My point is if you have $4k dont juts focus on ES - There plenty of other contracts like = Eurodollars, T-notes, 30 Day Fed Funds, mini silver, mini gold, grains (expect wheat), meats, currencies that you can trade with $4k - moving in and out 2 to 3 contracts
again, EXACTLY Shagi...I am currently looking at daytrading: *YM mini dow *10 Year Note *CME Globex Euro *CME/CBOT Corn *CME/CBOT Soybeans *perhaps(just perhaps) the ER2 with seriously tight stops...I know, I know, I know...but if the dude could trade the ER2 with $1,100 only!!!! cleck here: http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=122047 then...$3,800 is much more...
With a small $4K account you have to forget about about % loss and be prepared to be wiped out - because $400 is 10% of $4k - very difficult to trade anything without risking that much - the way I figured it is that I have to lose $300/$400 almost 10 times in a row to wipe out. Can it happen yes but its more of an abberation. but ofcourse if its a $400k account its a different story.
Shagi...your story of taking $4K to $16K in 3 weeks is truly inspiring!...your story and AustinP from below...prove that it can be done...thanks for the post...read below: "About a year ago I had $1,000 balance in an account and decided to see where it could be traded to using a specific approach in the ER2. First day it went from $1,000 down to $800. Second day it went to $1,500+ and then stair-stepped higher from there. Before the end of second calendar month, account balance was $60,000+"... ...writtenby AustinP found on the thread "Trading e-minis with $1k starting capital" under the Journals forums section...both truly inspire me and should others...thanks...
I agree with many that 1 ES is the maximum one should trade unless one has some experience, in which case why would you only have 3.8K in your trading account, but whatever. The whole leveraging thing is a canard, IMO. A futures contract is what is in play - not the underlying. So if one sticks to the benchmark format then for intraday trading: $2250 = initial and $1800 = maintenance. If you lose more than $1550, then you cannot trade the next day. 1 ES point = $50 and thus 31 points is your maximum loss. If you set your loss limit at $100 = 2 points = 8 ticks, then you could have 14-15 losing roundtrips (5$/RT) before folding. If you can't make a profit on 1 contract, why should trading more improve that? lj
No. I do not agree. Instead of spending all your time creating polls in an effort to learn how others think, why not simply learn to think? Spend the next few months actually learning to trade, rather than, attempting to trade with an under capitalized account. Can it be done? Sure. No doubt a number of people who already know how to trade could build that $3800 into a tidy sum of money, but not you. Why? because you haven't yet learned to trade. Your posts scream this fact to the rest of the world every time you hit the enter key on your keyboard. Take this advice, or dismiss it. I personally do not care either way, but if you plan to ignore the really great advice handed to you within this thread, then you have nobody to blame but yourself. - Spydertrader
its seems like people who are attracted by low trade margins are the same people who lose money trading spot forex. Trading futures is a big boy game, and why would you play a big boy game with a little boys bat?? Its best to have at least the initial margin set out by the exchange, and multiply that by two. now times that by two again, and you have your cushion. so lets review.. 4500 (initial margin) x 2 = 9000 9000 x 2 = 18000 (margin plus cushion) And with that you can trade one contract. If you have an edge, you can start out with less, but if that were the case, why would you want to be a piker with such a small account?? personally I would trade the YM with an account that size. one contract intraday thats all . Once im doing SIZE, 50 contracts or more, then I would switch over to the ES. And believe me I wouldn't be trading 50 contracts on such a small account.
The answer to this question clearly relies on experience. Obviously if you are new to trading the ES then 1 contract would be appropriate. If it were someone who was consistently profitable and scalped with tight stops I don't know why they couldn't trade a least 2 or 3. Once again it all depends on your situation...