It is not my fault 416.50 on the chart does not mean 416.50 dollars. Out of all mistakes this one is essentially harmless. I am used to normal 1 to 1 correspondence between price quote and actual price in dollars. All this proves is that options trump all in profit potential though they are exceptionally risky.
I remember my first "paid" lesson being much more expensive both financially and mentally. At least you are able to laugh...
It is better that I kill him rather than the market kill him. Being ignorant about anything in the futures markets is the fastest way to a zeroed out account.
No way would I zero out an account with futures. If I can stay afloat trading only puts with 1 month to expiration or less futures don't scare me one bit. Chart patterns don't change profit potential changes. It is awful to go from potentially making 3000% profit a trade to something like 80% tops.
I and many others would be thrilled to make an average 1% a day trading futures let alone 1% a trade.
Depends on starting capital. I don't have a lot of money to trade (usually like 1 grand at the beginning of the month from the previous month) and I have to create something out of nothing and make money to cover my living expenses and live another day. That situation creates a lot of stress. If a stock wastes my time doing nothing for a week it is a catastrophe. In essence, I have roughly 20 trading days to quadruple my money and that does not increase my capital at all. If I had 100K I would be in 7-8 figures a long time ago.
With futures unlike options you can lose more than your starting capitol, although I believe most brokers will liquidate your positions before you owe them $. Can You explain to us how you manage your risk when trading options? Do you set a stop, have a mental stop or allow them to expire worthless?
Very simple. I track a group of stocks (no more than 20-30)expecting them to produce certain formations. Once they confirm expected behavior (beginning perceived trend reversal) I go in at a predetermined point and have a predetermined exit point. Then I track what happens to them (but not the whole day) If I feel they are not moving as desired I get the hell out.