Oh -- THAT's where you guys were getting these "40 point loss" and $700 loss and such... I guess I'm so used to looking at those IB statements that it didn't occur to me. They do it that way because that's how futures are settled each day -- marked to market for each traded.
Not every FCM's statements are confusing like this. Futures are marked to market only if the position is still open at settlement.
Just got back from the other side of the island since friday, so sorry if I didn't respond sooner. As far as my style of trading goes, I would much rather open up my stops and go for a few more points, but I'm hesitant to do this because of my acct. size at this time. My number one priority is to preserve my capital while I learn the game. Scalping is letting me develop a feel without risking too much of a draw down. However, I will try it on a few occasions this week and see what happens. Someone posted on another thread the importance of entries on NQ trading as opposed to stocks and I couldn't agree more. I'm not trading the ES (yet) because I have my hands full with the NQ at the moment.
A plethora of technical problems forced me to trade in the afternoon only. I hate it when that happens. Been trading without charts for 3 days now, which is OK for me 'cause I mainly look at price anyway. What I do use charts for is mostly reference and obvious technical patterns (double tops-bottoms and wedgies with extreme compression). You (subject to personal preference) really don't need charts for scalping IMHO. On a side note, I tried to up my default to 2 contracts on the settings page of TWS but after I changed it and tried to trade again, it wouldn't let me. A pop-up came up (I don't remember what it said) so I went back to 1 contract. Anyone know what's up with that? I thought I had enough capital to trade at least 3 contracts if I wanted to. + 11.5 points / 4 RT's
Bronks- You need to log onto your account on the IB website and change the number of contracts to trade there. It might take a day to take affect. -JPB
FUTURES TRADES --------------------------------------------------------------------------- Trade Time Exchange Description Qty Trade Price Set Price Gain/Loss * ----------------- --------- ----------- ----- ----------- ----------- ----------- - 02-06-03 14:11:18 GLOBEX NQ JUN02 -1 1180.0000 1165.0000 300.00 02-06-03 14:13:26 GLOBEX NQ JUN02 1 1178.5000 1165.0000 -270.00 02-06-03 14:53:15 GLOBEX NQ JUN02 -1 1180.5000 1165.0000 310.00 02-06-03 15:01:18 GLOBEX NQ JUN02 1 1178.0000 1165.0000 -260.00 02-06-03 15:12:32 GLOBEX NQ JUN02 -1 1178.0000 1165.0000 260.00 02-06-03 15:21:22 GLOBEX NQ JUN02 1 1176.0000 1165.0000 -220.00 02-06-03 15:22:25 GLOBEX NQ JUN02 -1 1175.0000 1165.0000 200.00 02-06-03 15:39:39 GLOBEX NQ JUN02 1 1169.5000 1165.0000 -90.00 ===== =========== 0 230.00 =========== USD Total: 230.00 FUTURES GAIN/LOSS SUMMARY ---------------------------------------------------------------- Gain/Loss From Futures Trades 230.00 ============ USD Total: 230.00 ========================================================================================== ACCOUNT STATUS --------------------------------------------------------------------------- USD Starting cash balance 5522.80 Settled: 5522.80 Cash deposits/withdrawals 0.00 Total Futures Gain/Loss 230.00 Total Commissions -19.20 ============== ============== ==> Ending cash balance 5733.60 Settled: 5733.60 Open options value 0.00 ============== ==> Total Equity 5733.60
Am I the only one stupid here? 02-06-03 14:11:18 GLOBEX NQ JUN02 -1 1180.0000 1165.0000 300.00 02-06-03 14:13:26 GLOBEX NQ JUN02 1 1178.5000 1165.0000 -270.00 Can you describe how these two trades were executed chronologically?Thanks