I am back. Happy new year and decade! This year, 2020, I am going to try to safely turn $2,000 into $200,000 at 2% per day by building on the adventures I had here in my Micro E-mini Madness journal: https://www.elitetrader.com/et/threads/micro-e-mini-madness-2-per-day.335221/ Main goal: 2% average per day, each week, starting with $2,000 and using only micros at the beginning. I will try for 2% per day for 12 months. By the end of 2020, I should be at $200,000 and making $4,000 per day with 8 regular E-mini contracts. Wow! That sounds awesome. Can I really do it? There is only one way to find out! I did fairly well the first couple months last time, but the stakes are higher now, starting with $2k. After 12 months I will probably drastically drop the daily target since 2% per day ad infinitum is impossible. But I do know guys who trade with 8 contracts at a time. And this whole very public exercise is to train my tiny brain to be able to CORRECTLY handle the stress that goes with 8 contracts. Now check this out-- I have a friend who knows someone who trades 100 Emini's at a time. How does he do it? I just can't imagine. But -- I bet he started small. Sub Goals 1) Plan ahead for the trading day by (a) Plotting the previous day's signposts: High, Low, Open, Close, support levels, resistance levels. (b) Keep track of news releases. (c) Look at the overnight inventory to see if it is strongly bullish or bearish. If it is too lopsided, the odds go up for a reversal at the open. 2) Trading time. 9:40 to 11:40 ET. No swing trading, no overnight trading, no intentional news trading. I may trade longer in the day if I have not met the 1% minimum daily goal. 3) Instruments. I will trade only the micros - MNQ, MYM, and M2k at the beginning. Some like the MES, but it is too slow for me, and I prefer the 50 cent ticks of the others. 4) Number of contracts. 1 micro per $500 in the account. For example, I can currently trade with up to 4 simultaneous contracts. When I get to $2,500, then I can add a 5th. 5) Stops. I will honor a $20 per contract stop for the micros. This is like $200 on the E-minis and seems a bit large, but for the micros and this crazy volatile market, the risk seems correct. Regardless of the size of my stop, any time I feel the market is turning against me, then I will get out immediately - before my stop is hit. 6) Daily goal. 1% to 3% per day. I will keep trying until I get to at least 1% per day, even if I go over time. I will stop at 3% per day, even if I have extra time. 7) Once I get to $5,000 I will allow one regular Emini. At $5,500 I could trade up to 11 micros or one Emini and one micro. I am sure I have left some great goals and rules off the list, but lets get to the results of the first day: $43. I am off to a great start, hitting the 2% mark on the nose on day one. Here are the charts Things were a bit touch and go some days on the other account, but that is the nature of trading! Again, my goal is 1-3% per day, trying to get an average of 2% each day overall. But if I only get 1% per day, I might still be tempted to call the adventure a success. My motivation is to grow my capital, but to do it SAFELY and consistently. I have watched lots of traders, including myself, be high-risk traders. In fact, the only thing we seem to be consistent on is blowing ourselves up! So this is an ATTEMPT to model a SAFE way to grow an account. Whether you use micros or minis yourself or even a funding company, the principles are the same: Don't take on too much risk. Don't aim for the fences with each hit; go for the base hits. Take your time. Have a great "I can do it" attitude. Evaluate and refine. Thanks for joining me. sstheo
Thanks @Overnight. You are kind. What is the link to your own journal again? Your profile page is locked.
Can the market go higher from here? Seems really improbable. However.... http://traderfeed.blogspot.com/2020/01/is-very-strong-market-due-for-correction.html?m=1 This article was written just for me. I like the summary:
At least OP is posting his trades while you're wasting your time (and his) with empty chatters. Be a man, quit talking so much and post some real-time trades.
You may be right. But I do have a good track record. Check out the old journal. And remember that a $5 micro trade is really like a $50 Emini trade. The margin would have supported all my trades today had I done Emini's. That would have been $400 today, or a 20% return in one day. But I have learned the hard way that I can also easily lose 20% in one day. And this is why I have scaled way back and now worship the micros since they came on the scene. I can finally trade responsibly. (Sounds like an alcohol commercial!) Please hang around a while @dozu888 and let me know when you see something I can improve. I really am teachable. Thanks
I loved your last one, good luck with this one. $200,000 is really ambitious. I'll prepare a bottle of champagne (which I'll bill to you) when you accomplish it . On a more serious note I've tried trading MES during Euro/Japan times and the liquidity is really bad. How are you managing decent trades in that environment?
Good luck with your journal and trading. If I may offer a piece of advice- Don’t put hard limits on times to trade (9:40-11:40 only) or profit limits (2%/day). There will be opportunities for you to make a month/quarter/year on a handful of trading days. Don’t restrict yourself. Make hay while the sun shines.
This is my AMP report. Just verifying the trades today. 3 MNQ, 3 MYM, 1 M2k = 7 total. $5.46 commission and fees/7 = $.78 round trip. So nothing has changed on fees. I wanted them lower, but at least they didn't go up. So my net for the day was $43-$5.46 or $37.54. $37.54/7 = $5.36 per trade. (Or about $50 per trade if E-mini) At $.50 per tick, that is 10 ticks per trade average. I would love to keep this up each day-- 10 ticks average per trade. Off to a good start.