I actually think he sounds like a fool. He quotes me "blah blah blah" - thanks, pal. Nice to see you have basic respect for people.
If you read my post you will see that I said the daily target can be modified. If a trader consistently makes $500 day with ease then he can change the goal to $1000/ day or $5000/ day. "Don't pay attention to your P&L (unless you're negative, of course)." You have it totally wrong - this is exactly how a trader DOES progress to the next level - by GOAL ORIENTED TRADING. Your approach is what? It is basically "make as much money as I can make" - this is a recipe for failure and if you truly follow such a vague "approach" we can be almost certain that you are not profitable at all. It is all relative - each trader needs to set his own goal - $500/day is used ONLY AS AN EXAMPLE. It can be $100k/day. It is your goal which shapes the decisions you make while you are trading. When a trader does this he sees what he is capable of with whatever capital he is using - the goal can and should be raised! Nobody should stick to $500/day if he knows he can make $50k/day! The GOAL is a sort of framework, a reference point. The goal is NOT just a target - it shapes the way the trader acts.
How come nobody has mentioned the amount of capital we're talking about? Some kid with a couple thousand dollars has 0 chance of making $500 a day off that. If you have a couple million, you can get that from your bond interest, maybe throw some covered calls in for some excitement. I believe it is possible for a skilled trader to make $500/day off an account of $300k-$600k with relatively little risk. By most accounts, that is definitely "beating the market" and a reachable dream for disciplined and intelligent individuals. However, for those who have sub-$100k accounts, this isn't what they want to hear.
I can make $500/day off a $5000 account, provided broker gives me leverage. If I get leverage, to make $500/day without a drawdown over $5000 (or even $3000) is quite quite doable/almost borderline easy. I've been making well over $500/day for about 9 months, keeping only $10k in my account... haven't gone negative in the account once... withdrawing all profits at end of month. ---- As far as stopping when up, I used to do this because I had a strategy that worked well in the first 90 minutes, then failed in the mid-day. If your setups don't work past a certain time, it makes sense not to keep taking them. Now that I trade setups that work at all times of the day, I trade the entire day. It makes no sense to leave early. It takes true professional confidence to be up nicely in the morning and continue to trade, knowing it is possible that you will lose your entire day, but also knowing it is worth it in the long run. Or... you can be a nonconfident gambler as well.
If you can make 10% per day on an account, why don't you compound that in to millions (assuming it doesn't scale well past a certain dollar level) in short time? Why would you only have $10k in an account to trade after all your success instead of keeping most of the money in there to compound and get you fabulously rich?
I get all the buying power I need. If the firm goes under why would I want my money with them? When I see a setup I take a lot of the available liquidity. Beyond a certain point I have too much size and trying to work in and out of the position becomes a pain in the ass, and doesn't increase my returns as much as it increases m risk.
Stretching for a daily goal is not a good thing to do. When the market isn't supportive of your strategy and strengths, trying to hit a goal leads to revenge trading and stupid errors. It's like filing a flight plan then ignoring the storms that roll into your path. The smart pilot knows when to stay on the ground, and the smart trader knows when to walk away.
it really depends on your state of mind....every losing and winning streak will affect the way you think about the next trade (good for you, if you can overcome this). You may have the skill but it's very difficult to make the same rational decision under every condition during the entire trading day. I tend to do some pretty dumb mistakes after a few nice large profit trades, so my goal is to recognize this state of mind and call it quits for the day...I try to limit my losses as much I can.
I have just lost my "humbleness". You and the the 95% plus/minus of other ET participants are wannabees and blowups waiting to happen. When the student is ready the teacher will come. No longer will I make one iota of an attempt at collapsing that time frame for any member of the elite 95%. Respect?? Fuck you. You are stuck! You offer me nothing. Quit your weeping. You will NEVER be a success at trading with your reasons and excuses. Get over it. Osorico is now officially retired from ET. Thank you.