tturner86 

As you've said before you have never traded before. Why do you think you are qualified to trade 35 contracts? To me that is a bit like given a 14 yr old with a learners driving permit the keys to a Ferrari. How could you possibly expect to be able to trade at that size?

Your metaphor is interesting, because I've actually seen a 14-year old drive a Ferrari better than most people I know:

To answer your question, though, I don't have to have any special qualifications to trade 35 contracts.

What I need is to hone my mental skills, FOLLOW my trading plan and improve my listening skills. My body was screaming to stay home and relax, this week. Did I listen? Just look at my PnL.

I do have a good trading methodology, TTurner86. I also don't go all-in with 35 contracts, on any one trade.
I've been starting with ten cars and scaling out as my ATM profit targets are reached. I've already emailed @NinjaTraderabout adding more targets on their ATM strategy, but we'll see.

For me, it's nice NOT to have to trade 35 cars. It's a privilege not a right to have the ability to trade 35 cars. Having that ability does help me feel, like I've got reserves on my account that I may never have to touch, unless I see an excellent opportunity and at the point, I'll just add to my winning position by averaging in. It's a technique, which I'm just learning how to implement.

Tomorrow, I plan on starting with three contracts and digging myself out of this abyss. It may take a week to recover, but I'll get my account back to green. I did it the second day on three trades using ten contracts. After today's festivities, I rather build-up my mental capital, before trading ten cars again.

Hope this helps / MC

Hi MarthaChiriboga,

Your enthusiam is off the charts . Well done. My only recommendation will be to cut down size. Your daily goal is around
$2400. That should be achieved with 4-6 lots per position maxium.

Just my 2 cents. Your trading style may be different , so it may not be off any value to you.

I know some traders who trade 100, 200 contratcs size, but their trading limit is up there with a daily loss limit of $150K and they are looking to clear 50-100K/day. $50/100K on surface looks a BIG number but it's only .25 to .5% of trading capital with 1.5% of it at risk. There are very few days where a situation calls for to load it up. It's good to have lots of DRY POWDER handy and ready.

NOTE: I see your previous post that you are not loading up all at one time, which is great.But based off your trading account size and daily goal, you really have to use a small portion of your equity to achieve your goals and when set up is CLEAR as WEST PALM BEACH day light, load it up.

mfbreakout 

Hi MarthaChiriboga, Your enthusiam is off the charts . Well done. My only recommendation will be to cut down size. Your daily goal is around $2400. That should be achieved with 4-6 lots per position maxium. Just my 2 cents. Your trading style may be different , so it may not be off any value to you. I know some traders who trade 100, 200 contratcs size, but their trading limit is up there with a daily loss limit of $150K and they are looking to clear 50-100K/day. There are very few days where a situation calls for to load it up. It's good to have lots of DRY POWDER handy and ready. NOTE: I see your previous post that you are not loading up all at one time, which is great.But based off your trading account size and daily goal, you really have to use a small portion of your equity to achieve your goals and when set up is CLEAR as WEST PALM BEACH day light, load it up.

It really means a lot that you're excited for me, MFBreakout; especially, since you have a legendary reputation, here on futures.io (formerly BMT). I think you're right and will dramatically reduce my trading size, until I get back in the green.

Just out-of-curiousity, MFBreakout, how did you discern my level of enthusiasm on this thread? That's interesting to me, because it belies in the ether.

Best / MC

"Just out-of-curiousity, MFBreakout, how did you discern my level of enthusiasm on this thread? "

Just as in trading, i specilaize in reading tea leaves or at least try to.

mfbreakout 

"Just out-of-curiousity, MFBreakout, how did you discern my level of enthusiasm on this thread? " Just as in trading, i specilaize in reading tea leaves or at least try to.

I'd like to book an appointment, ASAP. You may replace Jasim the Great, the fortune teller who lives in the work/space building, down the block, and who gives me daily advise.

MarthaChiriboga 

I ALMOST BLEW UP, This Morning! The gory details: I was bucking the trend on Crude, from the open, and *almost* blew up my combine account. $14.00 short of hitting my daily loss limit is what saved my phat ass.

