ok, although the year is not quite over i'll go over some points since i will be busy traveling from now to early january. the year was lousy to what i have been used to for years due to low vol; but around september to now it has come up ever so slightly helping my marks in Q4. november was well in to 6 digit gains, as was october. december is running half but that's fine as this month is generally my worst. i do appreciate the guys who step up and post such intimate details of their trading. i also hope some of the newer guys who are serious about making in the trading world get some inspiration from this journal. in any case i may post next yr at best monthly and even quarterly (except for days that may be of note) for a few good reasons. also, i have moved a quarter of my assets from IB "so far" and am busy with all the platform learning, etc. this is my marks change for 12/16 to 12/20/13 from IB (still learning advantage reports)
how come you moved from IB? what platform did you went to... I recently move to LiveVol Securities to use LivevolPro, and ended up opening a new account with IBKR for LiveVol Sec use only, since they are the introducing broker to IBKR.
at advantage i get a lot more bang for my buck (margins are way lower), no auto liquidate , a human answers all calls, etc. my commissions are much lower also. it looks like i will end up settling on TT autospreader once i get most funds over there. i did not take this move lightly as i have been married to IB since 1999. i want to thank Rally and NJ rookie for recommending these guys "multiple times" to me...i finally get it!! i think they are very solid and with all the wire outs i do; but if after a yr they went "corzine" i should be fine.
the cqg spreader is easier to work than tt's.... and tt's charting sucks... I have both... the best thing about TT is ADL for automation... you might end up with both platforms if you need good charts ... so why not just look more into the CQG spreader? just a suggestion...
if only the CQG people would be willing to listen to traders to improve quoting mechanism for new products.
Stop being cheap bro. The extra couple of hundred is well worth not having to deal with inverted bids and asks lol not to mention TT is far superior when it comes to resolving customer service issues.
first time posting, but found this interesting as I am looking to do this full time now. I had a bad year in 2013, but it was also transitional year, where I basically quit trading in June as I moved back to the states. 2013: (11.1 %) loss 2012: 71.6 % 2011: 144.0 % 2010: 3.4 % 2009: (26.6 %) Any suggestions for prop firms, especially on the West cost. Or other groups that let you trade their capital? Thanks,