How do you do it? I assume that you guys are swing traders as it may be possible to make that much in scalping, but the commissions are a big chunk...if you guys swing, how do you pick your stocks to trend for that day, and what indicators, etc...do you base your decisions off of?
lol, really. 1,000.00 a day for me, and I'd be in high heaven. But to answer your question fastandfurious, people that can pull in that kind of money have very large accounts with more than one position going on at once. I dont know that for a fact, but it seems logical.
I think you're right in that the big money is in swing trading. However, if you look at p/l thread, and if you believe the blotters, there are some 5K + guys who do it by scalping, but i'd bet they are a rare rare breed and most successful scalpers fall in the 1k range.
I don't think anyone on the PnL thread approaches an average of $5,000 net per day[$1.2mm/year], other than Rearden.
Working my way to $1K a day (very close) trading SIFs, equities and options. I can tell you with no uncertain terms that the only difference between $1K and $5k a day PnL is simply adding size, approximately 5x my current size (it is not quite linear since bet size [will have to] change with opportunity expentancy). The instruments I trade can easily handle many times that size. There is no extra skill required on my part, save perhaps a more refined betting scheme that will vary size accordingly. Right now I use a flat betting scheme and I know for a fact that this is not optimal. Adding size will not happen until my account can handle that kind of stress, and I am able to work it comfortably. $5K a day seems like a stepping stone to me now. But strange as it may seem, I only think about this stuff when I am not trading and I am daydreaming about some $ amount. When I am trading, I am just trading units of risk, and I make what I make at the end of the day. Often, I don't even know how much I made till I bother to do the math. nitro
making 4-5 k a day only requires a 1) profitable strategy with 1 contract. 2) fk it attitude, lets size up to 50-100 contracts. No fear. 3) same risk control as when you were trading 1 contract.
Right on, though at a unique point in each instrument the most important part is sufficient liquidity. That overrides any sizing scheme.