Man, is rcanfiel the biggest pessimist on ET? With his way of thinking, I don't think he can EVER become successful in trading. I suppose he can continue to drive his Honda Civic for the rest of his life.
Truth is, Jack Hershey does know his stuff. Others here might do well also, but not as well as Jack. That is my honest opinion. Jack, you are on a higher level, I am slightly disappointed when you go on the attack. Maybe you were provoked, if so, excuse my comment.
Pessimist? I am a realist. People offering advisories tend to be 98% quacks, frauds and/or misguided. People claiming to be super successful traders on ET are usually similar to Mr. Chloride "I make $6K a day, worship me." They are super successful, mostly in their dreams, papertrading, or own mind. People talking about how it is not so difficult to make 300% a year live in fantasy land. I have seen enough to be unimpressed with claims masked by the anonymity of the web. It is easy to say, when no one can disprove what you claim. Funny, 06 Civic was Motor Trend car of the year. Maybe I could buy a Beemer and get less value. I find no shame in driving what I want and living where I wish. Sam Walton drove his old pickup truck happily, in spite of be a multibillionnaire. Hoping others are impressed with your toys is the ultimate example of an empty life. Even the superrich are known to have blown out their brains, when they find out how little they have to live for.
Ah, but the problem is, since ETers cannot verify what he says, he can ramble on as if he is ground central.
<i>"Well, he opened an IB account with 30K, and he said he's starting to trade 5 contracts at a time..."</i> Trading the ES, two contracts = $100 per index point profit. Average +20pts per week, +$2,000 per week. That's $100k annual if achieved, which is obviously very possible in current market conditions. If said friend is good, $30k will become much more and size can increase with same degree of risk % to account balance. No reason to trade bigger at first, 2 contracts are plenty for training wheels period of learning.
Based on some things "friend" said, he is much more likely to wind up with sub zero account than to make 300% annually for any length of time. Mathematics usually reduces to "Risk of Ruin" when you ignore certain trading fundamentals...
While I agree with your post, I'd appreciate if you left out the quotations around the word friend. It's really not cute. I said it before and I'll say it again, if it was ME that was asking the question, I would just do it. What, my e-reputation from ET will get tarnished? Please...I was only trying to get some insight from some seasoned traders on HIS approach, which I mentioned a million times I don't agree with. He did it anyways, I hope it won't cost him, but he's a big boy.