Bad idea or a smart solution?

All of the opposing views on this subject are very interesting. Lets keep this going.

 

a prop firm might not be a bad idea like someone said. With 5k you can get 5 to 10 times buying power and if you blow up all you will be out is the 5k.

Shop around and try to find a good one, there are some that do a good job of helping you manage risk and provide some guidance. Others don't care what you do because they are making money off of you and could care less if you blow up or not.

If your system is as good as you say it is you should be able to recoup your 5k in no time and after that you will essentially be trading with the houses money.

 

I imagine OP is in the USA, otherwise spreadbetting in ES would be the way to go. Or, micro FX, if the system works on currencies.

 

anything that approves taking maxing out your credit cards based on an idea like this, are likely to be people who have never done it, or have no idea how hard it is to make a small amount into a trading career.

For one thing, screwing up your credit can almost ruin your employment prospects for up to 10 years, in an economy that is already very hard. Not to mention raise your car insurance rates, keep you from future loans or mortgages, and a lot of other things people do not think of until they get hit by it later. Employers check credit, and you will go to the bottom of the pile on almost every opening you apply for. People walking away from homes often have no clue what the negatives really are.

Your chances of success are less than 1%. Your chances of failure are almost the inverse of that. And the likely damages when you might not be able to pay it back, you cannot begin to imagine.

 

I recommend that for 2 weeks you post your trades here. Post your entry in real time, as well as your stop loss and your profit target. Then post the end result of each trade once the trade is closed.

If you can do this and demonstrate net profitability at the end of two weeks, then there's a slight possibility you have a chance of succeeding with real money.

 

Here is what I have from casually trading over the past few weeks with my system (I will post more in the future). I took some time away this month as you can see. I just started a new job and have been busy. I am not very proud of some of these losers because they were simply from not following my system. Some other losers were out of my control, which I accept is part of trading. Sorry about the messiness.


action
open date
close date
amount
units
open
close
spread
profit
gain

Sell EUR/USD 21/09/10 06:36 21/09/10 06:58 500.00 200000 1.3083 1.3076 60.00 200.00 40.00%
Sell EUR/USD 13/09/10 05:00 13/09/10 06:06 2,000.00 100000 1.2792 1.2814 30.00 -190.00 -9.50%
Buy GBP/JPY 03/09/10 06:04 03/09/10 06:51 2,000.00 100000 129.88 129.99 71.22 201.79 10.09%
Sell GBP/JPY 03/09/10 04:56 03/09/10 05:23 2,000.00 100000 129.80 129.84 71.28 23.76 1.19%
Buy GBP/JPY 03/09/10 03:58 03/09/10 04:55 2,000.00 100000 129.98 129.85 71.22 -83.09 -4.15%
Sell GBP/JPY 02/09/10 05:42 02/09/10 06:36 2,000.00 100000 129.76 129.78 71.28 47.52 2.38%
Sell GBP/JPY 30/08/10 03:11 30/08/10 03:32 250.00 100000 133.31 132.74 69.96 737.43 294.97%
Sell GBP/JPY 29/08/10 22:51 29/08/10 23:07 250.00 100000 132.84 132.81 70.14 105.24 42.10%
Buy GBP/JPY 29/08/10 21:22 29/08/10 21:40 125.00 50000 132.68 132.58 35.13 -23.47 -18.78%
Buy GBP/JPY 27/08/10 04:36 27/08/10 04:55 125.00 50000 131.41 131.44 35.46 53.18 42.54%
Buy GBP/JPY 27/08/10 03:20 27/08/10 04:55 125.00 50000 131.20 131.44 35.49 177.21 141.77%
Buy GBP/JPY 27/08/10 03:09 27/08/10 04:55 125.00 50000 131.17 131.44 35.52 194.96 155.97%
Buy GBP/JPY 27/08/10 03:08 27/08/10 04:55 250.00 100000 131.16 131.46 71.04 425.34 170.14%
Sell EUR/USD 26/08/10 06:21 26/08/10 06:59 250.00 100000 1.2696 1.2716 30.00 -170.00 -68.00%
Buy EUR/USD 26/08/10 02:44 26/08/10 03:06 250.00 100000 1.2697 1.2692 30.00 -20.00 -8.00%
Sell GBP/JPY 26/08/10 01:00 26/08/10 01:09 250.00 100000 131.00 131.12 70.86 -70.86 -28.34%

Overall win ratio = 10/18 = 55%
Total profit = about $1600

What do you think so far? I know I can do better.

 

Since the system works in currencies, just start a $100 account on a micro FX site like FXCM, Oanda, etc., if you can win consistently with $100, increase size from there. Don't start with your full capital size, if you have discipline.

 

You're doing better than everyone here.


Can you take up a teaching post at ET?

 

I am not quite ready for that . I am sure there are many people here who are more experienced than me. I will continue to post my trades though.

 

You will continue to lose.
Don't waste your hard earned money generating commissions to liar brokers.