We were going to start a 2 month training period with real money...And yes, just like you said about him being RIGHT there, making sure im doing everything right....But he just had a kid, and him and his wife moved away...But he still trains me the best he can over the INternet! But i feel the 4 months with him, was good enuf to get my feet wet in the market! Just wanted to know what all you traders think about my start? Thank you for all your help so far!
I would trade in real-time using the method you have been practicing and plan to use. If you plan on only doing a few trades a week, than your plan is fine. If you plan on day-trading, I would open an account with more than 25k so that you don't have to worry about PDT rules. Since you are trading Nasdaq with IB, I would set my default size at 10 shares, and start to trade your system. This will give you the best indication of your actual profit potential without blowing your account while you are learning. As you are consistently profitable, gradually increase your size until you are trading the size you want. Trading size will be a lot harder psychologically than trading 10 shares at a time, and you may have to modify your execution style a bit, but if you increase gradually you should be able to do it. Good luck.
Baker_Trader, First of all, congrats on having a mentor (not all traders need them in the beginning...but most newbies do). Once again...I'll re-post/re-phrase some very important question that should help you get the answers you seek... because trading is like a track-n-field meet (different types of traders)... simply, you don't want to be getting advice from someone that's a javelin thrower when your a high jumper. Thus, the more we know about you and what your mentor has been teaching you...the better the response your going to get from the appropriate traders. Here are those questions... 1. What trading style was your mentor of 4 months teaching you? 2. It's obviously he was doing something right that you like or else you would not have planned on doing 2 months realtime training with him nor doing the current internet training with him... is it this style (trade methodology) you will be trading with on your own until you two can complete your training? 3. What size trading account was your mentor...mentoring you via? 4. (new question)...In those 4 months of training...what account size were you simulating with? That should answer your earlier question about if 5k is good enough. Thus, if you were simulating trading with an account size your unable to actually trade during real money trading...your already at a HUGE disadvantage when you do start trading with real money... because psychologically you have prepared yourself differently from what you will actually see during real trading. Simply, if you only got 5k to trade with...then your simulating training should be via 5k only. P.S. I truly believe your not ready for trading on your own until your mentor completes what he started with you... I say this based on the questions you have been asking so far here at ET. Then again...because your mentor has a wonderful interruption (newborn)...I know understand why you've come to ET to get answers that your mentor obviously and understandable doesn't have time to respond to. Good luck...this is a tough forum and the market is much tougher when you have real money on the line. NihabaAshi
Hi Baker_Trader, I'll repeat the questions again... if you don't want to answer them...that's ok. 1. What trading style was your mentor of 4 months teaching you? (Scalping, swing, position...using what indicators or was it price action alone, how many trades a day...what?) 2. It's obviously he was doing something right that you like or else you would not have planned on doing 2 months realtime training with him nor doing the current internet training with him... is it this style (trade methodology) you will be trading with on your own until you two can complete your training? 3. What size trading account was your mentor...mentoring you via? 4. (new question)...In those 4 months of training...what account size were you simulating with? NihabaAshi
Hey wally, from the website http://www.expertlaw.com Here's another lawyer joke: Not My Beautiful Car! A lawyer parked at the side of the road, and opened the door of his BMW. Suddenly, a speeding car appeared from nowhere, hitting the door and ripping it off of his car. The lawyer was outraged. When the police arrived at the scene, the lawyer whined, "Officer, look what that person did to my Beemer! You have to find him and arrest him!" "You lawyers are so materialistic, you make me sick," the officer snapped. "You're so upset about your stupid BMW, that you didn't even notice that your left arm was ripped off in the accident." "Oh my God....", gasped the lawyer, finally noticing the bloody stump where his arm had been. "My Rolex!" P.S. I have several close law buddies and they hate all my lawyer jokes. Also, I have learned a lot about how lawyers charge per hour or per day...it's a little scary. By the way...lawyers make horrible traders. They are always filing litigation for every bad fill they get on a trade. And never mention the word arbitration to a trader that studied law...crap really hits the fan. NihabaAshi
Sorry everyone but i was away for 2 days, hence the reason why i did not reply to all the questions asked to me! But what im going to do is just post my trading guideline ok? Tell me what you think! NihabaAshi: Thank you for the PM "I will trade only one position at a time. I will wait for a stock to reach a support or resistance level. Support or resistance will be determined by prior monthly, weekly or intraday benchmarks. I will trade only the NASDAQ market and in stocks which are higher than $10.00 in price. I will choose 5 stocks that meet the following criteria: Each stock must have more than 5 million shares per day traded on it. Next the stock must have an average intraday volatility of 50 cents market fluctuation. I will trade no other stocks. Once I choose these stocks I will not trade them until I have studied them for a least a couple of weeks. I will study these stocks so that I know everything about them. These stocks must mirror image the NASDAQ market intraday. I will use the NASDAQ market and study its trend. If the NASDAQ market is in a down trend I will not trade against it. If the NASDAQ market is in an up trend I will not trade against it. I will watch the NASDAQ market chart intraday very closely and let it help decide when to buy or sell my 5 stocks which mirror image the NASDAQ. I will execute my trades with only 100 shares. I will use the 100 shares to test the waters. That is, execute the trade and let a small amount of shares with small risk become my live intraday indicator. I will watch my live indicator and let the market tell me if I am wrong. I will always assume that I am wrong until proven correct. Once proven correct I will add a maximum of another 100 shares to the position. If I am wrong and the market proves me incorrect I will exit my position within 10 cents maximum loss. I will use a protective stop loss on all positions. The stop loss amount will be determined by my money management plan. I will strictly adhere to my money management plan. I will only enter a trade on a stock when it is moving. That is, not stagnated, or not moving, lacking in volume and intensity. If I enter a trade and the stock does not immediately move in the intended direction or takes more than 3 minutes to move I will close the position. I will not trade a stock between the hours of 11 and 2:30 EST." Tell me what you think guys Thank you