Just out of curiosity, I'm wondering what a typical monthly profit target would be for an elitetrader.com poster. Meaning, what percentage gain would you need to make in a month to feel like it was a good, solid month, not spectacular but not shabby (also it goes without saying that I'm talking a target you can reach consistently and have reached repeatedly...)
Say what? We are either talking different things here or else you are being sarcsatic. I'm talking about percentage return on your total capital. I.E. if I start the month with 100 grand and a monthly profit target of 10%, that means I am shooting to make ten grand that month.
I don't know about others, but the last thing I consider when evaluating 'how I did' is what my percentage profit was for a month. What matters is bottom line dollars -- net, after commissions. Using leverage (and futures, for me), a % return is meaningless.
? It's exactly the same thing. Looking at profit percentage is just a more efficient way of assessing your bottom line. If two traders make $5,000 a month but one is making it off $50K and the other is making it off $100K, it's the same in dollar terms (five grand), but much different in percentage terms (10% return versus 5% return) making trader A superior. How you look at your books is your business. I was just curious as to what typical performance looks like around here. Also the fact that you use leverage has nothing to do with it, everybody uses leverage. The return is calculated off the money at risk. This is one reason why the prop firm idea can be misleading I think. Sure, Don Bright will lend me lots of cash if I put up 25 grand, BUT if I lose that 25 grand then its game over. So in reality, my own capital is still my risk capital and the money lent to me is nothing more than a leverage stick allowing me to take bigger positions. At the end of the day percentage earned against actual capital at risk is the only way to measure the relative performance of traders.