New and aspiring trader

January 9th, 2017, 09:07 PM

Hello everyone. I am new to the trading world and am looking at jumping into trading the s&p 500 /es. I have been paper trading for the last four or five months. When i started I had pretty decent success. I followed the news and seemed to have good success. I did real well on election night as I found a strategy that worked for me that night. I have found that the es has a way of humbling and showing someone that you know nothing. I started trading from my phone using think or swim and have opened an account with amp using multi charts. I am starting with a small account and am holding off from starting the real trading until I feel more confident. Any beginner advice would be greatly appreciated. Once I gain some skills I will certainly offer advice when I can.

January 9th, 2017, 09:23 PM

Be sure that your sim trading accurately and realistically modeled to your live trading. If you sim traded a 100k account and you are now live trading a 10k account, those are completely different ball games. There's a difference in "game trading" and real "sim trading". What trips up most novice traders is they engage in "game-style" trading. It is not realistic. This is why they think sim trading doesn't work. Sim derives from the word simulator. Simulation isn't real but strives to be as realistic as possible. You need to be honest with yourself and determine whether you were simulation trading or just playing a game. If you weren't always strict with placing stops then you might have took more heat than you realized or you might have been courting a disaster without being aware.

Sim trading needs to be long enough to give you real confidence to trade but there's no benefit to staying in the simulator too long. I'm not sure that one night of success is sufficient.

I advise always, esp with small accounts, to go with a dedicated futures broker and use the futures broker software for order execution. I know most third party programs like MC are quality programs. But, there are just too many variables when it comes to connecting to brokers or whatever. If you have a large account and lose a few thousands due to connectivity problems, it might be frustrating but if you lose it on a small account then it would be devastating.

I advise also to be aware of possible shifts in the market. It's a new year and there is a lot of potential for new market regimes.

January 9th, 2017, 10:15 PM

tpredictor, thank you for taking the time to reply to my post. I realized that i wasnt realistically trading in the manner at which I should be a week ago and have shifted it to be more realistic to what I am bringing to the table. I have found that the es is much slower over night and have been trading on that to see if I have more success.
I checked with AMP and they do not have a dedicated broker software as they are all 3rd party. Would you have any suggestions for good brokers? Thanks again tpredictor.

January 9th, 2017, 11:22 PM

I would just check reviews here. Your combination may be fine especially if you aren't placing a lot of intraday trades. But, my experience, and some others, with using third-party software hasn't been good (another broker). You should also write down your broker phone number/trade desk on a piece of paper and put it in your phone just in case you ever have any trade problems. The ES trades well overnight usually although at times there can be much higher risk due to reduced liquidity.

February 1st, 2017, 10:04 PM

Well I took the plunge and made a point the first time I traded in a live account. It was a great feeling had adrenaline going with shaky hands. It was a rush. Thats the only win I have had so far. Every time I jump in the market turns against me lol. I have only lost $150 but realize that I need to do something different ie education. I have been watching some videos and trading in a paper account and dont plan to go live until I feel that i am more consistent with winning instead of losing. I have a small account and $150 doesnt shut me out but it does hurt a bit.

February 15th, 2017, 02:29 PM

you need to learn about supply and demand , support and resistance levels and price action and integrate them all. then you need a trading plan that defines under what circumstances you will enter, when you will exit 1:1 ? 3:1? when you will just sit on your hands and dont trade at all and i agree with everything tpredictor said on the sim trading.

good luck

New and aspiring trader

Discussion in Traders Hideout

New and aspiring trader