Got into trading after college, 1 year retail, 1 month prop so far...I have issues..

Discussion in 'Professional Trading' started by neveral0ne, Dec 15, 2009.

  1. BTW, neveralone, the company sees your progress and this is why they are pressuring you. They gave you enough time to trade and learn.
    I still cannot get how that was possible to set new guys on live account since day one. Give them $20 daily loss and after 4 days saying you show no progress go home.
    I know for a fact that it takes 6-12 months on average for new trader to start making money in prop firms.
    I talked to some guys and this looks like average time.
     
    #41     Jan 13, 2010
  2. Can someone tell me what am I supposed to do ? Obviously this is something like an "arcade" they are PUSHING volume big time, and my volume is very low compared to others..while my net pn/l is equal or greater.

    Every day a tiny piece of the puzzle is revealed to me....
     
    #42     Jan 13, 2010
  3. Yeah I guess, yeah I guess they want me to be more aggressive, since I have been making progress. So far this week is good...up 120$ on 2 days. I'm trying to work on becoming consistent right now, and I'll increase my size slowly....also I hide my Pn/L coz I want to trade of what Isee not how much I make, I know that eventually once I "get it " the $ will come by itself.....its just a matter of time.
     
    #43     Jan 13, 2010
  4. Hey, I was in your shoes years ago. Been there, done that. Private, then prop, now back to private. Had same issues with timing. Had many issues with the prop. Your prop should set you up with a mentor. To find out how you are going wrong would take a bit of analysis and time - too much for this post.
    Send me a pm and I will be glad to give you some suggestions to consider.
     
    #44     Jan 13, 2010
  5. I have no idea what you are complaining about. You are doing great. Just have some patience. i am sure in one year you will be laughing at what you wrote here.
    We are humans and our brains need time to program itself and adjust. It cannot be done quickly.
    You are progressing very well.
    BTW, how many shares you are allowed to trade now per position?
    How long did it take you to get 300, 500 and 1000 shares if you already there?
     
    #45     Jan 13, 2010
  6. It sounds like you're at Swift Trade or Title Trading or something..

    If you want to survive there you gotta buck up and every time you do something that doesn't work, try something new. Literally. The most successful trader I saw at that was trading up in excess of $2k / day, usually 5k lots sometimes punching 25k lots.. All on slow moving ETF's, trading very short divergences, lasting maybe a matter of seconds or less. Point is he was consistent.

    There IS a way to get an edge in this type of trading, but you likely won't be able to do it on regular stocks. Try trading some ETF's and wait for something to diverge from the market or it's respective currency, etc, then trade it aggressively.

    I'm just saying you MUST try new things every day until you get on a roll. In one month I escalated from trading 100 share lots up to 7,000 because it just finally clicked for me. I followed the daily trend, I aggressively traded discrepancies, and I did a little bit of hedging (one big position long or short, and kept punching smaller positions in the opposite direction collecting profits along the way until big position reversed).

    I left because I didn't believe this was the way I wanted to approach the markets. I was making better money on my personal account just swing trading and selling option premiums.. lol. There is big opportunity if you're good at it though, ask the guys making 5-figures / month.
     
    #46     Jan 13, 2010
  7. I can now trade 200 shares on any stock up to 20$
    and I can do 2000 shares on stocks under 5$.

    Edit: Also max loss for the day allowed is 100$ on the account before it gets closed for the day.
     
    #47     Jan 13, 2010
  8. strange. I think with your results you would have traded at least 500 any stocks under $30. I was told to avoid stocks under $5 at all. generally, I am from $7 to under $30 but 100 shares so far.
    The Boss has some print materials with progress ladder.
    $40 in 1 week, we move to 200 shares. then daily risk allowance "increased" to $30 but it is actually decreased as per 100 shares we can lose less. Then I do not remember exactly how much we should make but there goes 500, then 800 and then 1000. and higher than that it is a separate thing.
    As I have been doing well on Demo hence, I am going Live next Monday.
    The most important I stopped messing with hot keys., May be 1 mess a day happens but I quickly take control.
    The demo exactly same as Live as I tried a couple of Live trades and seen no difference.
    Made $135 last week and this week 2 days $87 with 100 shares.
    Actually, I know what I am doing. I hope I am onto something. It came to me from Forex trading as I have been doing it as one of my strategies, but it looks like it works a way better in stocks.
    Generally, I wait for my signal, then go to Level II start watching and when I see what I am looking for I push the trigger.
    Today traded probably 10 stocks and everything is positive.
    I am anxiously waiting for Monday when I go live. Real money is not a problem to me as I trade live funds daily in Forex and my original loss allowance is less than I risk at home.
     
    #48     Jan 13, 2010
  9. well the 1k /2k is for citigroup mostly, everything else ( while being waited to get a fill on Citi ) I trade myself, based on my own "setups' and research from home. this week I am up 180$ total on 3 days... all positive...I'm actually using a strategy that one person uses here also from forex...works pretty good on stocks also.
     
    #49     Jan 13, 2010
  10. this citi group got quite a liquidity. You probably can trade 10 000 shares there like 100 in other stocks :)
    I decided from the start to trade only the most liquid stocks and concentrate on same stocks daily.
    As I understand from Forex, each pair got it's own character and I am quite sure same can be told about stocks. So, if I want to become familiar with each of those stocks, I gotta make a list and trade them daily month after month.
    so, I made a list of 15 stocks and started trading them since this Monday. Before I picked different stocks daily, with only F and SBUX making daily list.

    Actually, if you start trading 1000 shares citi group you are perfectly capable to take some pay cheque home.
    I think the matter that you keep to 100-200 shares is mostly psychological as you are perfectly capable to trade 1000 shares.
    1000 shares for citi group is nothing. I think even 10 000 is nothing. I have been watching Ford today. at each given price level there were few hundred thousand shares available at the time. so, no liquidity problems. Everything is mental.
     
    #50     Jan 13, 2010