The most annoying thing with trading ES on tight stops is the persistent notion that your broker is front running your orders.
You can't be serious. ES orders are executed instantly. How the hell is your broker going to front run an order?
I would think he means that your stop losses get taken out by the noise of regular trading not that the broker is playing ya, it just feels like it. For the original poster if you are playing for such small moves you need to learn to read the tape and the book. IMO squiggly lines will not help make you profitable. And with your decent size account you may have less stress and more success trying to catch a bigger part of the daily swings. The AHG thread mentioned above is a good read.
I understand slippage in a volitale market can stop you out 1-2 points.:eek: On 100 contracts, that would be 9% drawdown out of a $120,000 account if 2 points down. Not good. I'll scale back dramatically. I've been buying puts in the Portfolio's. That's helped keep me above water YTD (barely at 90bps up), along with some good energy (duh!) stocks, basic materials, CSX, and yes, BIG (Big Lots) Please tell everyone you know to go shop there for at least something they need/want! and spend lots of money! LOL! I don't want to talk about GME right now though. Not every stock goes up, and this one has gone down like Spitzer's pants! Again, I'm performance based, and if they don't make money, neither do I... Last, thanks for the advice! PM me about the futures options. I'm interested. Maybe I can recommend some non-correlated Alternatives that have had exhaustive (big time!) due dilligence done on a bunch, leaving only a few "good ones" if you will, in trade for some trading help? BUT, you must be Accredited before I can even talk to you about the programs. (had to put the disclaimer in there. ) Have a great 4th!
Threads like this reveal the absolute truth why many lose their ass in trading and funnel the money to the few. Some clown claiming to be an investment adviser comes in with a "SYSTEM" to trade 100 ES cars a pop and strokes the readers by admitting in glorified terms that he is "clueless". What this clown really wants to say is that to cover his ego about being a raw rookie he comes in and says he is a bonified investment guy but has a new idea and he wants to bounce some ideas off others. Nice try but falls short as he proceeds. What he really wants to say is: " i am excited as all get out because i intend to trade the ES at 100 cars a pop with a 2 tick stop and make 5K a day. What he sees is the 5k a day and thinks he can do it with a 2 tick stop because he is afraid to lose anymore. (Dream on sucker) Dreamers are why the 90+% funnel the money to the few. Coning up with a bs story about being a RIA and fishing for ideas is a sure loser. It shows a lack of being honest with "SELF" and in trading if one can not be truthful about the difference between fact and fiction they are doomed from the start. The draw of futures trading is the easy cash that can be made. keep believing that sonny, keep believing that as you funnel the money to others.
BH, You are assuming that the OP is in the market. Mostly, I imagine these Posters are wasting their own time rather than losing money as they are yet to progress from their dreams into the real world. regards f9
Agreed. I think i was being to kind on the chap after all. Give me bacon!!! <a href="http://www.sweetim.com/s.asp?im=gen&ref=11" target="_blank"><img src="http://content.sweetim.com/sim/cpie/emoticons/00020096.gif" border=0 ></a>
I've answered variations of this question many times here. My suggestion is to invest in some backtesting software and try your ideas out there. If you can't make money on historical data, how would you expect to do so in real time? I'm sure someone will chime in and say backtesting proves nothing, etc but I repeat, why would you try a plan with real money if it was a loser on backtesting? The most important things you will learn are that indicator-based systems don't work, despite all the well-chosen examples in the books, the importance of knowing how wide to set your stops, the imporrtance of letting winners run and how to control risk. You also have to be very realistic about your own head. It looks easy to trade a system with a 35% win percentage because it generated great annual returns, but could you stick it out through 10 straight losing trades? Few can honestly say they could. If you're serious about trading your own funds, I'd advise you to put maybe $15-20,000 in a futures account. Start out trading one lots only until you are consistently profitable. The most important thing is to avoid a bad loss or more commonly, series of bad losses, which will damage you psychologically. There is no substitute for watching the market trade all day and getting a feel for it. Good luck.
If you would have READ through the thread, you would have seen that I am a RIA whi is wanting to transition out in three years, and trade my own account. As I posted, the selection of equities, bonds, cash and alternatives (alternatives if the Client is Accredited) for RETIREMENT assets I consider to be Ocean's apart from daytrading. I won't entertain some pissing match with you on this, as you are not managing retirement assets. And a system to daytrade/scalp the e-minis I have? LOL!! That's the exact reason why I posted this. I have no system for scalping, or daytrading, and was damn near asking "what the hell did I do?" when I posted this thread. I was looking for advice on books to read, indicators many use, indicators that you guys don't use, by consensus, etc., No, I don't plan on making $5,000/day. LOL! I had 100 contracts in, took a point, and made $5,000 on the way back up. I got lucky. Well, I don't consider getting lucky a system, and wanted some feedback from vets who DO THIS FOR A LIVING. And, I certainly appreciate the comments thus far. Well, except for the "clown" comment. I do have big feet though, and we all know what that could mean; A clown.