Call me crazy but I think the OP should be day trading, and here is why I say that. A guy learning to box will need to be hit how many times during trading before he can even enter an official fight? He needs to experience punches from all angles and all combinations. He needs to learn to save enough energy to make it 10 rounds, just in case he can't get a knock out in the first couple. Different fighters will also have different styles, so he will need to learn to adapt very quickly. But maybe its not so much about learning to adapt, because once in the ring, he should just be recalling his practice sessions and hence be prepared for that style. If swing trading, there simply isn't enough time to practice thousands of times. You need to see what it feels like to get 5 winners in a row, and 5 losers in a row. You need to see at least 50 times what happens when you decide to do something out of the ordinary (ie. against your plan) and get kicked in the teeth, and sometimes rewarded, for doing said action. Its only through sheer repetition that you will learn the proper habits and make them stick. As you're learning to box, you of course also need to make sure that no one punch can take you out for life. Maybe you get knocked out and are done for the day, but hopefully your career isn't cut short just because someone knocks you out permanently. Likewise, your account needs to be able to survive dozens of losses if you don't get a bunch of good wins in there as well. I think an account shouldn't lose more than 2% in one day if you aren't experienced. Therefore, depending on how much you trade, each trade should risk a fraction of this if you will be putting on multiple trades a day. I'm saying all this because its clear that you're using the "hoping and praying" trading technique, and that is the most elementary trading technique there is. It works sometimes, but in the long run fails miserably. A better H&P system at least has stops, but you're using the most basic version of this trading system.
The sign of a good trader is he who recognizes the best risk reward (and that might be to not trade) Building houses for sale will probably earn you more money for many reasons. 1. It’s easier to borrow to grow your business 2. It’s unlikely you will ever sell a house a loss 3. You can control the homes you build.
Best strategies to start trading https://www.elitetrader.com/et/threads/best-strategies-to-start-trading.338692/#post-4978863 Farmerjohn1324 - Sounds Familiar. This exercise has all been done before. Some things will never change... "I have a practice currency trading account and a practice options account. So I have seen the potential risk and reward. For example, on Thanksgiving night, I put $100,000 fake dollars buying EUR/USD. I would have profited $50,000 right now, and a couple days ago it was at $75,000 profit."
liquidate all your positions. Get a multisignature account with 2-5 other people you know. Make smaller trades. Add more diversity / decorrelate. For each trade don't enter unless you have compelling reasons.
Lack of diversification and over leveraging. It's like going all in on Energy, basic materials & commodity stocks and shorting major indexes. Russia/Ukraine conflict ends and you can pretty much kiss your account goodbye!
famerjohn1234....ur name sound very familiar. i could have sworn i read a post by you a couple of year ago...saying you blown up your trading account and you couldn't see your wife ever again. now you are back at it again?
Jones may or may not be a good trader, I don't know, but I like the Fixed Ratio money management method. At least for options it is easy to implement. And I think it helps add some discipline. You might look at it. Here's one take on it. Lots of info on the web. https://www.fxtradingrevolution.com/forex-blog/fixed-ratio-money-management-in-trading
i mean using high margin on a $1000 account is understandable but on a $40k account??? I would definitely stick to one thing and one contract at a time. You can make a shit ton of money only trading one contract of es these days