Oh, not at all. The software is free. Anyone who cares about their trading account, should have some kind of money management. If you know of any other money management software that is good and does the job, free to use of course, please inform me.
He does not seem to want good advice, but I will give some anyway. Take out $ 60,000 out of your account right now and put it in a checking account. This money is to be used to pay for school. Do it RIGHT NOW! Now, you just got rid of all of your psychological problems. Now, go back and trade like you used to trade when you made the money in the 1st place. Stop with all of this automating nonsense. You have zero skill. Even most genius MIT graduates can not successfully create a trading black box. Try to remember how you used to trade. Remember that you were taking big risks and big rewards. Also, if you want a place to park $ 10,000 for a swing trade not a day trade that will turn into $ 100,000, just let me know. If it works out, just give me 20% of the profit.
Most of the black boxes make money do to other events. For example being able to pay for a 1 second look at incoming orders. Being able take orders away from other traders by increasing or decreasing amount paid by less than a penny. Having servers co-located at the NYSE. I don't consider front running to be a fair trading strategy. So I don't compete with them on scalping. My goal is to be able to predict a longer trade with high probability. For example, I ended up profitable today by taking 2 points long on ES futures. The rest is psychological like not moving targets and stops, not over trading, not revenge trading. I am not going to be profitable by fighting the machines that can make money on 1 - 2 ticks and get lower commission then me. Some may actually get rebates for providing volume. Yesterday, I had a break even day even though I was up for the day due to commissions. So yes, there are good jobs for as long as market conditions favor the strategy employed by these quants. However, look at LTCM which had a ton of genius traders and a black box which blew up and took the firm with it. A single trade is not going to blow me up.
Weekly Update for week 47/50 ended 12/03/2011 Good week, up 4.9K (2.9%). Took out 5K for the month ended Nov, 2011. Still figuring out how to cope with the demands of 5K a month. Certainly the utmost caution is being taken to ensure only good quality trades are taken. My bane has always been trying too many strategies in a bid for much higher returns. Had I stuck to my best strategy, I might have been up more than 40% with about 65 trades. Instead I have tried evey strategy resulting in 48% loss from 886 trades. Of course I realize the best strategy this year might not be the best performing next year, which is why one would keep a number of strategies going. I am trying to see how to "trend" trade strategies - give more prominence to what has been working lately while de-emphasizing the underperforming. Code: Opening Balance: 169,140 Net gain for the week 4,855 Cash Withdrawal (5,000) ------------------------------------------------- Net Balance: 168,995 Since Inception of Thread 01/8/2011 - 12/03/2011 Opening Balance: 335,899 Net loss (Less Margin Interest) 161,904) (Down 48%) Cash Withdrawal (5,000) ------------------------------------------------ Net Balance 168,995
Now your talking Neke. Sounds like you are onto something. Keep in mind not every strat works for your mindset. Figure out what works for you. A few core strategies imo will work. Just have to be willing to tweak them when necessary. Good luck to you.
Good to hear, Neke! I've spent over 30 minutes waiting for a confirmed counter-trend trade (assuming I'm not stopped out for a loss) to produce a 20-tick profit, then watched 20 ticks fall into my lap in 14 seconds buying a break of a previous high in a defined uptrend. It's by far more difficult psychologically to trade in the direction of the prevailing trend because it runs counter to our bargain-hunting nature, but in trading, as in life, you often get what you pay for.
Weekly Update for week 48/50 ended 12/10/2011 OK week, up 2.5K (1.5%). Trudged through another quiet week in the market. Key remains being alert and avoiding the urge to take on trades just to create activity. Code: Opening Balance: 168,995 Net gain for the week 2,506 ------------------------------------------------- Net Balance: 171,501 Since Inception of Thread 01/8/2011 - 12/10/2011 Opening Balance: 335,899 Net loss (Less Margin Interest) (159,398) (Down 47.5%) Cash Withdrawal (5,000) ------------------------------------------------ Net Balance 171,501