Go to www.stocktrading.com/fees2012.html for fees. If you're limiting yourself to only 1000 SPY, that's a pretty small goal IMO. If you're interested in making money, then you may like to expand this a bit. OPM? Not really allowed, why would anyone want to have someone looking over their shoulder in lieu of putting up some of their own money. Over IB...sure, we dont' trade against you, we don't pay FICA taxes, we don't have wash sale rules, etc. etc. and, we provide use of capital to help you make money. A lot more of course, but those are the basics.... edit: You may be right, this limited scope doesn't really apply to our traders. Don
1M = 1,000,000. 2,000,000 total volume. Generally on limit orders (75%). Where would funds be parked?. In your firm's name?.Cheers
Thanks for all the replies. I was more curious as to any others who were doing something similar with Trade-Ideas or a stock screener and whether that was a realistic amount? In other words, assuming a person found a reasonably good strategy, would the commissions, execution issues, etc. allow $500 a day to be made. I guess the point is to have the trading be less discretionary ... not necessarily an auto-trade vehicle, but to use Trade-Ideas or a stock screener be a good identifier. I've traded many instruments with many time frames, but this is my first time looking into more day trades that end flat every day. I shouldn't do the monumentally stupid things I did when I first started years ago, but I'm always surprised by the execution issues, slippage, and transaction costs of day trading.
AFChao, How does the investment of X correlate to time? I think you have heard something like it takes money to make money... But I would not know...except only to dream or make a plan as you are hoping to do. AFChao ...it took a lot of courage for you to post this thread in a den of anonymous characters. Please do not take any of it to heart. Anything is possible...Dream on and let me know when you figure it out and come back and share...to enlighten me. There are many posters in here that claim to be experienced...bank a lot of money....make a fortune...but I have never met them in person or seen their money. Perhaps the people that make money are not even here in ET. But I think the game is rigged in all markets as to sooth my stupidity and my lack of trading expertise. I wish it were so easy as to make a business plan. Some of us just can talk the talk but cannot trade. I have resolved that I need help and support and I have considered training in a prop shop...but a simple 5K or 7K will not suffice...if you have 50K look at a prop shop with a training program... make friends..don't go the retail trading route...you are just bait for the industry. ES P.S. With equities it seems just trading long in a bull market could lead you astray...you must learn to make money in a down market also...
After parting ways with my backer, I plunked $10k into a test IB account 2 month ago, and have made about $500 per day since. All it takes is 12 years of experience, millions worth of intellectual property development, plus an identified opportunity. It ain't easy, nor is it scalable. At 1% per day, you'd be the richest man in the world in a few decades.
It's more than possible if you're a highly skilled day trader. But I tend to agree with Savant as far as seeking out good training/mentoring. Think about the Market Wizards guys who produced such amazing results, most of them had a mentor they worked with every day. Those who didn't mention a specific mentor were still working around other good traders, so weren't working in isolation. Speaking from personal experience, going it alone is like trying to re-invent the wheel. I've been learning day trading for about 2.5 years and while I'm losing a lot less of late, am still not over the hump into profitability. There have been a handful of aspiring traders I've communicated with regularly at one point or another over the past few years and none of them are still daytrading. I'd definitely suggest getting some real training/mentoring if you want to be a trader.
It is a subjective question... if you are not currently an active profitable trader, set more "realistic" goals, weekly/monthly targets. Focus on surviving... Bottom line, purely dependent upon each individual traders skill set. This can only be determined once you achieve consistency, and your system has positive expectancy. Anything is possible, not necessarily probable. I know a few active profitable traders personally who consistently achieve their goals on a monthly basis [which are substantial], and I know many more who can not... [I know of no one who can achieve a consistent 1% per day] I was mentored by a very profitable trader who taught me that it is more important to learn how to lose properly than how to win. Everyone enters the trading world with big starry eyes focusing on the "Win" side of trading, when in reality it is much more important knowing how to lose... [Controlled Risk] Personally I embrace my losses, because when I am wrong which I am very often, my loses are small. I also know I lose more than I win, however my wins are greater than my losses i.e positive expectancy... It's a cliche, but holds very true: "cut your losses short, let your winners run" Control your losses, the winners take care of themselves.. It doesn't come easy, it takes many years of hard work, patience and discipline to become profitable [consistently] and hone your skill, which is what one should strive for... Not everyone does, it takes a special breed... Trade well
I believe it is possible... with proper money management and risk management strategy. Here i post two photos from my trading session (sorry for the poor quality, I don't have a photo management software on my PC). here you can see how much I made from 50K in less than a week (well, demo, but I don't believe I'm playing too risky).