6 ticks is 1.5% of his account. If he has some losers in a row that will quickly get up too high. Also he probably won't have perfect discipline, because almost nobody does. He basically has no room for error and that is a hard spot to be in.
back and fill is what price action tends to do before it moves strongly in one direction. it moves back and forth, testing support before moving up, or abutting resistance before it drops. the phenomena is the absolute worst in the ES than any other popular retail trading instrument that I've ever seen, but it also exists in the NQ, ER2, ZN etc.
Well, my commission will be $4.3 for a round trip, so it's not THAT horrible. Also, I will have a limit where if I start loosing more than, say, $120 for now, I stop trading for the day. Hopefully I will never have to do that, and luckily my percentage of correct trades is about %70 on most days, so all of that back fill and stuff I can usually tell apart when it's faking or not, so usually I wait for the strongest of confirmations to pull the trigger.
Not everyone will have the same experience you might have had No need to discourage him... I've been trading with similar capital and have far from blown-out. FWIW, spend time at this site only to identify the few and far between successful traders that drop crumbs of advice. Search for everything they have to say and just sort of store it in your head. Ignore pre-packaged strategies... as you watch the market more and more, what used to look 100% chaotic will only start to look 95% chaotic. Then try to figure out how you can profit from the 5% of predictability you see. Enjoy the ups and downs
Yes, well obviously I realize that SOME people here are complete losers (well, in trading anyways). Comic relief is always in good shape here, what with Surdo here complaining that he doesn't get enough -18 year old ass. It brings me relief that some people are on my positive side instead of being negative, that's kinda rare seeing as everyone keeps saying "YOU GONNA BLOW UP!!! HAHAHAHA" And you're right about the randomness. Once you really get a simple enough strategy that you understand fundamentally and technically, trading becomes so much easier. It's amazing much time it takes to develop one single working strategy, and usually when you find a method that works for you, you realize what a dumbass you were for trying to make things harder than they already are.
OK, so I go live in about 7 hours. Anyways, I just wanted to voice my concerns over how I'm gonna tackle my emotions, especially on the trades when my stops will be hit hard; I don't exactly want to be paralyzed by sudden fear so price will continue dropping, or making stupid decisions because I'm upset about loosing $. Did/do any of you guys have these problems when going from virtual to real? Anybody use some kind of psychological warm up or something before going in? I know you just need to chill the fuck out, like I always did virtually, but understandably you can see why I'm having slight anxiety. I know statistically my plan will work, so I just need to focus on that right?
Fascinating. Reeks of "derivative bubble." With 2k it's game over when he can't post initial/maintenance margin, not when he loses his full 2k. Good luck, but my advice would be to take the 2k, buy some of those ACT/SAT test prep books or a tutor and work on getting into college with a scholarship. There are better ways to leverage your money at age 17. Markets will be there when you're ready.