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Account been approved! Going to have my first day of tradingthis week LA
i know you're going to find this hard to believe, but there's actually traders out there who trade bigger than 3 lots and hold onto their trades for longer than 30 seconds to 3 minutes. trading order flow and scalping crude is all fine and dandy, but you are not going to be able to scale your trading to the point where you are trading size, and odds are you are not going to be holding your trades long enough to make any real money.
Looks like this thread is going on 7 months plus...I suggest you stick with sim or paper trade until your really ready for this. Seeing a post you had a couple of days ago saying it would be a shame to quit only because of the support you've been getting around here tells me your heart is not in this at the moment. Not trying to be a jerk but, maybe save up some more money to more adequately fund your account while sim trading and after a period of time try it live if you feel confident enough.
@budfox, I want to give you some encouragement if you are struggling right now. This market is not easy to trade over the last few weeks in particular. Routine 20-30 handle ranges, lots of volume, and algo activity out the spoo's as--it's not for the faint of heart. Just look at today -- a 10 handle juke up and then 17 down after ISM to new lows, followed by a merciless squeeze up to new highs, where a breakout to the upside and a revisit to yesterday's highs was all but guaranteed, and then.... a sell into the close. Yesterday, a nice little headline algo-initiated sell on the S&P P.R. downgrade, with a move right back up, followed by another sell.
Can money be made? Yes, but particularly for a new trader it is brutal. With volatility comes massive opportunity, but also pitfalls and the ability to lose one's ass. You can lose 5 or more spoo futures handles before you can say "get me the fuck out" in this market, and trading the minimum that's $250, or a whopping 5% of your capital if you have a $5,000 account. Which is why such a small account trading futures, and no ability to size down, is such a death sentence. It sucks that this is the game we play, but we make the choice to play or not, and that's how it is.
Glad to hear another person commenting on this. Im not sure about other markets, but January in the ES has been brutal. Any lack of discipline has no doubt decimated many an account. Wondering if this is the new normal? Would love to hear @tigertrader 's thoughts...
edit: Just one other thing, i've noticed a lack a liquidity lately generally requiring smaller positions and wider stops and targets. Not sure if anyone else agree's with this observation,...but im certainly hoping the liquidity returns soon.
edit: 40mins into US session,...speak of the devil, liquidity is back.
@DarkPoolTrading: the markets are always going to experience cyclical and secular modifications due to changing regimes/themes and because of the law of ever changing cycles. the markets are always going to go through structural changes due to technological innovation and regulatory influence. trying to predict what those changes will be in the future is a waste of time- even if you get it right, the odds are it was by chance. one thing you can count on however, is that the market will continue change, and inevitably the drift will be negative. that is, the market ALWAYS evolves and become more efficient, which inevitably means the market becomes more difficult to trade, especially for the retail participant. obviously, a trader must evolve and adapt his approach to current market conditions, or his his p&l will devolve. an inherent requisite of taking your trading to the next level, is the ability to recognize the game has changed, figure out what the game is, and how to adapt your trading to the game.
