I have just started trading ES, and would like to know how many points (per contract) most of us expect to make in a day, regardless of style or strategy. If you trade a longer timeframe, I guess I'm wondering what you're making, averaged per day. This is not intended to be a "how much can you benchpress dude" type of question. I'm simply looking for a benchmark from my peers, to get an idea of what's possible, or typical. Are we talking 2-5 points, 5-10, 10-20, or more? Sorry if this thread is majorly redundant. I would guess this has been discussed many times, but I couldn't find the thread. Thanks
Try not to lose a net point on the first day. Then try not to lose a point net commissions in the first week. Then work your way up.
I've been trading the ES only a for a few months and I don't get to do it 100% of the time. I mainly trade off the price and volume, s&r, and patterns. My trades can be anywhere from 10 minutes to all day, typically only 1-5 trades per day. I don't do overnight. I'm the "slow and steady" type. I'm averaging about 2.5 points a day per contract. It's not much at one contract, but I plan to up the contracts as my account grows. It's hard to keep your "average" up there. Last week I had a couple of 10 point days, but then I came right back and had a couple of -5 point days and a wash day, so I was at 2 pts average for the week. One thing that has really helped me is to set my own circuit breaker. If I go down 5 pts per contract in a day I shut it down. There are just some days I can't do anything right. The breaker keeps me from ruining my whole week (or month). I have a similar plan in place for weekly and monthly losses. Good luck. I enjoy the ES 100 times over stocks.
the trader (SLM) in SFO magazine said a few months ago that he though you should be able to make $300 per ES per day. That's 6 points.
Another way to think about ES benchmarks is to translate them to annualized returns and then evaluate their likelihood. For example, if you trade 1 ES per $10,000 in your account, and if you net 1 ES point ($50) per day for the 200 trading days per year, you make 100% per year. There probably aren't many traders who can do this consistently. Very few of the futures firms in Barron's quarterly report can maintain this level of performance. For my own account, I'd be very happy with a consistent 1 ES point per week (25%/year).
Finally someone who is realistic. If you can breakeven, you are better than 90% of traders out there. It's not hard to make 6 points/contract plenty of days. It is damn near impossible to AVERAGE 6 points/contract.
The above prompts a question to the group: I'm averaging about 2.5 points per day on ES, but I've only been at it off and on for a few months (after stocks dried up). Is this 2.5 a reasonable figure to continue to expect or am I in the beginner's luck phase?
I used to make 10-20 points a day before the war, but after that ES ranges tightened up significantly and it is much harder now. I probably made only 4 points last month total. My problem is that with pre-war average ranges of 20 pts/day I was pretty certain about my entry prices, now with like 8-11pts ranges, I dont know when to get in anymore. If you can consistently make 2.5 a day it's good for a beginner.