Yep, me too. I never look at P/L. It completely messes with decisions if I do. I would catch myself bailing at round numbers on the day instead of trading the STRUCTURE. Not good for monthly results.
Scalper21, Although I agree with you on your general philosophy (ie Napoleon Hill mind set), my question is how do you prevent multiple losing trades from blowing up your account? Surely you must have a cut off point? You have to keep track of PnL in a general way, otherwise you are at risk of making one losing trade after another and depleting your account. Thanks for your input. -Neo
Of course there's a difference, but I wouldn't say averaging $5K a day means nothing, that's for sure. For most prop traders, percentages mean a lot less than absolute dollar amounts because they don't need to have a lot of capital of their own. So, percentages can be just as misleading as dollar amounts. You can't spend percentages, you spend actual money. Either way, $5K per day is nothing to sneeze at. Just because you may have earned it on a smaller base doesn't necessarily mean you're a better trader...
Making $5,000 in a day on a $20,000 account is certainly possible. Averaging $5,000 per day is a whole other story. Or do you mean you make over $1M per year on your $20k account trading futures? I have yet to see one consistently profitable futures or forex trader on the P/L thread making decent money. I've said it before on this site- Newbies and struggling traders who are focused on futures and forex- quit while you're ahead. Those markets in much more efficient and harder to trade than equities, why do you want to stack the odds against yourself? Again, I'm not saying it can't be done, but unless you are very experienced you are fighting an uphill battle.
seems like there are always more winning daytraders here than losing. Is everyone here really that good?
I look at each trade separately. I do not hold losers for very long. If a trade goes against me I look to get out quickly. As I stated in my previous post I trade actively. I am looking to come out ahead by the end of the day by having a higher % of winners to losers. Also my average loser usually is smaller than my average winner. Yes, I do have a daily loss limit if that is what you are asking.
I have been at this game for around 8 years. I have to agree with Lescor that my statement for a new trader is unrealistic.