With a prop leverage of say 20:1, what drawdown will the firm allow? Can they handle a loss of 5% of the buying balance (total available funds), with the hope you will recover, or will they force you to shut down? Probably I have the wrong idea of how they operate, but I still think they do not conform to my trading style.
chances are they will only care if you lose it all, then they will be worried you wont reload. they make money on commisions like retail, not that much difference
Neke, Congrats! 45% in a week!.. I made 50% on September and I was absolutely elated!.. too elated.. Now your next 2 weeks REALLY matter! It's like a break of serve in tennis.. it's you holding yours that now matters... Please hang on.. question is whether markets bottom next week (me thinks so) or keep bleeding..
Weekly Update for week 38 ended 11/16/2007 Horrible week. Glad I can look beyond the week, and the awful trading. Suffered a major option loss, without which I would have made an OK week. The week began on a good note on Monday, shorting ETFC at 6.05 premarket, covering after market opened with that precipitous drop to 4.75, realising 39K (the stock closed the day at 3.55, so apparently left more than 30K on the table). Same day got mixed results trading the market sell-off. Bought BIDU calls earlier in the day, trying to pick the bottom, losing 25K. Fortunately made it back in the same stock near end of day with a put option. Then came the awful Tuesday. Who knew you could loss so much on an immobile stock like WMT! Made some really bad decision buying the NOV 45 put after its earnings, and the rise in early trade, based on expectation that the stock does not hold on to its gains after earnings. However, this time it was different. Bought a total of 2000 contracts at average of $0.45! (first 1000 @ 0.55, next 1000 @ 0.35, averaging down on a loser). Eventually got out at $0.15 for a whopping 59K loss. Did so many things wrong: buying out of money put with 3 days to expiration not a good idea, taking on a size that is out of proportion to the trading volume on the contract (I probably accounted for one-quarter of the volume for the day) placing me at the mercy of the market maker with his bid-ask spread, ignoring the spread, and of course averaging down. Whalloped by a whipsaw on Friday, shorting GRMN pre-market at 97.50, forced to cover 104.50 pre-market (who knew all that volume in pre-market was spurious), went long at 100.00 sold near the bottom for the day at 94.00. Total loss 17.5K. goooooooooooosh! Need to trade cautiously next week. Code: Balance B/F: 240,411 Loss for the week -36,686 ------------------------------------------------ Balance C/F: 203,725 Number of Trades 23 Number of Profitable Trades 11 Since Inception of Thread 2/25/2007 - 11/16/2007 Balance B/F: 76,636 Net Gain (Less Margin Interest) 198,089 Cash Withdrawal -71,000 ------------------------------------------------ Balance C/F: 203,725 (Adjusted balance before withdrawals is 274725, up 255% ) Number of Trades 1030 Number of Profitable Trades 583 Expected Balance at this time to be on track for Year-End Target : 387,173 Status: Behind Target (Based on adjusted balance before withdrawals) Top/Bottom Discretionary Trades for the week TICKER ENTRY DATE/TIME EXIT DATE/TIME QTY PURCHASE AMT SOLD AMT GAINS/LOSS TYPE ETFC 2007-11-12-08-22-49 2007-11-12-09-39-41 30000 142073 181504 39388 SHORT BDUWZ 2007-11-12-14-15-16 2007-11-12-15-59-20 5000 30000 57500 27404 BIDU NOV 300 PUT ----------------------------------------------------------------- BDUKG 2007-11-12-09-36-26 2007-11-12-14-06-56 5000 50000 25000 -25095 BIDU NOV 340 CALL WMTWI 2007-11-13-09-32-32 2007-11-13-12-36-11 190000 84500 28530 -58891 WMT NOV 45 PUT (Before Interest and Other charges) TRANSACTIONS ANALYSIS FROM 2007-02-25 TO 2007-11-17 Current Week | Since Inception of Thread | Method Gains/Loss No Of Profitable | Gains/Loss No Of Profitable Trades Trades | Trades Trades Automated AutoTrade1 0 0 0 | 5652 208 116 AutoTrade2 0 0 0 | 3372 12 8 AutoTrade3 0 0 0 | -4523 3 0 AutoTrade4 0 0 0 | -15301 3 0 ----------- -------- ------------ | ----------- ------ ------------ Total Automated 0 0 0 | -10800 226 124 ----------- -------- ------------ | ----------- ------ ------------ Discretionary Long -15276 6 1 | -63660 271 156 Short 23327 6 3 | 73929 282 164 Options(long) -44750 11 7 | 199329 251 139 ----------- -------- ------------ | ----------- ------ ------------ Total Discretionary -36699 23 11 | 209597 804 459 =========== ======== ============ | =========== ====== ============ Net Totals -36699 23 11 | 198797 1030 583 =========== ======== ============ | =========== ====== ============
hey man was up early....i did nearly the exact same thing on GRMN today both ways...screwed both ways at nearly same prices should have made thousands by 9:35 but lost thousands somehow i managed to go positive for the day...so good comeback but i feel ur pain p.s. i destroyed my entire bed at 9:35am in frustration
Neke, I am learning so much from you. Particularly the idea of not getting emotional about a Loss or a Gain, but instead staying focused on the GOAL. I do have a question. You have been so successful this year even with the withdrawals. When are you planning to do this full time?
Glad you are getting something from it. As stated previously I will not consider full-time trading until my equity hits 500K, unless of course if my regular job gets uncomfortable.
neke why have you stopped using the automated strategies in the last couple of weeks? still with ninja? not happy with the code? problem with executions in options? care to to explain? thanks