Having done both (equities at Bright, futures several places), its definitely futures for me. No corporate surprises, no specialists/ market makers, no short rules. Liquidity is mind boggling, and the main thing, they MOVE. Nearly every day. Jay
whats the saying? Jack of all trades, master of none... pick a market, stick with it, and master it, thats all...
equities are like watching paint dry compared to futures. people have left equitis in droove to trade futures so your statement stocks easier to trade than futures is wrong. i trade both actively and i find futures much easier as the liquidity is mond boggling so no frustration of fills
hi pro-trader do you ever average down ? do you ever have losing streak ? does your size per trade depend on the length of time you intend to be in it ? do you ever trade other futures ? have a safe summer
oh well. i agree with the previous posters statements BUT I prefer trading stocks to trading futures. although trading futures was profitable for me , emotionally i have trouble dealing with drawdowns that can exceed my monthly goals at times. By trading the same patterns but with a basket of 10-25 stocks, my trade selection is diversified enough so that i rarely have a losing week and i have yet to have a losing month. However the big drawback is that i gotta work 3x-5x harder to achieve a smoother equity curve. i hope my post makes sense to others.
For the majority of my trading life, I have traded equities... I did experiment with futures a while ago and was a net loser... it took me a while to get my approach sorted... Futures are a differerent animal to equities, and it has taken me some time, plenty of sweat and around a $120k drawdown with futures to realize this... I now trade futures sensibly and with consistency... I am strongly considering quitting equities altogether, since futures give me more bang for my buck...
Thanks all, for the dialogue. Interesting to hear the perspective, I agree with them but sometimes you get these people on ET who act like they know what they are talking about and so you it perks up your curiosity. That being that stks were much easier to make money on than futures... SETH ARB I enjoy reading you posts... very 'middle of the road' as a buddist would say. hi pro-trader do you ever average down ? No, I put on a trade with a calculated number of contracts. I calculate that number in the trade prior. For example if I am in a trade, I calculte the max loss according to the stops... if that happens, I will trade X amount the next trade. If I hit profit target (predetermined) than the next trade will trade Y contracts. do you ever have losing streak ? Hahaha! HELL YEA!!!! In a year I will go from trade 15 minis to 1 emini 3 to 4 times a year. This may sound strange but I find GREAT comfort in those loosing streaks because I start calculating how much one would have lost with flat contract trading. does your size per trade depend on the length of time you intend to be in it ? No it depends on the net amount of the account. do you ever trade other futures ? Personally I am too afraid to venture there. The best analogy to describe my perspective is that this is an 'arranged marraige' I'm Indian so we grew up around the idea of first you get to know, then your friend, then you fall in love... or interdependence as I see it. I wouldn't really know what to do with other futures, kinda' like having too many wives!
candletrader, when you say sensibly and consistently... where did you come from? 120K drawdown doing what type stuff... to where are you now? how do you trade them sensibly now?
120k down trading futures the same way I traded equities (breakouts, pullbacks etc etc)... futures are a different animal and need to be traded in a different way... for obvious reasons (blood, sweat, time, tears) I am not prepared to discuss how I trade them... in any case, it probably won't work for most, as explained below: http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&postid=786713#post786713
thanks candletrader... I understand but in my experience... one could lay out the holy grail right here, right now and chances are most would never get it. my 2 cents worth... you and I have already mentioned the 'holy grail' to 'making it'