Hi, we all know the perils of futures trading, mainly the indexes (es, nq, ym). I was wondering if any of you made the switch to equities, became successful, and never looked back. I've been trading the es for a little while and have had some success for weeks at a time and then ultimately the lack of an edge catches up with you and at best you find yourself back where you started not making any progress. I'd like to hear your story.
If you are not disciplined enough to have positive P&L at the end of the month trading ES, what makes you so optimistic it will be any different trading stocks? The only real advantage to stocks is you can trade smaller lots, so you won't fall as hard when you forget to enter a stop loss!
I don't want to turn this guys thread to mush but I would bet any amount of money that none of the responders are net profitable trading futures.
You could trade 100 SPY, which tracks the index and is more liquid that ES. 100 shares is also 1/5 the risk of 1 ES contract.
Now I know some people will disagree but you should NOT start out trading futures options or forex. You should start out with a margined stock account and progress as follows(if you want to) stocks>options>futures>forex
i thought more people went from equities to futures. disadvantages of futures: -you're forced to use a certain leverage (eg. the lowest amount an ES tick can be is $12.50.) advantages of futures: -easier to do taxes -no pdt rule -preferential tax treatment -no wash sales
ud4l, there are no futures traders that consistently post on the p/l thread. Not saying that every trader in the world posts on ET but that should tell you something. Don't listen to these fools. Index futures are for losers.
Everyones different I guess? I started with equities, having mixed results then went over to futures and never looked back. I felt equities were prone to much more manipulation. Just my 2 cents.