Alright, how about $5000 to $16,500. As i said, % is useless these days, unless you're a fund.... talk about $$$$ instead.
So, using your logic, returning $90k at the end of a year on a $1MM account is more impressive than returning $33k on a $10k account. OK, if you say so.
Look, any good trader at a prop firm is going to laugh at you. These guys have minimal capital and make enough for a good living. So let's say they have 10k deposit and make consistently 150k a year.... that's not that uncommon. As i said, in this day and age you have to talk about numbers. How much leverage you use, and how much money you make. And btw, its a lot harder to move around a mil, than it is 10k....
So, using your logic, returning $90k at the end of a year on a $1MM account is more impressive than returning $33k on a $10k account. OK, if you say so. Help me to understand.....returning 9% on a 1mil account is not good considering if you can risk 1-2% max over taking 10k(using prop for extra buying power 150K) risking 10% or possibly better. Of course I would love to take 10k to 33k but in the long run I 'd be more comfortable risking less...Let me know if I'm missing something please...
Base account size ( or buying power): Margin: ( retail is a standard 4:1 ) Professional / Non-professional: Markets Traded: Net Dollar Return on the above Criterias:
It's easy, % is irrelevant without a base $. A guy can honestly say he's up 100% for the year but if you don't ask then the reality can be that he went from $500 to $1000. YOu need both set of data, not one, but both, to make any kind of assessment on how good a year a trader had. % is much easier for mutual funds/hedgies because they always already work with big #'s so you when a fund says that it made 40% ytd, I'm impressed, i don't worry about how many millions or billions it has under it, but when some guy on ET says he's up so many %, then you automatically have to ask on what start up base. As i said, you need both #'s unless you're dealing with the big boys. It's really a non-issue...and if i didnt have so much free time on my hands after this incredibly long vacation i wouldn't even be typing all these words....
and if i didnt have so much free time on my hands after this incredibly long vacation i wouldn't even be typing all these words.... [/B][/QUOTE] ..lol
Do you have a consistent plan/system that you have traded during different market conditions throughout this time period?? Or are you bouncing back and forth hitting greater than 50% on a bunch of doubles and triples in long option call positions, etc. I would also like to just add, we have been pretty much straight up here for the last several years with a couple of short lived pullbacks, like this past summer, so be sure to keep this in mind when you evaluate your situation and just how much money is really practical to dump into the trading room. From the sounds of it, you could get a killer computer system and furniture desk with leather chair running six 20" wide screen flat panel displays for peanuts compared to some of the stuff you are considering.
I wouldnt put any money into a new computer system, monitors, etc. if I didnt have to. . . The simple logic is that whatever you buy now will become junk in a year or so. Only buy electronics if there is a real need, otherwise, forget it. Junk in a year. . .