Of all the requirements in the Combine, I've always said the Daily Loss Limit is one of the few you can control. So you ended up $13-14 away from it.

I'd be interested in hearing the details. Was it your plan to trade that close to the DLL?

kevinkdog 

Of all the requirements in the Combine, I've always said the Daily Loss Limit is one of the few you can control. So you ended up $13-14 away from it. I'd be interested in hearing the details. Was it your plan to trade that close to the DLL?

Hi, KevinDog!

That's the thing....I got greedy and I got stubborn. Nothing. Absolutely NADA on my trading plan allows for that type of reckless behavior; including but not limited to trying out a new technique, called "averaging in". I broke all my rules. I'm also suppose to have stopped trading after having three consecutive losses. I'm suppose to exercise my cardiovascular system for at least 30-minutes, before the trading day and I haven't done that - at all - since I started the combine.

It's been a mess. I take full responsibility, KevinDog. On top of it all, I got a shingles outbreak that burned my skin to no end, the night before my combine started. That should've been my clue.

MarthaChiriboga 

Your metaphor is interesting, because I've actually seen a 14-year old drive a Ferrari better than most people I know: To answer your question, though, I don't have to have any special qualifications to trade 35 contracts. What I need is to hone my mental skills, FOLLOW my trading plan and improve my listening skills. My body was screaming to stay home and relax, this week. Did I listen? Just look at my PnL. I do have a good trading methodology, TTurner86. I also don't go all-in with 35 contracts, on any one trade. I've been starting with ten cars and scaling out as my ATM profit targets are reached. I've already emailed @NinjaTraderabout adding more targets on their ATM strategy, but we'll see. For me, it's nice NOT to have to trade 35 cars. It's a privilege not a right to have the ability to trade 35 cars. Having that ability does help me feel, like I've got reserves on my account that I may never have to touch, unless I see an excellent opportunity and at the point, I'll just add to my winning position by averaging in. It's a technique, which I'm just learning how to implement. Tomorrow, I plan on starting with three contracts and digging myself out of this abyss. It may take a week to recover, but I'll get my account back to green. I did it the second day on three trades using ten contracts. After today's festivities, I rather build-up my mental capital, before trading ten cars again. Hope this helps / MC

Even at 10 contracts that is still too large for a novice trader. And to be honest based on your numbers you have traded 336 contracts across 19 trades. That comes out to around 17 contracts a trade. Not 10.

Do you understand the underlying value of the product that you are trading?

The approx value of a CL contract at current prices is $94000 a contract. So at 17 that is $1,598,000 in product that you are buying or selling on any given trade. Or in other terms 6.8 of those Ferrari 458's in that youtube video.

You are also buying and selling that product on a $500-$5000 'margin' (or good faith deposit).

Some of the best traders would have problems trading 10 cars of CL.

tturner86 

Even at 10 contracts that is still too large for a novice trader. And to be honest based on your numbers you have traded 336 contracts across 19 trades. That comes out to around 17 contracts a trade. Not 10. Do you understand the underlying value of the product that you are trading? The approx value of a CL contract at current prices is $94000 a contract. So at 17 that is $1,598,000 in product that you are buying or selling on any given trade. Or in other terms 6.8 of those Ferrari 458's in that youtube video. You are also buying and selling that product on a $500-$5000 'margin' (or good faith deposit). Some of the best traders would have problems trading 10 cars of CL.

I see that may be the average, but I promise you that I never entered any one trade with more than ten cars. I did ADD to them, with something called, "averaging-in", which I learned how to do on Monday. So, that's why the numbers are skewed.

$1.6MM is what I control in rental properties. That's not a lot of money, by my standards.

When you say, "Some of the best traders would have problems trading 10 cars on CL". Would you provide me with empirical data and not conjecture, please?

MarthaChiriboga 

$1.6MM is what I control in rental properties. That's not a lot of money, by my standards.

That may be the case, but you are doing that every 48 mins based on your stats. And at an avg of 6 trades a day at is $9MM a day.