I think there is nothing foolish in 2-3 ticks stop loss. We have same rule and we have only $20 daily limit before we are stopped for a day. The most important is to know what you are doing and when you trade say very liquid stocks and scalp for 5-10 ticks, 2-3 ticks stop loss is very reasonable and ensure good risk to reward ratio. Yes, you trade 10 000 -100 000 shares which is possible with big companies and yes, 5 ticks up is $500-5000. Not bad at all. It is really quick to know if you are wrong or right, which suits my personality. I have traded Demo so fa and moving tomorrow to Live account which they opened. So far, I have not had a single losing day and most of my losses are 1-2 ticks. Fees are counted in. I also asked and made a few Live trades and did not see any difference except may be psychological, so I will see how I will manage the pressure of real money. $40 in 1 week and we are bumped up to 300 shares.
the most important thing is that I have a plan and trade a plan. I have a daily plan for all stocks I trade and trade only when set up is present.
Thank you very much for everyones effort and support. But what some of you guys missed out, is the fact that the firm I am in, is pushing VOLUME. They want to trade Citi with 2 /10k shares all day in and out posting on NYFB and getting out for 1 penny, the whole day, they expect us to do 200k volume in the longrun, right now we should be avergaging around 40-60k volume on 2k shares of citi. My avg is around 10-15k ,but my NET pnl is equal to or higher than the guys that have higher volume because they get eaten up on the commisions..meanwhile I do like 4 trades of city, and I trade other stocks using 100 -200 shares for couple penny moves whichh I like more. Are all prop firms like this ? I really wish I wouldnt have to scalp Citi for 1 penny as a careerr.....lol.
I do not get it. You do not pick your stocks yourself??? They give you stocks? BTW, what are your commissions fees you have to pay. I just talked last week to the office Boss and after everything it is now clear that every 1 tick in profit actually pays all the fees : liquidity removal, ECN and some other fee. To pay alkl this fees we need to be 1 tick in profit. All other ticks are ours. so, actual spread is 2 ticks as only after 2 ticks I make money. What about your company? What I actually understand after checking on this Citigroup is that this stock move sin narrow channels. You probably set limit at S/R, wait to be filled than set another order to get out as well. so, you are paid for addiing liquidity and volume, right? We pick stocks to trade ourselves. We only have limits on price. Citigroup is too cheap and we do not trade anything cheaper than $7. What I do not understand is that why it is not possible to trade other high liquidity stocks which a more volatile and have similar volume to Citigroup?
Shiko... can you PM me the firm you work at ? I think I would be much better of in your firm....it gets a little too detailed to post here in public, but I would be open to other offers elsewhere with more focus on trading and less on "volume".
I used to scalp Citi.. There's tons of potential because its easily possible to scalp 50k shares at a time or higher on a single penny.. Do that successfully several times a day and you'll bring home a nice paycheck. If you can also get rebates you're just laughin all the way to the bank!
Having a regular job is the opportunity cost of working for a prop firm, so ignoring those that suggest to get one is ignoring reality. $70 a day on 100 share lots can be beat with a day job that also has benefits and security. I like the idea of keeping my enemies close to me, same with my detractors.
At this point, I can afford not to make a salary-equal pay. Im in my early 20s, still living at home...plus I have 2 years worth of previous jobs savings to get me thru the first 1-2 year.