LOL. Porgie, you didn't get attacked, because what you posted makes sense, even though a few of us might disagree with the YM bit. But that's personal preference. - Indeed. Use a simulator. Thats gold. A realistic simulator, with full market depth and order queueing. - Try different instruments with different time frames, NQ, ES, YM, whatever. - When you find out that you are starting to consistently groove with one (or more) instruments, open an account and start trading 1 contract. Thats the second part of the education. Otherwise, thank you for playing, come again.
Thanks so much for response..please let me emphasize I am not attempting to takeover zeb's journal....I tend to talk way too much.. You are so on the money concerning number of contracts....1 contract is golden, for if we can't make money with 1 contract why in the name of goodness would we wish to lose at a faster pace? Again, I only trade the YM/1 contract because my account is weak and my emotions are tattered after 4 years of failure....sometimes not failing but blind luck comes into this stuff...toss a coin and u will win/lose......there goes that "win" again....I don't like it....gambling I don't do.....10 pt stop loss...high percentage system takes most of risk out...Have a great trading week ahead.........Trust me the attacks will come and then I will stop posts...it always happens but until it does I will pass along ideas but not the system....4 years of developing different systems on es, nq mostly...i can give a few systems that work more times than not.... simple but workable...for instance YM turn plus 20 points...enter every time....NEVER TRADE WHAT I SAY OR TAKE POSTS AS ADVICE....MOST IS EMOTIONAL RELEASE.....AND MOST SAY I AM WRONG...........TEST IT...NQ WAS 10 POINTS @ ONE TIME...WORKED MORE THAN NOT...
Interesting Porgie, sounds like you trade VERY much like I do. I use channels and MA's (and the occaisional FIB). I use all of the above for entries though (MA is used as a retracement, not a breakout). I'm not a "systems" trader though. I make judgement calls every single time, and pass on maybe 60% of them. However, I will not make a trade unless my criteria is met. No seat of the pants hit the market order button nonsense. My stops are 1.5 ES, and 1.0 R2k. I use 15 min for trend, 5 and 1 min for entry, depending how fast the market is. Hauling ass with big volume = 1 min, otherwise 5. I am picky and will go for hours without a trade. Often bolt the office altogether for awhile. Jay
Zeb. I would recommend checking out an e-mini simulator (TT Trainer on the XTrader platform is great). A couple futures firms offer trial period access (usually for a week or two) to this simulator for free or a nominal fee. Try web search phrase "futures free TT trainer simulator". The data feed is real time and it's better than paper trading because you either get realistic slippage on a market order or have to get in line to get a fill at a limit price (it's too easy to be optimistic about fills on paper). The TT trainer does not include commissions in its P/L number, so remember to reduce your profits or increase your losses by around $4.50 per round trip (commissions get lower as you trade a greater number of contracts each month). I usually trade the mini-Dow but use the trainer to test my approach in other futures markets without sacrificing capital to do so. Also, if you currently subscribe to any real-time data service, CBOT charges no exchange fees for its e-minis, and CME charges only $18 (in addition to the exchange fees, the data vendor may charge a flat monthly fee for real-time futures data--separate from real-time data on equities). Definitely stick to just a single contract when you start with real money, and I would suggest looking at 10-15 (or 200-300 tick) chart for entry signals--shorter than that will lead to a lot of whipsaws. Good luck. Regards,
4 years and not profitable? geez. Try starting a daily trade journal. I'm certain you're repeating the same mistakes over and over again.
Crap? Care to clarify? Day trading indeces is tough, but I wouldn't call it crap. Or were you referring to the approach? Just curious. Jay
Just show me the returns of some traders who've consistently done really well the last year trading futures.
You are kidding right? Its actually easier than day trading stocks as you have no specialists/ market makers to screw you, massive liquidity, great trends intra day, and movement! granted, daytrading in general is tough, but risks are also much lower. I know several people, all full time pros, including myself, that would MUCH rather trade futures for the previous reasons. We all support ourselves from this, and only this. Frankly, I don't see how anyone can do it with equities anymore. I used to trade at Bright during the days when stocks actually moved. But now? Gotta be tough. There is a reason why so many equities traders are flocking to futures. Its like a bloody river. And no, I have no interest in showing you, or anyone else my income. And neither would anyone I know, unless they were trying to sell something. Don't really care what you believe. Just felt your statement made no sense whatsoever. BTW, I have been full time since '87, all but a few of those futures. I have done nothing else. Jay
And to ad to that, at an ugly time (forex as well for me). This is a newbie thread. We are trying to help the guy. 99% of my posts are helping folks, or asking for info in return. arguments, disagreements, etc, are silly. If you wish to continue, start a thread "futures are crap", or something similar, and see the response ya get. Or PM me directly, we are killing the thread, Jay PS most of the pros wouldn't bother here. There's lots of em.