Hello all, I traded stocks from 2001 - 2004 along with ETF's. I left the world of daytrading to get my degree in business. Now I am employed in the "real" world and the day trading itch has never left. The itch is like bad hemroid that flares up everytime I think about my mundane job (I know some of you are with me on this). So while working in my mundaneness for the last year I have been working on a trading methodology I am finally getting comfortable with. -I will be trading the E-mini S&P. (or another mini after hours???) -I have $4000 and will be trading 1 lots until I can triple my account. -My system generates roughly 3 to 4 trades a day on average Some questions I have - Is $4000 enough? My margin is 900 and I will most likely pay commisions of $5 round turn. - If I stay employed in the world of small cubicles and musty air what mini products can I trade starting from about 4pm - 5pm central time that has decent volume? - Did I miss anything????
1) Keep your dayjob at all costs. 2) You may not qualify for intra-day margin when you're able to trade. 3) Get more money in the account. 4) Instead of trading later in the afternoon, consider trading earlier in the morning when Europe is "open". The eMini, gold, crude oil and currencies can be more active.
I could make early morning work. I could probably get up around 2 am. I would love to see a list of active futures I could trade at that time. I also might be able to come up with 1.5k more for a total of 5.5k. I am looking for a part time job during the week to suppliment my income. On paper my system looks great. I am working on figuring out the error though. I want whats on paper to look realistic.
that is the exact time that the server is down for maintenance on my trading platform...seriously...you should think about before work 5:30am-6:30am or late at night 9-11pm CST...trading the CME Globex currencies at that time...even the ES moves then...or, if you have a lunch hour CST...tread lightly
2 am est - 11 am est are the most profitable trading hours. try to work out a job so you can take advantage of this time frame. if you can make it work......it'll work out. and btw.....you have to be a profitable trader to make it work. no problemo right......?
The ES, Gold, and Oil all trade with decent volume outside normal US hours. You could also look at forex. You probably won't get out of market margins at 900, I don't know anyone who does that, I don't believe it's even allowed. Who told you to trade it until you triple it? Some internet guru? You wish you could triple it before you trade it to zero. I don't mean to be offensive, seriously I don't - just trying to help - but I would short your account with a wide stop loss and ride it to zero any day. If you do have a broker that offers 900 out of market trading margin, then he's probably shorting your account. Seriously though, you first need to see if you can manage not to lose all your money. Then you should start to think about making money.
Your biggest mistake is coming here to announce your intentions. My advice to you is to write your plan down on paper. Keep a trading journal, turn off all financial news. Focus on risk management rather than how to get rich.
That's not a sabbatical, that's called growing up . Did you miss anything? How about being woefully under-capitalized for anything other than pitching pennies. My advice is join IB, buy some broad market index or etf and then paper trade your heart out testing your ideas. It will beat losing you future house down payment or emergency fund. Good Luck