The goal is not to get as big as possible, that is for some a ego thing. I have the costs of living and the coming retirement taken care of. Trading these days is mostly a hobby, a brain stimulator, something to get me up in the morning where i can make some money. I do see some have different ideas about how much to play with and how much to "BANK". When i first went into trading i did it for the specific purpose of learning a different profession, a profession where i could make enough $$$$$ to be my own boss. If the goal was to become the next Paul Tudor Jones or a Stanley Druckenmiller i probably would have blown up a long time ago. I set the sail for slow and steady, decided to be the turtle not the hare. Every once in awhile i get the urge to feed the horse some premium oats and load the wagon. Here is a belief of mine: If you take a 50K account and in the next month double it, sweep it back to 50k at start of each month. The consistency of that strategy plus your daytrade tactics can become automatic, not to mention profitable. The end of year percentage of gain on the original 50k is indeed a good year in anyones book. I do not need or maybe could not make millions a year. I simpler goal with quite mundane tactics can be applied with superior results. I firmly believe if many traders lowered the sights in the earlier stages to become a winner, more would make it. Some have such high hopes that they miss how simple the game really is. The easy stuff has always worked, should always work. The only threat i ever see to the trading game is: If and when, the world gets borderless, gets one currency, one ruler, one central bank (which then would not be needed), etc, etc. Then mkts will just be in the history books.....HOW BORING OF A WORLD WOULD THAT BE? One set of laws, HUMBUG.... PS, How hard can it really be to envision taking on avg of 5 handles out of the ES mkt each and every day for approx 245 days a year? To put it another way: If the daily goal was 10 or more handles a day on 10 contracts, more often then not the goal would not be met, frustration would demoralize many good men/women, they would quit. But how many would get to a goal of 5 a day as a more realistic game plan? So it is not the money, it is the game. I can play poker, can i play tournament poker, i think not....
I sweep all of my accounts either at the end of the month or 2x required margin. I only keep in there what is required for margin. I never keep more money than I have to have at any clearing firm or broker. I'm fortunate enough that in my career as a trader, I have never had to deposit any beyond initial deposits.
lescor Yes, i say it is not hard at all to average 5 handles a day. With the aggressive use of taking the signals that your intuition and memory tells you to take and with the use of STOPS on the wrong bets, at the end of the day, 5 handles of profit is a rather conservative goal. mind you that is a minimum profit goal after commissions for the day. Some days off the opening range Breakout, or a moving avg cross, or a line cross of the +6 or - 6 ticks, the day can start out sweet. The one-way days can catch many more if i risk a lot of profits. There is a big difference in a stop loss point and a trailing stop on profits. If i can get 5 handles early and the mkt looks to be a one-way day, i easily can take the 5 handles and become flat. Then if a retrace occurs i usually will jump back in and continue on, i shoot to set a no loss stop as soon as possible (if it was indeed just a retrace and not a reversal, then the new trade works), once the no-loss trailing stop is placed, i might leave it and just ride the next leg, then maybe a third leg also. There is a quite large risk factor between the second and third leg of a one-way days...That being, when the retrace after a second leg starts to happen the retrace during this time can be quite large, so a bunch of profits might be risked. Subjective it is to determine if you want to exit or to stay for a third leg. Expect to take some heave heat between the second and third legs. Look at some old charts of 1-way days on 5minute charts of the ES. PS, some say the YM is better than the ES but personally i contend if a person can do one then he/she should be able to do the other....... PSS, if the 5 handles are in the bank and i continue trading and start out hitting a stop loss, then the goal reverts to reversing that amount. keeps one sharper. PSSS,...HA, as a sidenote.....The "Berghoff" restaurant on Adams St is closing, WOW, love that place. The Berghoff received the #1 liquor license in 1933 after prohibition was repealed. The owner gave the space to his daughter for her catering business because she lost her lease at another downtown place. Now that is love from Dad and Mom, but the Dad is 70 and decided time to quit making the saurkraut. The daughter said the "BAR" standup part will reopen later.. Good.....