I totally agree with you that anything from 1 to 3 cents or more are very good numbers what I want to say is that once you go up to trading something like 2 M shares per day per stock then 2 cents per share in a stock that have a price of around $20 and trades 20M shares per day is just very difficult to achieve, and in such situation if you can just achieve 1 cent per share then you are a super hero but in general I think we are in agreement btw, how is your trading in 2013 so far ?
I really don't. My stuff is all custom programmed, so I can backtest and live test on the same platform, including recording and analyzing desired statistics as needed. I'm not familiar with what is available "off the shelf". Years ago, I know that TradeStation had an option (I suspect they still do, but don't really know). The trouble with a solution such as that is that they charged pretty outrageous commission rates which made profitable trading much more difficult, IMO. Ideally, you find a way to implement an automated system, while at the same time being able to trade with the absolute lowest commission rates.
My assumption was that if you are trading 2M shares per day, that they would be spread over many stocks. I can't imagine trading 2M shares per day in a single stock and averaging anything close to two cents per share, at least not without an extremely volatile and extreme active trading environment. For me, trading in 2013 is slightly improved from 2012, but still poor by the standards I set for myself. The trading glory days of 2007 to 2009 are sadly behind us for now, and as a result, the opportunities for profit are not as plentiful. This is not to say that trading is impossible in these markets, but I know of no consistently profitable traders that are doing better today than they did over those years.
Well for me I actually missed out those good days as I was still learning and building my system, might be a good point in my favour that I started live trading in tough markets ! Anyway thanks for your reply
OP, maybe you don't want to hear it, but if you can't trade profitably, I'd recommend you do something else. It's not a coin flip... My situation is similar to the profitable futures trader. I was really good at blowing accounts. But I was very persistent. Nowadays, if I didn't have consistent profits from trading, I would be in the poor house and SOOL.
I sense a lot of pain in your post. Trading is trading whether it's futures or equities. I notice that you have been publishing a lot of posts all the way back to 2008. 5 years is a long time to be losing money; maybe trading isn't for you. Everybody wants to trade, but not everybody can be a trader. Good trading can be boring sitting in front of a computer all day, especially if you are the creative or social type. Why not consider a job in the industry but less frustrating like a research analyst role, or a sales role where you are interacting with people instead of a computer?
ChkitOut: Portfolio simmed any? Necessary, but it sounds as if you're looking in the wrong r/r's with much too low a risk per trade expecting $100 expectancy... this isn't how it works, especially, hft.