How many trades do YOU normal make per day win or lose.. I'm just trying to get a general idea...I know some people state they make 20-30 per day... But, I'm specifically speaking to daytraders who trade index futures or fx possible...Which I understand is a very volatile market as well..thx
When I USED to trade the YM, I was making 10 - 20 a day on average. I lost that game though, so my opinion doesn't really count, but figured I'd drop the 2 cents anyways.
Thanks for the fast reply...Just curious.. What do you trade now and did you feel you were losing because of overtrading or inexperience in a difficult market.
I'm trading higher priced equities.. AAPL, BRCM, ERTS, NEM, stuff like that. I feel that with Futures, the leverage was too great, even with one contract. I felt like with a few bad trades, it could wipe me out. I also felt like the time in order to make a dicision was much more limited. I just didn't have a good time with Futures. It might have been because it's the first instrument I ever really started to "day-trade" but it was tough for me, and the amount you can lose in a single day was way more than I wanted to, and with 2 or 3 trades I could be stopped out for the day, or even go over my limit. Of course if you are not new, then this might not be a problem, but when I funded my 2k account, I just felt like I was losing way too much money and had to risk too much capital per trade. With equities, there are thousands of possibilities. Much more time to think in certain equities, and you can risk much less if you need to. I enjoyed much more of trading 100 shares of AAPL instead of 1 contract of YM, because I could probably make a string of 10 bad trades in a row with AAPL scalping and be at my daily loss of around $50, where as with Futures, if I wanted the same, I'd be limiting myself to 1 or 2 trades. I just don't think it allowed me the freedom to experiment and learn how to trade. That is just my case though. You ask, so I tell. If I came back to Futures now would it be different? Not sure, but I really like how equities move, and I can scalp them with confidence and if I need to lower my size because of a streak of bad trades I can until confidence comes back up. Futures just were not for me. I never felt like I overtraded, because with 1 or 2 trades, I could have been done anyways. I felt like I was under-trading all the time. Also inexperience was a factor, but I think the fact that stops needed to be wider is more of a factor. Instead of a 5 points top maybe I should have had a 10 point stop, but again, 1 bad trade and I'm down 50+. Just too much leverage. I'm just glad I started with a 2k account. Because if I started with a 10k account, I'm willing to bet it would have been gone as well, slowly.... but surely. Futures is just not a good market to LEARN how to trade, but might be great once you know how to trade. I hope to go back to futures later on, but not now, just having it too good with equities. Again, just me voicing my own experience. Futures were not for me, but others certainly might, and will have a better time with them than equities. I just personally believe Equities is a better instrument to trade at first, and then once you know how to trade and can risk more, that Futures could be a great route.
It would be interesting to know what percentage of gross profits are paid in commissions, this for people doing 10-20+ trades a day in the same mini-index futures issue.
Oh yeah, my commissions ATE ME UP. I was paying 4.90 per round turn. To realize, that I could have broke even a lot of days when instead I was down 100 from commissions. Just not good at all. I think for my style, where I could have done 30+ trades a day on YM easily if I had low enough commissions, I think I should have had around $2.25 or lower round turn. I believe the brokerage I was at assumed I'd be making 2 - 4 trades a day. I'd be willing to say that AT LEAST 50% of my 2k I started with back last year went to my brokerage, Alaron Trading.
70 RT approx today for me but paying unbundled rates with IB saves me money ... however this only will work for someone who A: trades at least 10 RT a day B: has some way to overcome lower commissions with a net positive P+L
I trade YM and ER2 daily. YM between 15 and 20 contracts per day, normally. ER2, currently averaging 4 per day. On very sloppy days, I may up YM contracts per day to 25-30. As for commissions... I run 8.8% avg per day. Factor in annual data, other subscriptions, accounting and the like and I come in under 12%. FYI, for electronics I pay 3.90 RT all in. In YM case the contract I trade most, that is LESS THAN 1 tick, RT!
Sounds like you are referring to 'contracts a day'. The thread goes about 'trades a day' (R/T), irrespective of the number of contracts for each such trade.