Here we'll profile three different "fictional" UMT Traders. These may be very well be you depending upon what markets you like to trade. The important things to note in the below are the styles of these traders, and how they pick a market(s) and timeframes to suits their account and style. This is the main theme for our UMT Owner Webinar this week as well so it is fitting with our theme for the week.

Susan P. Trader

Susan likes to trade the S&P e-Mini futures. Her objective is to be in and done as quickly as possible each day. She uses the "Power of Quitting" but puts her own spin on it since she uses a fast timeframe. She looks for 2 wins, but wants her edge over wins and losses to be +2 as well. For example, if she goes 2-0 she's done. However, if she is 2-1, she continues since she wants to be 3-1 or have a +2 edge in the win column as well.

The timeframe chosen at this time is 377 Tick -- this currently makes for a number of trading opportunities in the morning (and afternoon) session -- these are relatively fast trades and if things go well it's common to be done in 30 minutes or less. If things don't go well? Well, that means up to the full 3 hour session though that is not typical. Since Susan uses such a fast timeframe she puts in a few filters and uses the Advanced Tactics approach/calculator. She filters out all trades that are against the Directional Indicator. She makes sure if the Directional favors the trade that the entry price is above the Directional (on longs) or below (on shorts) to ensure she won't have to trade through the Directional on a trade. Susan wil consider a trade against the trend but only if the entry and the 2x target comes well before even approaching the Directional. Susan tosses out any trade where the Risk is greater than the Reward. If that happens, she'll wait for the next set-up bar -- if it's valid (touching the TrendLines) and has a positve Reward to Risk then that bar can be used instead. Susan also will take re-entries - both with separation and without - but only if the bars retrace into the lower of two TrendLines (on longs) or the upper two of the TrendLines (on shorts) - never taking a narrow retracement.

By being a little pickier on the entry Susan feels she gets a better win/loss and can quickly finish. In the past week (12/1 to 12/5) the results were:

+27.50 S&P Points = $1,375 per contract (including a tick of slippage on every trade)

All five days were done in 30 minutes or less.

If she came back with the same rules in the afternoon, though the standard Power of Quitting (no +2 required) another:

+12.50 S&P Points = $625 per contract

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were a bit trickier in the afternoon - in fact Friday started with two losers. She knows to stick to the Trading Plan and finished with 3 straight winners thereafter for a very modest profit that day. Wednesday afternoon likewise struggled losing two of the first three trades -- ultimately though the outcome was a good profit and all sessions were done in about an hour or less.

John A. Barrel

John's a serious Crude Oil futures trader. He trades the 233 Share Volume bars, preferring them over tick bars just slightly. He feels they might be a bit smoother to trade than tick. John doesn't use all the extra filters Susan uses, but he is unwilling to take a set-up bar where the Reward is less than the risk - he'll wait for a new set-up bar, many times the next bar, and use that instead. He feels no sense taking a trade where you risk more than you can make. John has thought about considering some filters on the trades against the Directional but feels right now that this is not a scalping type timeframe so the set-ups should be stronger, even against the trend.

For the week of 12/1 to 12/5 +$2.30 = $2,300 75% of the trades were winners and in general trading was done in 90 minutes or less. Tuesday though was a challenge, taking over two hours and catching three straight losers. That was the worst day of the week struggling to get even. However, Monday, Thursday and Friday were all 2-0 so this helped offset. John did not get discouraged by Tuesday even if it was tough. He knows that some trading days just won't cooperate and if you stick to the UMT Trading Plan he'll typically at least make the best of a tough trading day. Certainly after commissions and even some slippage the outcome for the week is worth it.

Jason "The Rebel" Currency

Jason has decided to trade the forex, and use time intervals though he day trades. Though typically he knows the suggestion is to use tick charts when day trading forex, he's found through back-testing and his personality that he just is more comfortable with the timed charts - knowing when a chart is going to finish keeps him calmer and not obsessing over every tick on the chart. He's determined that this fits his personality best.

Jason also throws out a set-up bar with a poor reward to risk, though like the above will take it if a set-up bar happens after that is valid with the proper ratio. He also has to be very aware of the "Red Rated" reports on ForexFactory.com's calendar -- knowing that holding through one of these reports has some risk so he's selective with this and certainly won't enter a trade right at or just after a release.

This past week 12/1-12/5 European Session +459 Pips

US Session +123 Pips

The trading was much better in the European Session though the hours there are not the easiest so Jason is hoping to see more trades set-up this week in the U.S. session. The GBPUSD and EURJPY were very good -- he trades those two plus the EURUSD. The EURUSD was not very active and mixed with Friday being the one day this past week he lost money in the European session. The hard part was getting more than 1 trade despite trading three markets to set-up in the U.S. session as most of the moves happened early, at least this past week. For Jason the European Session runs from 1am EST - 5am EST and the U.S. Session from 7am - 11am EST. This can mean more monitoring but since he uses 20 minute bars at most he only needs to pay attention 3 times per hour. He'd like though to cut this down and settle on just the European or U.S. session but is still testing and comparing knowing one week does not make a rule.

So, there you have three different trading profiles. Susan uses the most filters but is also taking the most trades in a short amount of time so she's decided to focus on the best odds. All three traders had very good weeks, but nobody had perfection. They certainly wouldn't stop despite a bad day. What is clear about each is a very specific trading profile, very disciplined, very specific and chosen to meet account sizes and personalities plus hours available to trade. All three are vastly different but the UMT profits are there to be had.

What's your trading profile? What is your trading plan? Are you consistent? Do you stay committed to a market or timeframe? Do you shake yourself out after some loss? Do you stay neutral during the trading day? Will you "allow" yourself to profit from the UMT strategy or do you find your "demons" get in the way of your success? We'll be talking a lot about this Tuesday in the live webinar. Think this over -- make sure you have a specific profile and plan.