Good question. I'm not really familiar with the prop end of things. I just trade my own account. My account equity is the number against which I would compare my dollar earnings over any given time period, regardless of how much of that equity I "used" during that period. Unless the dollars earned are compared to some benchmark, what is the point of the P&L exercise? All I am saying is that the performance equation is not just limited to the numerator.
Spooz Top, You are amazingly consistent. How many contracts are you trading and why haven't you sized up yet?
i am very interested to see how many of our stars will be doing when the nyse hybrid gets into full effect.
they will probably be doing just fine, there are reasons why they are stars---sure the hybrid will cut into the bottom line some, but most will continue to make a nice living
I dont know how I stumbled onto this thread Thanks for the backup (for those of you who backed me up) In regards to the "glad to have made it out alive" on a +15k day, I believe I had a swing on IWM that day. I had gotten long way too early (didnt respect my own limits and prices) and had flung from +8k to -17k (unrealized). I averaged down, and held on, figuring that without a total and utter breakdown, we could get a decent bounce near end of day, and we did. I finished up +15k, and it was a rough day. The same way today was a rough day, but I traded 9 million shares to finish red 10k. "rough" doesn't necessarily have the same meaning for everyone. In regards to the "if you're so good, why are you still there" crowd, it was just fate and luck that landed me at swift. I had no prior experience, I never finished university., I never studied the marketplace I just found trading was very similar to playing video games; so I took a liking to trading. Its just a coincidence that in this field of work, success = money. S ps; mnx + millenium man are my heroes
No offense but, trading is NOT similar to playing video games. Trading needs tremendous discipline and mental stability. In video games, you can lose and keep on "retrying". But in trading, and especially the way you seem to trade, you may not live another day to trade once you lose. Do not get too cozy about averaging down and coming out alive, because the next time you do that, you will become even more hot headed and won't accept that you are wrong and you will end up losing 30k. I have seen people go homeless doing what you are doing. I hope you will change your attitude about trading. I am not starting an arguement with you. Just voicing out my opinion against averaging down to death and the "trading is like a video game" crap...
um....well....not to start an arguement with you...but yes...daytrading is very much like a video game.....and yes a video game does require tremendous discipline and mental stability. And no i do not play video games because i do not enjoy spending the time and energy that it takes to play video games when i do it all day "playing" the market. And yes in trading you do get to keep on "retrying" until you get it right. If you think for one second that everything you do is right when you are trading then either you are god's miracle trader or you are full of sheeeet. Traders make mistakes all the time and keep retrying until they do get it right....just like a video game. If you are not a better trader now than you were a year ago you have been doing something wrong. Just like it takes days sometimes even months for some people to get to the next "level" in a video game...it also takes that amount of time and the same number of mistakes to get to be the next level of better trader.
i just noticed the question,so don`t think i was ignoring you,shred..........i actually trade a pretty small account by most standards but my average size is usually between 5 to 10 cars,due to my style,rarely do i get to put on max size for my account,25.i play mostly a defensive game by pyramiding in/out of positions.......which allows me to be profitable almost every day but prohibits me from having big days,unfortunately,that`s the trade off. i designated this year to trade small while being efficient & consistent.............efficiency/consistency being absolutely paramount above everything else & to reinforce my methodolygy into a reflex & not thought.i`ll actually be adding substantially to my size in december but may hold off untill january to execute that size till after the holidays.