The FIRST you need to do is to stop trading the 30-yr futures. Many people think that since futures have high liquidity and long trading hours it means they are easier to trade. That is completely wrong. Try looking at stocks instead of futures. If you read the Traders P/L thread you'll notice that almost every profitable trader is trading stocks. Honestly though you'd be doing yourself a huge favor by just moving on. The vast majority of people are not successful traders, theres nothing wrong with that. Treat trading like a real business. Don't pour money down a black hole.
Yeah, I still wonder why no futures traders ever post there. Maybe one, once in awhile will stick around for a month or so, but sooner or later, it stops. Same for currency traders. You'd think since they are apparently the new "hot" things to trade, more people would post. Just interesting thought.
I've patiently read through this thread as it sounds alot like me. After I lost my job in March, I funded an equity account with $27K. I'm quickly down -3K in 5 weeks. Despite the many good advice to TS, there's a problem with how gamblers "listen": 1. 95% of all beginning traders fail. Gambler: I'm going to make it. 2. Most traders learning this game has blown their account at least once. Gambler: That's me. 3. Losing streak is part of the game. Gambler: That's me. 4. Trade small, cut losses quickly, stay in the game longer. Gambler: OK, I'll continue to "learn" to trade. 5. Don't lose more than 1% on a small account. Gambler: OK, so it's fine to continue losing 1% per trade. I could go on, but what I'm telling myself (and TS if he's listening) is that I probably don't have an edge. The probability of loss in the way I trade is high. I'm now back to papertrading, which I've heard so much advice but never did. It took me a while to "stop trading for one day". It also took me a while to "cut down your normal position size". Well, I'm not trading today but will be watching and mentally taking paper trades ..... until I'm consistent.
It happened to many. In my opinion the best is to take a break, cool down and learn/test some more. After some you`ll realize how much you have already learned by this experience, but first let emotions go away.
Try to reset. Try to forget about your losses. You are at square 1 with 7k. You need to be consistently profitable. You needn't to take all the market has to offer in one day. 30k at 40 lot = 7k at 9lot. You are trading at almost the same kind of insane leverage as you did when you were at 30k. Take it slow. otherwise you will most likely lose your 7k. Good luck.
The bond market consists of the biggest and smartest money out there, hands down.... it totally dwarfs the equity markets. Sorry to say, but you had no business being there.... the same also goes for 99% of everyone in these forums.
bstay, paper trading can certainly help you work out some kinks and develop/refine your trading setups and methodology. imho, using a simulated account (many brokers offer them) would be more beneficial than paper trading for the simple fact that with a simu account, you still have to click on buy or sell and there is an account balance to reflect how you're doing. it is too easy to say "oh, i would have taken that one" or "no, i actually wouldn't really have taken that loser" with paper trading. while there is no substitute for the real thing, a sim account is probably a step closer to it than paper trading. not as easy to fudge the results.
For you to say "you had no business being there" is to assume that you speak from a position of someone who does belong there. Is this true? Just curious
Thanks for that insight. I'm not trading 9-lots but 6-lots. My balance is actually 8K. I get what you are saying.