Swept into a govt insured account, keepin unneeded excess cash in a futures account is foolhardy for strict daytraders--- surf
Capital allocated per contract and capital in the brokers account are 2 completely different things. I have a total amount that I designate as trading capital. I deposit the minimum required to comfortably cover my trading with the broker. The rest I deposit with my bank in Thailand where it earns interest and is covered by a deposit guarantee. The 15K per contract I mentioned was total trading capital, not what was in the brokers account. Capital allocated per contract is simply a risk control mechanism I employ, in the same way I calculate percentage of capital risked per trade on total trading capital, not on what is in the brokers account. Now that I am back to swing trading the dynamics are a bit different with overnight hold, but I still split capital as explained above. Edit: Calculated returns are on total trading capital, not just what is in the brokers account.
It's a case where my trading is as mechanical as it never was. Almost "TA quant" approach so to say. Did it for particular reasons fully aware returns would dip during the period of adaptation. Hopefully increase over time though.
Yea, when risk per trade is pre-defined by hard stops and trades are only performed during RTH it makes sense to use aggressive risk management and exploit the risk capital maximally rather than seemingly decrease risk by exposing more capital to Graham risk (permanent loss of capital).
Long-term investments in some stocks, real-estate and similar obvious routes of diversification. Hopefully some venture investing in future for me as well.
I don't disagree with you and agree about your real estate comment. Having enought rental income to cover your daily expenses is a great goal/way to live.
Yep. Day trading is nice, but I would find it scary to rely solely on day trading for the rest of life as the only income. The safest way is extract money from the markets and transfer at least part into "real" economy. Endless compounding is great... in theory.
Exactly. That is the conclusion I had come to after clearing my head of all the hype and misinformation that exists around trading.
Always have a plan B and plan C. Most famous athletes have a side business going while their still playing sports at the peak of their career (e.g. restaurants, clothing signature lines, entertainment business, charity foundations, venture startup projects and so on). Thus, many do "transfer into the real economy". Yet, on the flip side, its not uncommon to see traders viewing their trading as a plan B or plan C. Reality, most see it as a hobby or academic pursuit.