I agreed one thing, Future trade is not for small account. I only trade two contract (max) each time in ES, and to be honest, I am making some $$ (average 5-6 ticks each day). I only make about less than 0.2% from my overall account each month with average 5-6 ticks win each day. My account size ? Do your Math. Do I use stop loss ? Yes, but definitely not 2-3 ticks from my open. Sometime I can't stop laugh when some "guru" (some elite TA expert who never show their trade in real time or some "A"uthor from Amazon hot selling books) claim they have 1-2 ticks Stop Loss and they make $$,
Is it possible for people to open their mind and accept the fact that there is more than one way to make money in the market? Seems like some think that their way is the only way which is a flawed assumption. I think we can all agree that over leveraging will kill you but that doesn't mean that a method using stops can't make money.
They're probably laughing right back at you. They want nothing more than to see smart asses like you pushing their trades further.
I have never met a trader who didn't have a stop-loss or pain threshold. Now, traders have issues with setting stops too wide or too narrow - that is a reality. But, everybody trades with a stop whether they care to admit it or not. It is ultimately determined by their capitalization.
You are absolutely correct! I have tested this extensively and over time it doesn't matter where you place your stop because they will cause you to lose. If you place it close you get wrecked by randomness. If you place it far away you will get wrecked by one huge loss that wipes out all previous gains. If you search for a middle road you'll quickly learn there isn't one. The answer to the mystery of where to place a stop is it is highly dependent on skill. Trading is a skill and knowing how to use a stop is also a skill. I place my stop well away from the market so I don't get ruined by randomness. It's purpose is only to prevent a disaster. My exits for losses are 99.99% manual. I take myself out of a trade. I refuse to get the market dictate where I exit the trade. To trade future you need to be well capitalized (a minimum of 50k) and use a small fraction of that capital (no more than 10%) on any one trade. You have to have a lot of respect for the leverage in the futures markets and realize that profits a generated with time. If you're looking to get rick quick buy lottery tickets or learn to play Craps, which is a fun game, btw.
Aside from tax benefits and around the clock trading what's the point of trading futures if you gonna require 50k to trade a lousy contract. At the same time, if you only use 10% of your capital, why do you need the rest of the 90% ? FoN
This is ultimately a silly discussion in the sense that the trader requires a strategy appropriate for a capitalization level that can withstand several drawdowns in a row. It is actually more about the strategy you use than your capitalization. You can use any strategy you desire trading one-lot futures with $100K. The performance metrics in terms of capital utilization efficiency will likely be mediocre. With a $25K account, however, you will have to have a very well-tuned strategy specifically designed to work with that capitalization level and the optimized use of stop-loss levels will be a major feature. In the end, too many newbies fund an account and essentially try to learn as they go. What they thought was adequate planning and testing turns out to be very unrealistic when applied in the live markets. And this gets to be very expensive very quickly.
I use stops (more accurately I use stop limits if i'm at the screen and stops otherwise). I try and cut my losses short. I try and run my profits. Sometimes its works , sometimes it doesn't. But it's always a lotta fun.