So I have made some post on wanting to trade and then not becoming very active here. I basically have been pulling historical date on ninja trader and trading my strategy. It is a simple trend trading pullback strategy with keltner channers. I believe the outer bands are set at 2.5 stand devations. I could use some work on supply and demand zones cause I can see those when my set ups fall within those ranges they don't really work out to well. I have been studying and practicing since may-june. I got to a point where I was averaging about 4 points per week. I was planning on trading 150 contracts ( am capitalized to do this and each trade that loses is 1/100 of my account) with a 1.25 stop loss on the down side and a 2 point reward on the up side. So I traded everyday this year on sim and made 1 million dollars on paper trading 150 contracts. I did about 1000 trades since then. Monday I started trading live I thought the commission was going to be 106 per trade (round trip). (I got paper work saying I can get this down to around .23 cents each way). So Monday was my first day trading day and I only got one good set up and it lost. No big deal. I get my nightly recap statement from the brokerage Firm and It says I got charged like 580 bucks for that one trade not 106. I start tying to figure out where this came from. Then I realized I had zero clue about exchange fees and clearing fees. I didn't freak out at this point but then went over my recorded data and realized I would of paid 580k on those trades I did. It would of bumped my net profit down to 1.7 points per week. This seems like an unacceptable risk vs reward for me as the risk just seems to high for the reward giving that much out in commission. I feel horrible and I don't know where to turn to now. I have giving my all in this and studied so much with zero knowledge of futures on the es mini prior to this. Thanks for listening and ill try to filter out who knows what there talking about vs the select few that actually make money here and trade for a living.
Hey there! Welcome to futures, welcome to live trading, and welcome to your mind! This is fun stuff ain't it?! Paper trading 150 contracts and you made 1 million? When you went live it did not go so well? I weep for the future. P.S. Try one contract, not 150. You live longer.
dude no offense I remember your dumb ass from before I don't want to listen to any of your advice. I wasn't aware of exchange fees and I didn't calculate my edge properly because of that. either I need to get better or I stop and look for anyway to make money. it would be dumb to go live averaging 1.7 points per week with the size I'm talking about. sorry to be harsh but you where pretty judgemental of me in my previous post so sorry I'm not your biggest fan dude.
so so so bumed out and depressed trading ES" The answer and solution is simple: Become UnDepressed. Start by doing fun things like eating cupcakes and lighting sparklers and drinking champagne....All of that may alter your mind a bit, and make you...See the Light` Trading, like alot of things in life, is sometimes just simply a matter of lighting the right triggers in your mind, and body, and soul...to make dramatic changes, We are usually walking and living dead zombies...inherently defective, -- but can be fixed,
First of all, there are no simple strategies that work. Secondly, If u made millions on paper and zilch on real, that means somewhere somehow u lied to yourself. What to do? Back to the drawing board, or not....
ok let me clarify. I made 1 live trade ever. I saw how much it actually cost and not just the publized "commission " rate. Although ill take credit for not knowing the real cost of trading I think these firms do a good job not being to forth coming about exchange fees and clearing fees. I saw the cost of actual trading and went back and calculated with the data I pulled from sim trading. It doesn't make sense to trade live averaging 1.7 points a week (the net profit when commission, exchange fees, and clearing fees are taking into account) its just to risky. So its not like I have traded live for months and didn't make anything. If the edge is weakened by the trading cost I do not need months of data to tell me this isn't gunna work as planned. I was able to realize that in one day trading live. This isn't about my execution but about cost. Sorry to get defensive just stressed.
also I looked at leasing an exchange seat but it seems silly without any experience. If I where to do this how would you even let ninja trader know so they charge you less in exchange fees
Wow, I mean that must feel horrible. But don't worry, there are many hedges out there to be gained and exploited, so as long as you keep trying you'll be fine. Also, you can refine your strategy to reduce the number of trades you're taking, and maybe prolong the amount of time you hold the pos. to play it for a more long-term move, which would ideally pay off your fees.