This is exactly right. Even if I were to make only $1 yearly, I would be in the elite of the futures markets.
Put it in proper context please. 1. B1S2 and SS both strongly disagree with people trading ES with such small amount to start. Their view is that you need to be able to absorb the impact of overnight shocks to maintain a position. At around 5K overnight margin + 75 pts overnight limit down/up, that implies they would hold at most 1 contract per 9K. Personally, I think those who hold overnight positions should back that with 15K per contract. For daytrading, that is a whole different ball game and $500 margin could be enough when it is used in the hands of someone who is very well aware of the risk involved. 2. Using your example, a 5K account using $500 daytrading margin can effectively trade 1 ES with 4.5K buffer. If that is all that person has in terms of TLNW, then risking 2% per trade at $100 is pretty much the max that he/she can handle. You need law of large #s to work for you, thus the ability to at least handling 30 losing trades in a row would not blow the account. On the other hand, a person with 50K TLNW, opening an account of 5K. Can easily take a bigger risk at 5% (or even more) of account value, because, even if the trading account is blown, it does not affect the bigger picture. 3. Personally, I am all for deleveraging in terms of trading. It is hard to explain what that means in details here. In short, if you start out trading 1 contract with 5K acct and taking that to 15K within a month. At the time of re-evaluation of your trading, one should not go for 3 contracts, instead, should look into deleverage yourself into 2 contracts only. Eventually, bringing your leverage level to the overnight one, which removed the constraint on your account to close position before end of RTH session.
Anyone else having data issues. Can't seem to get any equity data on two seperate platforms. Futures data is ok. But there's no volume. Something seems wrong. Is today a holiday? :]
It is only funny if you are in the elite. 1% a month compounded comes out to around 12.7% a year. Over a ten-year period, how many traders (not buy and holders, but traders) earn that? How about twenty years? Most futures traders are IN THE LONG RUN losers; their demises are inevitable, only a matter of time. Ask a futures broker about churn and burn and about their client turnover. Futures traders are very often highly leveraged and undisciplined. That is the recipe for losing. Most do not survive long enough to learn how this game is played to win. So they end up losers. As for me, my stats are higher, and I imagine yours are too. My profit factor for this year so far is over 9, and for the second half of last year was over 7, but I really do not use leverage. In this business, in the long run the tortoise always beats the hare
pekky, The simplicity of it is simpler seeing dead chart. But, I like to think all charts are dead but the live bar. After 8 years of churning here is final answer for you and vol.......emini trading intraday ...market open to market close.......6 words gleaned from a few million are platinum.......buy low sell high with trend.....more gold......15 min chart is best....trade nq for acct. building....move to es when trader is sure he is capable, not lucky.....I will leave this journal and go to other stuff....the trend stuff always makes most folks here mad...for some strange reason.....pekky, think 45 degree severity of angles...learn candles...there are very few patterns candles give that are big goldmines....find the magic measurement # for each market....and where to measure from....it is not rocket science...up buy down sell.......
Nope. It makes you a profitable trader, but not part of the elite. The elite should be the best of the profitable traders. Just because I can walk/run a mile under 8 minutes, (most people can't) that doesn't make me an elite runner. Just because you can play 10 songs on the guitar (most people can't) doesn't make you an elite guitar player either.