I have several questions regarding the e-mini Dow. I'd like to start trading the e-mini dow with about $5,000. I'm planning on trading 5 contracts in order to take advantage of the $500 intraday margin using the rest of the funds ($2500) as a buffer. From your experience, do you think this is realistic? Does anyone know of a popular strategy most traders implement that usually works with some consistency (i.e. support/resistance; intraday Moving averages,etc.)? Or any other method? Also, do any of the futures firms offer conditional type of orders that allows you to place for example: " if one side of a trade gets filled, the other side automatically gets cancelled "? Lastly, can you guys recommend a futures firm that's reliable, has a fairly low commission rate, and offers free charting/tech analysis? Thanks for your help. Tom
Are you taking the piss? There is a little function on here called search use it then come ask some questions is my advice. Also 5 contracts on 5k I will give you a week before you are out of the game. Best of luck Bogan7
dude ... have you ever traded - DIA - ? do you even have enough capital ( 25K ) to day trade retail ? if your answer is "no" to both questions then I have to think the odds are waaay waay against you unless you have some "edge" that you really really think gives you a chance ... by the way ... there is a "paid sponsor" ( advertiser ) on the ET message boards that "claims" to have some methods to "teach" newbies how to trade the YM not sure if this would benefit you ( esp. if their methods are hard to follow ) but surely this would be cheaper than "winging it" and "overleveraging" a small futures acct in trading YM good luck to you
My most important recommendation is that you not trade 5 contracts to begin with, especially with a $5K account and obviously little experience. Trade 1 contract until you find some consistency or you'll be out of the game in short order....promise. Trading strategy is individual. Spend the time to find strategies that appeal to you. Pick one that fits your personality and master it. You may have to try several before you figure it out. I believe any successful trader on these boards has poured a lot of time into crafting a successful methodology for themselves. I can't tell you how many hours I've spent, but I feel sure it's easily in the thousands and I'm still working at success. The most difficult part is the emotional aspect. It's almost as if you need to trade for a certain length of time, lose money, win some, lose some more...until you become sorta jaded and lose the dangerous emotions that lead many a newbie to impulse trade, revenge trade, not follow your rules, etc. Profitable trading will take good execution of a system with a better than 50/50 probability of success, (there are plenty out there freely available), patience for the setup and emotionless execution (among other things). Much easier said than done....trust me. I use Vcap Futures. They are very reasonable per RT. Charts are something you'll need to get independently, along with data feed to the charts. You'll need a platform too. Ninja Trader is decent and has the OCO (one cancels other) capability you're looking for. There are several others too. Now you need to do some work. Welcome aboard and good luck.
I highly recommend you read the below quote again and again. Riaamaan absolutely correct. Here's an analogy of what you said. I'm just learning how to box and I would like for you guys to point me in the right direction to learn how to jab, upper cut and the rules of the game because I'll soon be getting in the ring with the heavyweight champ of the world. Simply, take it slow, develop your strategy via picking up pieces of the puzzle from research. Thus, there is absolutely no good reason why an inexperience trader should be trading multiple contracts with a small trading account out of the gate. http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/search.php?s= Anything that gets recommended to you...use the above search feature and Google to look up any info associated with the recommendation. http://www.google.com Next, put together a trading plan that you have back tested and revealed to a successful trader for help in analyzing the strategy to discuss potential problems with it. Here's another analogy. It's like writting a term paper and before you turn it in to the teacher (the market), you want someone to proof read it to find all the errors and make suggestions on improving your paper. In addition, your 5k will be your tuition fee...be smart how you spend it (not sarcasm). Once again, you should read the below quote. Mark (a.k.a. NihabaAshi) Japanese Candlestick term
I can almost guarentee you that you will lose money for at least the first couple of months. The more contracts you trade the faster you will lose it and you can take that to the bank.
Is this post a joke? Seriously, you're a beginner and you want to trade 5 contracts? I'm an "experienced" trader and just moved to futures and with a $7,500 account I'm only trading 1 and in rare occassions 2 e-mini contracts.
Tom: Go for it. Don't let the naysayers come between you and your dreams. Understand that a faint heart never won the fortune or the fair lady. Who cares about preparation, risk management, viable system and emotional well being when your will to win is so strong. But if I were you, I'll trade 1 contract only. That might be the reason why I'm driving a honda and not a lamborguini. The good thing about trading 1 contract (with your capital and experience) is that you'll lose money slowly and hopefully you can learn in the process. If you trade 5 contracts, you will not survive long enough in this game to even learn something. Losing $5000 is not a whole lot as long as you learn something in the process. Consider that your tution money. Find one strategy, master it and trade it. Learn something in the process.
Tom, Well, either your post is a joke or you seriously need to study the basics before jumping in to the deep end... First, you need to educate yourself. Spend time at www.cme.com and www.cbot.com. Answers to your questions below... I'd like to start trading the e-mini dow with about $5,000. I'm planning on trading 5 contracts in order to take advantage of the $500 intraday margin using the rest of the funds ($2500) as a buffer. From your experience, do you think this is realistic? Using $500 margins provides NO buffer whatsover. One contract will provide some buffer. Let's say you jump in and day one lose 30 YM pts. 30 ym pts x $5/pt = $150/contract before commissions. 5 contracts would equal $750 before commissions. After commissions, that could easily be 1/5 of your account in ONE day. By Fri, your broker will be calling for more funds. Does anyone know of a popular strategy most traders implement that usually works with some consistency (i.e. support/resistance; intraday Moving averages,etc.)? Or any other method? The most 'popular' strategy... Wow, where to begin... Spend some time searching these forums and you will see a part of the bigger picture. Also, do any of the futures firms offer conditional type of orders that allows you to place for example: " if one side of a trade gets filled, the other side automatically gets cancelled "? Most futures software packages will have OCO's, bracket orders, etc. Should not be hard to find. Lastly, can you guys recommend a futures firm that's reliable, has a fairly low commission rate, and offers free charting/tech analysis? Check the broker reviews and other posts on this site about futures brokers. There's plenty of threads here about this topic.
Hello Tom, At Global Futures we can provide you the things you mentioned in your earlier post, trading platforms with charting packages, good commission rates and low intra day margins. In my opinion with a 5k account, a more conservative approach with 1 contract at first to get a feel for the markets might be something to consider until you gain confidence in your trading. I can provide you live demos for you and any information if you are interested. You can reach me at 1-877-367-3177 x 127 or email me at jkhek@gfetc.com for more detailed information. Johnny..