How do I handle CFD spread?

Trading spreads instead of futures reduces your precision which makes scalping, in which each tick matters, not viable. Regarding swing trading it adds up another lier of complexitity so I only recommend CFDs in times of extreme volatility with huge bars where 1 tick or even 1 point is not a problem. For any other times, why don't you try micro EMINIS? Still the chart has some differences with EMINI but it can be handled with no effort compared with CFDs and its spreads...

In high volatility times (with 20-50 points bars), instead of entering with stops, I waited for the EMINI to trigger the signal and then entered at the MKT in the CFD.

Thank you for that answer. That really makes sense. I'm in Denmark and my reasoning for not trading futures is simply that the cost is rather high. But Maybe I should test it out on a demo account just to get a feel for it.

I really appreciate your explanation.

Sincerely 
Riembaus

If you want to learn with Al's materials, the CFDs won't do so you have to open an account in any USA broker after your time in SIM trading.

I am in Spain but I trade with AMP broker, but any other will work because the commission fees are rather similar. I guess you won't have any restrictions neither in your country to open an account in the USA, if you will.

I'll definitely  look into it. 

OMG!

Got a papertrading account with AMP, that I can run in MultiCharts. WHAT A GAMECHANGER! 

I've been struggling putting Al's course into practice, because the CFD spread was tripping me up. It is so different trading futures.

Thank you so much for pointing this out to me. I was getting so frustrated trading and feeling like nothing I'd learned worked.

Dear Lupoduig,

What if the spread is very small, such as less than 1pip during normal hours of trading?  Is this ok for swing trading?

The problem with me is that I am a morning person living in Taiwan, and trading the S&P is not good for me, besides the volatility is usually very small during my morning hours.  I therefore trades the Heng Seng Index (high volume and volatility) and CPD provide 1/10 of a normal contract which let me practice swing trading with acceptable risk.

Thanks.

What if the spread is very small, such as less than 1pip during normal hours of trading?  Is this ok for swing trading?

Yes, the smaller the better. As long as you feel confortable you can go ahead.

The problem with me is that I am a morning person living in Taiwan, and trading the S&P is not good for me, besides the volatility is usually very small during my morning hours.

Yes, living in those latitudes make the S&P not the best option in practical terms. But...

I therefore trades the Heng Seng Index

... while learning, we need good explanations (the video course) and feedback from the teacher (so we can know that we are doing well) that we don't have in massive online courses. Instead, Al provides his EMINI readings both in this site's daily setups section and in brookspriceaction.com webpage's bar-by-bar analysis. So if you learn with whatever other instrument than the 5-min EMINI session chart, you simply lose any feedback and, not needed to say, this puts you in a difficult position because you can't compare your reading with his and, therefore, you simply don't know where you are or, worse, you might think that you know but actually you are completely off. I have seen many many wannabe traders there... well, actually, all of us have been there at some point before we really noticed the complexity of trading.

Therefore, while learning, I can't recommend enough to stick with the EMINI and use the MKT replay feature (so no time constrains) to compare your reading with Al's. Also, with MKT replay you can study several sessions in one single day so it is also the fastest way of learning. Then, if you have questions, here we can try to help...

And once you feel really confortable with the EMINI, go back to the HSI index and start trading it, not before. I know that taking this detour seems disheartening but the alternative, ignoring the only feedback we have, leads to utter frustration and Al's, bad luck's or whatever blaming. Somehow I am in this same path, I live in Spain where the EMINI session starts at 3:30 pm and, even though I like the EMINI and trading in the afternoon is fine for now, I plan to move into forex, CL or whatever that I can trade in the mornings, which was my goal from the very beginning.

Thanks Ludopuig, I will try to make some adjustment on trading the emini.

Ludopuig: Would you care to share what commissions you pay at AMP, when trading e-mini and e-micro?

They don't have that information available anywhere.

I'm testing CQG through MultiCharts, which they offer and it works really well compared to my current broker. Also they only charge 10$ a month for real-time data, whereas SaxoBank where I am currently want me to pay 127$ a month, which is ridiculous and 6$ pr. e-mini contract on top of that!!!!

0.74 and 3.76, respectively; and 11 USD for the MKT data.

AMP has a commissions calculator in their webpage, have a look for further details.

Thanks I found it 🙂

How come you chose AMP over Tradestation?

Because Tradestation minimum cost per month was 100USD and AMP with CME-only data is 11 USD.

Thank you, that makes perfect sense.