Agreed 100% with scalper21 about ignoring intraday P&L. I've made every mistake possible fixated on managing an intraday balance target versus taking what the session has to offer. It's been a long time since I've watched numbers intraday... use Ninja myself, and leave the control center parked on browser. Trading 20-lots in the ER or 50-lots in the ES allows a <b>skilled veteran intraday trader</b> potential to average +$5k per day. An average is not $5k x five days, of course. We all know that, right? A weekly average of +$25k allows for two favorable sessions, one or two iffy sessions and one total pig where everything goes wrong. Divide by five, and there you go. I frequently make 60% to 80% of a week's profit in just one or two sessions, the others are treading water in between. ** Eminis are tougher to trade than equities in my opinion, having trading lots of each. The ER is much more fruitful than the ES, but equal measure of difficult due to the volatility & price spikes that likewise offer great reward. Can't have one without the other... we love the ER due to its volatility, and we deal with the volatility when seeking entries = holding stops. *** It does not take a huge account balance in futures to make $5k average, but it does take a balance large enough to <b>insulate one from emotional damage</b> in the midst of drawdowns. How much capital = how to balance risk is directly related to each trader's emotional balance. Lastly, there are periods of time when extreme amounts of profit are possible and other times when recent low-hanging fruit is fermenting on the ground. Markets undulate thru periods of waning & waxing volatility, expanding and contracting ranges. Make hay while the sun shines, and preserve the nest eggs in between. How's that for a bevy of metaphors?
A post worthy of comment. One of few. Fear is not real, but manufactured in our minds. Only matter is real. Everything else is a manifestation of the divine.
You are all working too hard. Making $4,000 a day is extremely easy. Sell 75 SPX 1295 C and sell 75 SPX 1295 P. There you go, about $4000.00 a day without any nonsense. You might even get a little bit of edge if you call down to the floor. -segv
Aren't you supposed to add the phrase "in bed" to the end of all fortunes? "Everything else is a manifestation of the divine. In bed."
Did you change firms? Noticed your diff P&L img. A while back you mentioned before wanting to try futures for the liquidity. Wondering if you're giving that a shot now. I still know very little about futures. I hope to learn about them as much as possible in time for the sake of possible diversification of strategies down the road, but to be honest right now I'm curious about trying commodities like gold/silver/copper more than learning about the various index futures at this point.
Do you see any retail arbitrage? I figure there is no way to compete in arbitrage with Phd programmers, very low comm and automation of the firms.
appreciate all the comments/discussion I just started trading and I am scalping. I am allowed $100,000 in trading power. There was a post somewhere towards the front where one said it may be difficult to imagine if one has not been there, and that is certainly the case with me at the moment. While I can trying to see it can be done, and people have, it is hard to imagine one making Gs a day especially when I'm scalping on 200 lots...let alone to believe it can be done scalping... I always figured that swing trading, or position trading was the big money as you can get size in there without much trouble, use proper risk management, and analysis. I will definitely read think and grow rich this weekend. How does one transition into making 4 or 5 Gs a month? It seems far away to me right now... P.S. I feel for the guys that hide the P/L, I wanted to do that personally as if you make a little bit, I tend to not trade as when I should when high probability setups happen as, as many have said before, don't want to lose the profit. See, that's trading on emotions, when a high probability presents itself, let everything go, and pull the trigger. Nothing else matters...
The important part of the book is writing your Definiteness of Purpose and following the chapter on autosuggestion. After reading the first 4 chapters I wrote my Definiteness of purpose. I just copied it from the example in the Chapter on Autosuggestion and changed a couple of words.
even if u hide your pnl how on earth can u not recall how many ticks u banked or lost on your previous trade, i mean it is not that u have to remember an encyclopedia of numbers, innit.