Trading e-minis with $1k starting capital

I know what you're thinking... another piker setting himself up for failure...
I've been contemplating to start a daily journal for a long time, well I finally did it! Despite all odds I will attempt to prove that not only it is possible to trade successfully with only 1k but the profits when added over time will be nothing to scoff at. I am purposely not trying to make any projections but my analysis tells me that making $1000 - $2000 per month is possible.

Couple of points regarding how am I going to accomplish this seemingly impossible task. As you may have guessed, I am a scalper. I believe I have a solid edge that works really well with certain e-mini products, mainly ES and ER2 and not so good with others (NQ, YM). I think it may have to do with the ratio of minimum tick increment to commission per R/T. Some of my downfalls in the past were trying to mix scalping with swing trading style and problems with discipline. Therefore I have a set of rules that I will attempt to follow religiously. I will rate myself daily on a scale of 1-5 as far as sticking with the rules.

Even though I started the thread as $1k starting capital (I caught your attention, didn't I), I will allow myself a bit of cushion so the actual starting amount will be a bit more - about $1,100 to be exact. I still have to be very careful initially since my broker can cut me off when my account falls below $800 or so. I will not set any daily goals as far as percentage gain or daily set $ amount because I believe they tend to lead to problems. If the day is not going well or if opportunities are scarce, there is no way I'm going to try squeezing water out of stone. I will stop trading for the day once I hit my daily stop loss target, currently $110 or 10% of account size. This amount will increase progressively to reflect the account growth. I will be trading 1 contract initially and at some point in the future will try to scale up. I will not set any daily or monthly monetary goals since I believe that if I concentrate on trading well profits will take care of themselves.

 

Here's the screen shot of my account balance as of yesterday.

 

Good luck and pick entries carefully.

 

In the current volatility environment you will never stay in the game. You only need price to move against you 6 points in ES and you will be done. Go back to work and get at least 5K. What broker is giving you that kind of margin anyway, they're idiotic. Second, last time I checked Day trade margin on ES is 1,125. ER2 is 1,325.

 

Best of luck to you. But its gonna be extremely difficult to not blow out even if your the best trader in the world. Why not trade an ETF? 100 shares of SPY versus 1 contract of the ES will keep you in the game longer.

 

There are alot of brokers that will give you $500 intraday margins and I know of one that gives $300.

 

it is always nice to start anew with a smart new handle

 

Thanks for the replies! As I expected, this thread will attract a lot of naysayers. No problem, bring it on! I welcome both positive and negative comments.

Here's the recap of today's trading. Even though it was far from perfect, the day went surprisingly well. Steady climb in equity curve throughout the day despite enduring several beatings. My P&L never went negative today.

Products traded: ES, ER2
Number of R/T's: 72
Opening balance: 1,096
Net profit: 363
Closing balance: 1,460
Discipline: 3

 

Thats pretty dang good How did you do it?

 

72 round turns at $5 per is $360 ,so your profit is $3,you would b better off trading less and picking better spots