OP, not sure wether you can afford to lose what you bet, but you don't need much to go live and check it out.
So now you average $100-200/contract, down from the $200-$300/contract from your original post. Why the drop?
I really wanted to post this in career trader http://www.kspr.com/news/local/kspr-mcdonalds-hiring-50000-workers-20110404,0,5102571.story
Good timing. Tycoonman will have blown out his account by April 19th, he should get his resume in as soon as possible.
When you were younger did you ever play poker without a buy in? How many people went all in just for the hell of it? Was it easier to make a large bet when no money was at stake? Your strategy is different when real money is at stake. Same idea applies for futures trading.
The hard part about trading is that sometimes you'll find that a particular trading style works great, then all of a sudden it doesn't. A method that is developed in one market environment may not work at all in another. For example, you might find a strategy that is profitable because it allows you to keep your stops very tight. These trades begin to seem like a "no brainer"; low risk, high reward. Then volatility kicks up and you find these stops getting triggered far more often than you'd expect. To compensate, you might widen the stops; you might tighten the profit target. Whatever the case, you find that the method is no longer profitable. You begin to hesitate pulling the trigger; you can see setups forming but no longer trust them. Etc. This is what is hard about trading. It is very difficult to trade well in all market moods.
You gotta start sometime...I do not know any trader who makes it out of the gate to never lose again... so what are you waiting for? ES
rules 1. Patience-when u begin trading live your gonna be impatient and start taking early trades and your emotions play a huge roll. Its important to wait for the exact setups u used to take on your demo. 2. Discipline-follow the set ups that work for you on the demo dont change anything if it works on the demo it works live only thing that changes is emotions. 3. Listen to what the market is trying to tell you- You say you trade the trend well the steeper the trend the better right? If you make money off of this its important not to trade FLAT markets.
You ever heard of the term 'Beginner's luck' "Beginner's luck refers to the supposed phenomenon of novices experiencing disproportionate frequency of success or succeeding against an expert in a given activity. One would expect experts to outperform novices - when the opposite happens it is counter-intuitive, hence the need for a term to describe this phenomenon. The term is most often used in reference to a first attempt in sport or gambling, but is also used in many other diverse contexts... Beginner's luck is thought to end once a player gets involved with a game, and the "innocent" psychological mindset is replaced by one that is concerned with the nuances of the game." http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beginner's_luck
Lol, don't listen to these guys trying to piss all over your dream. Deposit and go for it. Just remember to not be results oriented; execute according to your plan, don't let your emotional well being be tied to your P&L. It's only five grand.