Even when you are paying $1500/month in commissions and you only need an IOM seat it is worth leasing one, leasing prices on those are only $200-$300 per month but it would give almost $600 in commissions savings per month. (Assuming the commission round turn is $3.7, like it is at AMP).
15 years now, this month. $100k+ lost to the big boys. Top 50 on ZuluTrade. Top 13 of 1400 in CME micro challenge. 6 funded accounts with OneUp and Leeloo in last 2 years. I may still trade like a newbie, but I have been around the block a few times.
@canoe Thanks for taking the time to review and contribute. 1. I should be on the mini's soon. 2. Not sure what to say on the topic of "scalping is futile," except I will try anyway. I have 446 trades in 9 days with an 89.4% win rate. I think I have provided ample evidence here that there still may be some inefficiencies in the market to profit from. 3. I propose that "base hits" are the thing to do in volatile periods (and all periods), and not looking for homeruns. 4. Yes, the projected annual ROI is astronomical. So let's just look at today. 3% I can do. BUT IF NOT... My current average is 2.2%. But if I only do 1% a day or less, but my account is growing, I will still be happy. You wrote "You realize instead of a 3%/day pipedream, a 3%/week target will take your $6000 to over $2.8 million after only 4 years right? there's no magic in the financial world but the closest thing to it would be compound growth. you'll soon realize even 3%/week consistently over many years is incredibly difficult." 3% per week would be acceptable too. And the consistency you talk about is what this whole journal journey is about. 5. My personal finances have been a challenge, yes. And had I truly known it would take me 15 years to reach this point I would have never started. Real estate has been good overall except for this Covid-19 year. But real estate is also inconsistent because of the seasons and overall market cycles. Trading is to supplement that income.
I am indeed a piker (one who only makes small bets). And I know this violates the asymmetrical bet theory that so many here adhere to. But I will be increasing the size of my contracts very soon. And perhaps in the long term I will only make 10 ES points per week and crank up the contracts. But for now I am aiming for consistency as a foundation to long-term success. I am two weeks in and doing okay. Let's see where I can go.
Maybe I've missed it and if so I apologize, but I haven't seen you address the size thing from a mental stand point yet. It's different for each person and maybe some people are immune or handle it a lot better, but every time you increase in position sizing it has the potential to alter how you're handling, viewing and taking the trades. So, are you saying if someone can trade 1 SPY share and catch the equivalent of 10 points a day consistently, that you'd be willing to back them financially enough to trade future contracts? I find that difficult to believe, but unless I am misunderstanding that's very akin to the logic of your post regarding how simple it should be to scale up.
You are a very sincere and honest gentleman, I believe and trust you. You are doing great and don't warry about others. There are always doubters, but what matters is you can be steadily making progress and reaching your goals.
HAHA. Good one. I have already been told to start writing my book too. I don't want the attention, and I don't like stirring controversy. In fact, I probably shouldn't even be on ET but just do my trading quietly in the corner. I already mentioned that one of my mentors can't believe I am on ET. But there are enough supportive guys here that see some value in my work, and sometimes I see great tips, so I keep coming back. Fortunately, I don't get bent out of shape too much and can keep going in the face of some pretty pointed comments. Since I know there is room on ET for all kinds of traders, let's see where this trader goes in the next 3 months... REGROUPING And again, my main motivation here on ET is to demonstrate the risk control measures I have in place, NOT the scalping: I propose that most traders FAIL because of risky and sometimes emotional trading, not because of bad systems. They are shooting for too much per day and they refuse to take their stops. This is a universal problem that all traders face. Most fail. A few wake up and humble themselves and overcome. I want to be part of that group.