ALTR 35633 0 18.0098 2500 18.0098 2500 18.0488 97.5 CREE 35633 0 34.01 1200 34.01 1200 34.08 84 YHOO 35633 0 29.36 1000 29.36 1000 29.43 70 +251 $ today
nice, keep up the good work. I do the same with the ES / ER2, although my goal is $500 / contract / day. That being said, if you look for the cleanest setups, are patient, and don't get greedy trying to take multiples of the day's range, you'll do well. RT
Monetary goals are a big pitfall. Unless you know how to trade successfully and consistently, there is no need to shoot for some arb # of $$$/day. Markets dont care what your goals are from the perspective of $$. You are better off learning how to trade as best as you can and then the $$$ will come. Its a natural consequence of doing the right thing.
for this purpose, your best bet is to scalp. If you have an extra 13k, put it in your account and become a PDT even though you dont have to use the other 13k for trading. Just a few scalps a day and you will easily achieve your goal. As soon as a trade becomes profitable(after commissions), liquidate your position. it should not be that hard to make 100-200 a day. But I think you will get greedy, and thats where the problems will start. Say you make the 200 in the 1st hour. You will think that it's best to do some more trading rather than just sit on your ass. Dont set a rigid $/day goal. Just have some number in mind and try to reach it. Dont force trades because you HOPE it goes up/down.
fixed $$ goals are bad, just take every good opportunity the market throws at you. $$ should be a byproduct of successful trading not the other way around.
I do this completely discretionary, while I let some mechanical stuff run a little longer term. I'm newer to discretionary daytrading, and the sole reason I limit my daily goal is I find myself making more mistakes later on in the session when I start to lose focus and get mentally tired. I also have a nasty habit of getting greedy into the doldrums. Limiting the daily goal, for a typical day's range, is a good way for me to stop trading once I'm not fresh and sharp anymore. I've tried discretionary trading the whole 6+ hours on the eminis, and it's exhausting and bad for the health IMO. Why trade when your own body skews the risk / reward against you? RT
i"ll not be greedy...been there and learnd the hard way today i more reasonable the purpose i put (100-200) is to have a target.like everything else,u need to put target so u can see the way to get there or else u will lose the way and lost
Well said! I constantly mess up because I try to take too much out of a trade or go back into the market after I have already made some money. TAKE YOUR PROFITS AND RUN!
Make yourself have a loss limit instead and if thats hit, continue to watch the markets and paper trade. Dont put a profit target on, this will only hurt your progress. What you wont do is be able to experience what its like to make $200 early on and turn that into a $1000+ day because opportunities were abundant. This growith is ESSENTIAL. If you limit profits now, you wont learn and earn as much as you can later on.