In the situation I described, I suppose I should have stated average winning days/average losing days. I was making $400-$800 on the winning days and losing $10-$1000 on the losing days, with an average winning day of $550-600 and an average losing day of ~$250. During the 40 trading days I ran the chat I only had one $1000 losing day, the rest I don't recall as having been more than a few hundred dollars. The strategy I was primarily using was highly gimmicky with its success partially contingent on social relationships. Furthermore, the "sample period" of just a few months was clearly not long enough to demonstrate true, long-term "consistency." Regardless, "whred," the OP, asked a simple question: I was curious if there was ever a single case of someone who claimed to be able trade profitably, to actually do it live and in front of a camera. I ask because there is tons of material on people claiming to, and even videos where they claim to, but not a single video showing them do it. To which I replied that yes, it has been done, but the only time I saw it was when I did it. That may not satiate his (or your) desire for "proof," but it's me truthfully sharing my experience.
I was glad to get your feedback. I didn't realize there were so many pros and semi-pros on this site. Someone mentioned "branding" being forbidden here, so I am guessing that any pros cannot mention their sites/services. It's unfortunate there is not some mechanism on this site where the pros can put a link to their site (perhaps in their account details). That way, if I wanted to know if someone had a public track record, I could drill-down and find the link to it.
They bust trades all the time.....well at least "some" of the time. It does seem totally bogus that "they" (whoever the powers that be) allow this to stand. Having said that I've seen some mind blowing things on the ES over holiday weekends that only got partially rectified. Ultimately what really kills the trader is the margin call you get.....you settle.... then your right but broke. thanks again..I wish only good kharma for you in 2012
I'm not sure if your first paragraph is sarcastic. If it is, whatever. It wasn't my site, and it wasn't recorded. It was just a live-stream, in a chatroom. Someone who was logged in could have used Camtasia or something and created a record, but it didn't work that way. You logged in, saw the chat, had the audio with me talking as I traded ( I would answer text-written questions verbally), and on a screen next to the chatroom (actually I think it was a pop-up window), you got to see the portion of my screen I broadcast. Basically, it was exactly what you are saying you haven't seen. You had to pay $250/month I think it was to get access, unless you were a member of the firm. As I recall though, anyone given the URL could simply join the chat and view/hear what was going on. I'm not sure of any such services existing now, though I wouldn't doubt if it it's out there (probably one out of one-hundred, however). I don't currently offer such services; as a matter of fact I am not presently trading, instead working on a non trading-related financial services start-up company.
I think a more interesting question would be.... I mean there are profitable traders. There is no doubt.. A more interesting question would be Has there ever been an ES/futures day trader able to trade for a living on a 10k (sub 10k) account for at least 3 years? ... (or documented at all) Part of the reason I want to know is that I feel like I'm one of the very best.. But I don't know what is 100% possible with scalping. I'm also trying to increase my contracts/leverage to return more which I do my trading more contracts. Dr. Brett, I believe, noted he had never met a small retail trader who traded for a living. Most S&P vendors elude to being able to trade for a living on a 5k or 10k account. With a 50% DD level and annual target of 50k then that's at least a 10x return to risk. I did 6x last year but I didn't use tight stops. However, I didn't take every opportunity either. I'm feel like I could probably take my return up another notch.. I'd expect my profit per contract to drop to around $10ish. I make between $10 and $30 per contract after cost. So, I need to trade around 250 round trips per month to make 5k or around 12x to 13x contracts per day. At 3 trades per day, that's trading 4 lots.. But if I increase the trade to say 6-8 trades then I could do it with 1 and 2. Of course, just because no one has else has did it doesn't mean that I can't. Typically I like to add size on my trades but with a small account, it will already be over leveraged. This is what I'm curious. Of course, if I can reduce my risk per trade then I can increase my contract size. The difficulty is that with a tighter stop then I can't avoid taking the stop hit. If I could avoid taking that stop hit then it might be possible. What are the ES traders doing here? Are there any ES scalpers here doing 10x return to dd returns?
No, I was not trying to be sarcastic. I was glad that you and several others had shared your experiences. Some of the other responses to this thread were quite unfriendly.
+1 it doesn't has to be 'video', just 2 things to prove what you claim: 1. exchange clearing/broker statements 2. exchange membership but question is, why would he wants to do it if hes a 'real' profitable trader. is there a need for self-serving ego boost like most posters doing on web where it's so hard to prove whatever they claim? of course, they'll say then, look at my previous calls, look at my screen captured charts/data, look at my P&L threads, and so on.
That does seem to be the MO. The iBroker App has server based automation that can post all of your trades to Twitter. If you are being audited anyway, you'll have nothing to hide, and if the trades you see aren't consistent with the audited financials once they are produced (ie:daily reconciliations from EOD statements), then the story will check out, but I've never heard of anyone doing that except for me.
There is a dangerous fantasy that some beginners have, and I had this fantasy as a beginner. I was a counter-trend trader who traded using indicators and personal opinion. I had mastered the market and considered going prop so I could have the leverage to average down like the professionals do and avoid using stops altogether. (As every hypothetical professional and every fantasizing noob knows, "Stops cause losses.") Seriously, that's how I was thinking at the time. I spoke to the head of a prop firm and described my great trading success (I had a 4-month track record and an 80%+ win rate) and my desire to take it to the next level and when I mentioned some little blurb to the effect of "if only I had extra leverage to add to a position properly I'd have a 100% win rate", he tried to set me straight right then and there, realizing I was referring to averaging down, not adding to a winner :eek: It wasn't until a few months later that the market humbled me without any extra leverage necessary and I embarked on a long journey that led to exactly what you desire in your comment above: the ability to trade with a tight stop without taking so many hits that the risk:reward ratio becomes negative. It's possible, but requires a lot of personal work. No one can hand you the grail. A great start for learning to trade with small stops placed at survivable levels is to study Al Brooks. His first book is comprehensive, but poorly written/edited. He has a trio of new books that I've been told are better-written versions of the first one. My mentor gave his recent "Trends" book a thumbs up. There's also informative videos on line, search "Al Brooks videos". P.S. - CL and 6E are much easier to trade for a living with 1 contract than ES. But they require very strict risk management. I recommend 3-6 months of practice once you have a trading plan.