Well sir, A couple of thing I knowâ¦. Trading successfully takes a lot of patience â it is a great (and absolutely necessary) skill⦠Like wise â saving money takes a lot of patience I also know trading with scared money (not enough capital) is a real bitchâ¦â¦ And as I donât believe the market is going anywhere for the foreseeable future â you have time Please draw you own conclusion as to the appropriate course of action for your situation Fwiw It is one thing to sit back and dream of what you could do (trading wise) if only you had the capital â been there done that⦠It is totally another to actually do itâ¦. Please know I am not saying you canât â I am saying it is a totally different ball game when your butt is hanging out in the wind. Take the time and build up your arsenal (your trading capital) Sir, and develop your skill (patience) along the way⦠Just a dumbass redneck's opinion - nothing more Regards RN
Looks to me like those dumbass rednecks are sometimes pretty smart. To the OP -- money is pretty easy to find if what you're doing actually works, but -- as someone else already noted -- nobody with any sense at all will touch a trader who just turned the corner a few months ago and, shockingly enough, is making money in a crazy rally. Stay patient and keep whatever job has allowed you to get to this point. A large CBOT local very famously kept his job as a grocery store produce manager until trading had been successful enough to put his net worth over 7 figures. Smart guy... If you can ride out changing market conditions and remain profitable, the money will come -- both from your profits and the interest of those around you. If you can't, it's back to the drawing board.
Try this: Amount traded is in direct correlation to PF and desired return. Not the other way. If I have a 100k in my account and I want a return of 100% per year and my PF is 3:1 then I have to do the math backwards to figure out how many contracts per trade I need to put on, assuming linear progression and consistency for both PF and trade frequency. The lower the frequency, the more cars per trade nec. and vice versa. Also, over the long term, a PF of 3:1 traded weekly, will not yield the same results as if traded daily. A larger sample will automatically yield different results, and backtests are nothing more then a decent indicator, but can be unreliable forward because of constantly changing market conditions. If a backtested "system" does not perform well in real time, usually it is a lousy system and was curve fitted, or only viable for a specific trading period while conditions happened to be favorable to that system. A truly good system performs well in all market conditiond and across most if not all markets. Though obviously in some markets and at certain times, performance will be better then others.
Very well said guys, thanks a lot to those who gave their constructive opinions! just FYI, I trade stock index on 1 mins chart, so I dont care what market condition it is as long as there isnt FOMC announcement during the hour. The crazy rally in recent months is for those who hold trades for weeks. I hold trades from minutes to couple of hours the max, crazy rallies and waterfalls are everyday things for me. I was just wondering if most already successful traders did actually struggle hard to trade themselves out of the hole or did they have other ways to raise capital or get to manage other ppl's money after establishing a creditable track record. btw, r there legit firms that recruiting traders with proven record?
If you have a good track record, just go through your list of family and friends and raise capital from them. That's your best bet.
Then just as quickly, put this idea out of your head. IT is a terrible idea. You are going to wind up losing their money and creating a lot of anger and tension. You are 95% likely to screw it up. That is the track record of newer traders such as yourself who has "finally developed my own profitable mechanical trading system"
I have pretty much the same problem as leorc. I don't have a 100% mechanical system, it's discretionary in part. But I do have the same history background that I lost a lot of money but finally last year came up with a profitable strategy, that has been thorougly backtested and forward tested and traded live, consistently profitable, for 2009. And I agree with TraderZones that asking money from friends or family is an option best avoided at all cost. This creates more emotional press and stressure which you don't need in trading. I've read a lot of posts on this forum about the markets not been that easy last few months, but yet my strategy is still profitable. therefore it's quite disappointing to still be trading with "penny cash" if you can't compound because you need to live from the profits you make. I don't know if that's the case with leorc, but it sure is with me. People are right, there's no shortcut, and most have suggested going back to work full time and raise some money there. But that's easier said then done, and that puts most people back at least a year or two, which sounds like ages for me ...
It may sound like ages, but it isn't -- not in the grand scheme of things. In the meantime, you should think about working evenings or weekends while you trade. Even a little money can make a big difference in the early going, and every penny you take from another source is one that remains in your trading account to be compounded. Sure, it means full commitment and minimal social life -- but doesn't that describe your competition? Profitable trading isn't for dilettantes.
stay away with money from others. it can cause aggravation, messing with your head, and added burden and paperwork that you don't need. oh, wait - that's if things are GOOD. if you're losing money, toss in lots of pressure, badgering, and possible loss of family and friends at a time you'd need them most.