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Trading advice needed down 400 a month 4-12 trades a day
how is volume of the micro? is it comparable to the es's. i love the es but would i be better suited trading the NQ nasdaq 100 rather than trading micro es?
You should also look at the volatility and other characteristics of the instrument. Just a quick look at NQ vs ES should tell you that NQ is violently, let's say, "abrupt". Compared to the nice slow ES, it can take your head off. (And if you don't think ES is slow, you will after looking at NQ.)
The suggestion to trade the MES micros is based simply on the fact that it has one-tenth the size, in terms of the dollar value of a point move, so the risk per trade in dollar terms is one tenth also. It also moves very like the ES, so if you are used to ES, then MES will not seem unfamiliar. With the small number of contracts you are talking about, any difference in volume will be immaterial. It coiuld then be possible to grow your account slowly, and keep your losses from making you broke.
But of course, you could always decide to try your hand with NQ. I think everyone should try for a thrill at least once in their lives... but perhaps not when it can just take your money during the ride.
Bob.
When one door closes, another opens.
-- Cervantes, Don Quixote
Trading the micro further i learned that my commission was eating through all my profits...it doesn't make sense to trade 15 contracts @2.25 a pop when the same in the ES could warrant some real profits that might actually cover the cost of commission. i contacted td and got a discount, im at 1.20 per contract now.....but i have to cover a margin call haha, from 54k to 22.5....btw i thought i had been trading for just over a year but it turns out i've been trading a lot longer its been more like 4 years.
btw bobwest the micro and the es are exactly the same market its just that you earn less per tick but the price is the same...but you can afford more contracts in the micro.
in short the way to be for a short term trader like me is to have a bigger account size, trade the ES and throw down some fat stacks on 6 contracts minimum make my ticks and be done for the day. I was stuck in this mental fog of trying to trade all day long and it just doesn't work that way. eventually the noise gets you, but if you trade at all the right times for the day...you make your profit and stop trading while still profitable. I only had 1 day last month where i didn't start out profitable...and i mean putting on at least 3-6 trades for the day....all profitable and then i would start to lose money almost seemingly due to no fault of my own but really it was just getting caught in low volume markets and falling for trades with the noise, seeing trades that weren't actually trades, pullling back on a bigger picture and noticing that it's trading as a doji or it has "already made it's move" on a higher time frame.....you can't expect to make money when the es just isn't moving.
all that being said i believe whole heartedly that the best way to be is to have a target for the day and then be done.....as long as your target is doable, make it and then quit for the day. On tricky days its best to quit early....make a little less on that day and then quit.
my result from trading the micro literally all day long: I was up 2,700 and then lost down to minus 865.00 trading 611 contracts total costing 1374.75 in commission alone...that being said when i was up 2700 i hadn't traded too much maybe 5-10 trades....all positive i believe. i was trading 15 contracts per trade, i'd start with 10 and then add 5 when it looked to be going in my favor. which i'm not too sure that's a great part of the strategy either....since the times i lose on trades are when the market is in a range and i'm looking for trends...which doesnt happen that frequently. but if i keep trading then i'm bound to hit it. and it makes the difference from being a profitable trader and not.
what i meant was I would see the trade opportunity come....and i'd do everything exactly the same as when i had made money....trading it at exactly the perfect time.....and it didn't turn out to be a winning trade...im still not sure what the difference is. Im looking at the smaller trends during the day and so maybe what's happening is the shorter term trend ends and the longer term trend takes over.
I have been trading for about 6 months now. What I realized is that the market is a beast, it's like trying to beat a chess engine at a hard difficulty. It has almost no weakness, yet there are people who figured out how to beat it. There are many resources online, you will gain a bit of info from many different places. Eventually you may find a breakthrough, but expect many losses along the way. I hope you are paper trading, don't trade real money until you find consistency and become confident at what you are doing.
I agree paper trading is essential to learning but at some point you have to put your money to the test...to feel how it really is and gain experience. its a different thing, mostly because the paper trading environment just isn't a great representation...the orders go through faster and they give you a break on your order ....limmit orders as well. so more of your practice trades are profitable. What you need to teach yourself is that the market is static and dynamic, teach yourself the processes / systems that are profitable and you're set for life.
