hey guys, QCOM - I forgot what kind of position I was in, but I think I had 1.5k shares then another 1.5k shares scaled. Ok guys, You know I track NASDAQ thats it, I track nasdaq first, stocks second, it seems I just can't find the correct stock to short or go long on, I keep missing the movement even though I can reasonably predict the nasdaq composite movement, reasonably meaning I can spot extremes , I'm no wizard or anything So I'm going to open up a $10k futures account at Interactive brokers, To trade futures, I will be trading 1 lot of e-minis. I feel at least when the market falls, I WILL BENEFIT instead of being frustrated and stopped out from some extraneous stock while I watch the market fall. Today was such a last draw, I knew for sure the nasdaq was going to drop, I waited for the rally before shorting, Around. 10:03 , saw confirmation, went in short, Stock I went in short, managed to rally big time from that point, I waso nly short 1000 shares ($25k ) I still lost $100 , I was like seriously what the fuck is wrong with me these days. That was only one stock too, my rule is 2 stocks on my position, but I can't go into 2 stocks when the first stock is losing money, so if the stock I picked was actually a dud, theres no way I can spread out the risk to two stocks. so all I can do is sit there and watch the market run past me. The stock was below previous lows, I need to short quickly or the market will drop like a rock, I short on immediate confirmation. 1) So anybody can recommend a futures broker thats good as IB? pros and cons I use prophet.net /streaming for my futures data + quotetracker, I Was comparing it, it tracks it pretty close. ND0509 was the tracking 2) Any advice is appreciated. Thank you guys I love your comments, they are all very helpful ticketwatcher, clauseu and others. I'm determined to make it, I'll be the 1 lot man till I make it god damnit!
Why you would make rules at this early stage in your education is beyond my comprehension. Know your playing field. Nasdaq is a sham. The barriers to entry for this marketplace are low. If you intend to use your $60,000 as a tool for you to educate yourself by trading live in the market then approach it as such. Opening a futures account now will bury you. You have no working system and you have no idea what to look at and when to look at it. So, a futures account for you is like driving up to the nearest ballpark and saying "sign me up coach". It's foolish. You need a working model before you take on futures trading. If you intend to trade futures then drop everything you are doing and start to train to trade futures. When you can trade futures effectively then you can expand your operation base. What you are doing now is uneducated guessing, not trading. be good. alex
Clauseau, . Which is why I'll be trading 1 lots in futures, Are there half a lots to trade with? If I will be losing during my education trading futures, it'll still be 1 lots. Shouldn't effect my capital much at all, don't you think. 1 lots will take my trading down to around $15k-20k capital, $20 per tick , even smaller then what I do now, very low risk for learning. What doesn't work well needs to be changed, Things that work well for me is: 1) I can predict nasdaq short term movements well 2) I have rules to spot extremes in buying or selling so I can do a reverse. 3) Position sizing Things I don't do well: 1) Choosing the stocks that track nasdaqs movements , benefit when I'm right on nasdaq's movements.
btw I do have a system, I'm not uneducated guessing as you think I am , its just that my system doesn't choose the stocks correctly, It predicts nasdaq very accurately with stop losts at 1 or 2 points. Which is why I'm going to be trading futures to eliminate this extra task of choosing the right stocks!
How long have you been trading now? Why aren't you trading 100 shares at a time? If you can't make money trading 100 shares at a time 3 times a day then you will not make money trading any other stocks/markets/whatever. Once you have a month of profitability after commission the you up your size. You'll probably ignore this and continue to lose larger than you win. Trust me on this: you have the same discipline/emotional issues that everyone has when they start. These will cost you money until you learn to overcome them (prepare for a long journey). You can limit your tuition by trading small until you consistently perform with good discipline and a good emotional state. Mike
Not that i am aware of. I wish you well. For me, this is all that i do now--trading. So my approach demands respect for the business of trading and every marketplace(except nasdaq--lol). My intent was/is to point out that you may want to know how to make rules first before you make them and give away predetermined amounts of your capital. Winning in the market is a thinking man's game. The minute you stop to think you'll have 15 ankle biters ready to chisel at you. I will remiss myself of further communication on this thread. I can see i am of no use here. Again, all the best to you. be good. alex
I have been daytrading for only a short time, I've been position trading for a few years. It must look like I'm about to crash and burn after a string of losts but My daytrading has only lost me 1.35% of my total capital. So I'm not blowing up here, just change of strategy and pace. Testing out my simulation futures trading Entered a position of short ND0509 @ 1522 @ 11:18 1 lot
Having read over this thread it appears your stop discipline is not in place. Until you remedy that, it does not matter that you only lost 1.35% because it will only take a few blown stops to wipe you out. The reasoning is that blown stops have a way of feeding on themselves and eventually the amount becomes very large. Making rules on the fly (learning new things to justify them) is trading with a plan in flux and not generally a good idea. Because you are still learning it is also risking more than you realize due to the as yet unknown aspect of your new rules. (in other words, what you don't know can hurt you) IF you have something that works for you, why not stick to it. There is always a learning curve when moving to new trading media or investigating new indicators etc.. Just something to consider... Cheers, DB
I agree my stop discpline was fucked up, Not was it only not in place, I had some fucked up thinking about divergences and sorts. REverseion to the mean and things. In my mind I was begining to realize , This can't continue, I'd have serious issues down the road if I allow these divergences to loose up my stop points. I was trading multiple vehicles so looking at NASDAQ I would see divergence with stocks , let it run just a little bit because there was a "divergence" , "Maybe its doing a headfake, God damn market is jumping off the roof, how can it possibly rally" Now at least I'll be trading only one market/future, there won't be any divergences that would possibly allow myself to let me past my 0.30% stop lost. I signed up to IB, wired money over already, Was analyzing my futures position, I think prophet.net has delayed quotes for emini nasdaq Time for a new vehicle, Short on extremes, buy on extremes, No divergence! thank god! The One Lotter is here, Lock up your wallets, prepare to be taken or given
if the emini nasdaq tracks nasdaq100 to the T, I think I'm in for some good money, I love working with the indexes, thats my EDGE! SIMULATION: ND0509 1522 11:18 (Very risk free IMO) COVERED 1511.50 3:15 SHORTED 1516 15:42 Open position .. ND0509 Should be around 1510 at the close 12 points * $25 or 20? 1 Lot = $300 (imaginary) Delayed quotes Anybody trade futures here? Anything I should know regarding slippage and sorts USing velocity futures sim