Well, Ok Peter but please don't ask me everyday, I'm abit shy about this and don't want to jinx myself. I admit I don't have much to offer, I'm here to learn. To me today was a typical day in the markets, although I could only trade the first hour because of another commitment. I traded 4300 shares I grossed $640 Commissions were $86 Net was $554 The most money I used at one time was about $88,000 and I am using an approx 50K account. I sincerely hope that answers it all! Best regards, Washington.
If you can do that everyday, you'll be alot better off than the "superstars" who make $50K one day and drop $45K the next and end up making minimum wage after commissions. Consistency is what constitutes a real superstar in today's market.
OK Washington, I hear you, but I find your numbers of interest. and you have not mentioned which stocks you trade. One more day, today (Tuesday) give us the numbers. My theory is sometimes the guys who don't "know everything" about trading do better because they are not looking for complexity.
I'm sure this is a bore for most posters, so Peter this is it for awhile. Today I traded to about a net of $480 (I was calculating in my head) and as you know I am determined to make $500 per day. Anyway I tried to squeeze the extra $20 bucks out of a position that wasn't there. Then everything reversed. Literally within 120 seconds I was below water about $200. The advice I received here came into my mind, about having inflexible goals. Then I had to start all over again and trade my way out of it. The result is I traded 9200 shares today instead of my usual 4000. I ended up with a gross profit of $914 with costs of $184. Net was $730. The most stock I had at one time was about $130,000. I made my early money going long, and later went short. I got a little lucky because when I was in position, my internet connection to IB was lost, and in the extra 60 seconds before I got it back, I made about an extra $150 over what I would have made if I had had an exit order in. I don't use stops because when I have tried, I've always had trouble getting reliable results. I plan to read up on it, and I just got an email from IB about something called trailing stops which looks interesting. I always pay the full one cent commission because I scale in and out of positions I try to trade from different Nasdaq 100 sectors to gain experience with different types of companies. Today, AMAT, BGEN, COST, and BRCM. I don't wish to be rude, but I'm not going to post on this thread for awhile, although I really think people have been nice and sincere in giving me advice. It has been a great help. Although I am a rookie with stocks, I do have a feel for ebb and flow of markets from trading lumber. I know not to chase a price and simple things like that. Best wishes.
Here is something to ponder.... This is a quote from the Ed Seykota interview in the âmarket wizardsâ book.... âDuring this period the accounts that Seykota managed have witnessed an absolutely astounding rate of return. For example, as of mid 1988 one of his customer accounts which started with $5,000 in 1972 was up over 250,000%....I know of no other trader who has matched this track record over the same length of time.â Letâs break this down. 250,000% on 5k is $12,500,000. If you take the 17 years between â72 and â88, this gives you 192 trading months. Take this to a compound interest calculator, and you will find that a 4.2 monthly return (50.4%/year)on $5,000 will return $13,476,343 over this period. Next... Paul Tudor Jones.... âHe launched the âTudor futures fundâ in sept 1984, with 1.5 mil under mgnmt. At the end of October 1988each $1,000 invested in the fund was worth 17,482" 4 years and one month gives us 49 trading months... $1,000 compounded with a 6% monthly rate of return would yield $17,378 for this period. So here are two of the most successful traders in a generation, and their avg gain is under 10% a month! I have seen a number of traders in my room who could consistently bring in 5% a month fail because they desperately tried to make 20% In this business CONSISTENCY is the key to the big bucks, not speed. Slow and steady wins the race Good Luck and Good Trading! -Bo Yoder
Bo, my question is, how do traders learn to make their return as the funds incease due to compounding? How does a trader prepare for the day when his 50K account is 200K, do the same priciples of trading apply? Particularly if he has developed a style that caters to smaller cap stocks which are not as liquid.
200K account, Great problem, I've been big and small (in that order) It is much easier making money if you are small Not only in percent but in real dollars. If I have too much money available I take chances For my money, a 35K account leads to maximum profitability now that we have the 4X margin ratio.
don't you think it's rather problematic to compare %-returns? say you trade one mini contract and make $1,000/month. with a small acount of $5K this would be 20%. if you don't want to have such high leverage and use a $10K account - you have 10%. so i guess its somehow senseless to have such comparisons - or am i missing something?