfortunately, their initial move is extremely difficult to identify. The next best time is to enter on the first retracement to the origin of the zone. This area will have the most leftover orders. Additional retests of the area are weaker and are lower probability opportunities in the market.

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Neither Freedom Management Partners nor any of its personnel are registered broker-dealers or investment advisers. I will mention that I consider certain securities or positions to be good candidates for the types of strategies we are discussing or illustrating. Because I consider the securities or positions appropriate to the discussion or for illustration purposes does not mean that I am telling you to trade the strategies or securities. Keep in mind that we are not providing you with recommendations or personalized advice about your trading activities. The information we are providing is not tailored to any individual. Any mention of a particular security is not a recommendation to buy, sell, or hold that or any other security or a suggestion that it is suitable for any specific person. Keep in mind that all trading involves a risk of loss, and this will always be the situation, regardless of whether we are discussing strategies that are intended to limit risk. Also, Freedom Management Partners’ personnel are not subject to trading restrictions. I and others at Freedom Management Partners could have a position in a security or initiate a position in a security at any time.

Editors’ Picks

EUR/USD weakens to near 1.1900 as traders eye US data

EUR/USD weakens to near 1.1900 as traders eye US data

EUR/USD eases to near 1.1900 in Tuesday's European trading hours, snapping the two-day winning streak. Markets turn cautious, lifting the haven demand for the US Dollar ahead of the release of key US economic data, including Retail Sales and ADP Employment Change 4-week average.

GBP/USD stays in the red below 1.3700 on renewed USD demand

GBP/USD stays in the red below 1.3700 on renewed USD demand

GBP/USD trades on a weaker note below 1.3700 in the European session on Tuesday. The pair faces challenges due to renewed US Dollar demand, UK political risks and rising expectations of a March Bank of England rate cut. The immediate focus is now on the US Retail Sales data. 

USD/JPY drops toward 155.00 as focus shifts to US data

USD/JPY drops toward 155.00 as focus shifts to US data

USD/JPY meets fresh supply and inches closer toward 155.00 in the Asian session on Tuesday. The Japanese Yen holds the upper hand over the US Dollar after Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi led the ruling Liberal Democratic Party to a historic landslide win and on intervention talks. Traders brace for key US economic data that could offer more clues on the Federal Reserve's monetary policy.


Editors’ Picks

EUR/USD weakens to near 1.1900 as traders eye US data

EUR/USD weakens to near 1.1900 as traders eye US data

EUR/USD eases to near 1.1900 in Tuesday's European trading hours, snapping the two-day winning streak. Markets turn cautious, lifting the haven demand for the US Dollar ahead of the release of key US economic data, including Retail Sales and ADP Employment Change 4-week average.

GBP/USD stays in the red below 1.3700 on renewed USD demand

GBP/USD stays in the red below 1.3700 on renewed USD demand

GBP/USD trades on a weaker note below 1.3700 in the European session on Tuesday. The pair faces challenges due to renewed US Dollar demand, UK political risks and rising expectations of a March Bank of England rate cut. The immediate focus is now on the US Retail Sales data. 

Gold sticks to modest losses above $5,000 ahead of US data

Gold sticks to modest losses above $5,000 ahead of US data

Gold sticks to modest intraday losses through the first half of the European session, though it holds comfortably above the $5,000 psychological mark and the daily swing low. The outcome of Japan's snap election on Sunday removes political uncertainty, which along with signs of easing tensions in the Middle East, remains supportive of the upbeat market mood. This turns out to be a key factor exerting downward pressure on the safe-haven precious metal.

Bitcoin Cash trades lower, risks dead-cat bounce amid bearish signals

Bitcoin Cash trades lower, risks dead-cat bounce amid bearish signals

Bitcoin Cash trades in the red below $522 at the time of writing on Tuesday, after multiple rejections at key resistance. BCH’s derivatives and on-chain indicators point to growing bearish sentiment and raise the risk of a dead-cat bounce toward lower support levels.

Follow the money, what USD/JPY in Tokyo is really telling you

Follow the money, what USD/JPY in Tokyo is really telling you

Over the past two Tokyo sessions, this has not been a rate story. Not even close. Interest rate differentials have been spectators, not drivers. What has moved USD/JPY in local hours has been flow and flow alone.

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