Hapster 

And what happens, God forbid, you have a fire at your premises and your physical hard drives are toast, quite literally? H

ok, I did not wanted to sound paranoid by stating how I do it... but didnt I mentioned I have a lab at home!? ... ... so I have that piece covered...

I am fortunate to have a second home in CT(well, a condo apartment really but second home for tax purposes ) since at times I dont feel like driving all the way home in traffic and dealing with the commute.. I have excellent connectivity there, much better than at home in the boomdocks... so to make the story short...

I replicate my critical data only.. which is about 2TB.. ... lots of porn you know.. the way I do it is via Veritas Volume Replicator, since my Windows 2008R2 server is using it to manage the disks from the Sun SE3511FC..

I use for Servers X4200R with Windows 2008R2 and Qlogic FC HBA to the Array and the Sun SL24 Library... the same server functions as my "Storage" and "Backup" Server as it hosts NBU7 with a DSU and file share volumes... I have separate apps and ESX servers...

I replicate the volume every 30 mins to the remote site(aka. the apartment) .. where I only have an X4150 running ESX and with a SE3510 attached to it ... both my sites have two workstations each... Sun U20 and U40 in the apartment ... and at home a pair of Sun Ultra24's... Charting has 2x24" 1920x1200 and Order Entry has a 20.1" 1600x1200... and I keep a Lenovo X301 on the apartment as well... but I always carry my W500 anyhow..

and lastly... I used to burn DVD's of my financial data at home once a week which I would place on my safe, which is rated for 4 hours I think... but I started instead just copying the financial data to a USB SSD Samsung 128GB drive which allows me to do it daily before I go to bed..

anyone can replicate my setup a lot simpler... just get a pair of Lacie Storge Servers (with embed WSS2008R2) and replicate via DFSR... I am a Unix guy, and I do IT for a leaving... so I go with what I know works for me better, I stay away from DFSR and its issues with bi-directional replication... easier for me to kick reverse at a volume level with VVR, because that is what I know... short of buying a pair of Netapp appliances and replicating them ... my setup is the simplest I could come up with what I had... and I dont really have any hobbies outside of Unix/Storage and learning about financial derivates and trading... I dont count as a hobby working out or boxing.. I do that to relax, just like people do golf to relax...

now, if you dont have a second home, I get the sending the data to a "provider"... I just dont trust providers... I have done RFP for my company for storage clouds, and they all fail compliance and legal checks... which is why EMC ended up building a private cloud on our facilities...

but if you make decent $$$ trading, you can buy a loft in SoBe.. Miami, FL if that is your thing.. for under $50K... so a second location can be a good thing .. the common charges will be more than the mortgage, but at least you get to have the write off's if you claim it as rental.. and rent it out of course :P... seasonally..

sysot1t 

ok, I did not wanted to sound paranoid by stating how I do it... but didnt I mentioned I have a lab at home!? ... ... so I have that piece covered... I am fortunate to have a second home in CT(well, a condo apartment really but second home for tax purposes ) since at times I dont feel like driving all the way home in traffic and dealing with the commute.. I have excellent connectivity there, much better than at home in the boomdocks... so to make the story short... I replicate my critical data only.. which is about 2TB.. ... lots of porn you know.. the way I do it is via Veritas Volume Replicator, since my Windows 2008R2 server is using it to manage the disks from the Sun SE3511FC.. I use for Servers X4200R with Windows 2008R2 and Qlogic FC HBA to the Array and the Sun SL24 Library... the same server functions as my "Storage" and "Backup" Server as it hosts NBU7 with a DSU and file share volumes... I have separate apps and ESX servers... I replicate the volume every 30 mins to the remote site(aka. the apartment) .. where I only have an X4150 running ESX and with a SE3510 attached to it ... both my sites have two workstations each... Sun U20 and U40 in the apartment ... and at home a pair of Sun Ultra24's... Charting has 2x24" 1920x1200 and Order Entry has a 20.1" 1600x1200... and I keep a Lenovo X301 on the apartment as well... but I always carry my W500 anyhow.. and lastly... I used to burn DVD's of my financial data at home once a week which I would place on my safe, which is rated for 4 hours I think... but I started instead just copying the financial data to a USB SSD Samsung 128GB drive which allows me to do it daily before I go to bed.. anyone can replicate my setup a lot simpler... just get a pair of Lacie Storge Servers (with embed WSS2008R2) and replicate via DFSR... I am a Unix guy, and I do IT for a leaving... so I go with what I know works for me better, I stay away from DFSR and its issues with bi-directional replication... easier for me to kick reverse at a volume level with VVR, because that is what I know... short of buying a pair of Netapp appliances and replicating them ... my setup is the simplest I could come up with what I had... and I dont really have any hobbies outside of Unix/Storage and learning about financial derivates and trading... I dont count as a hobby working out or boxing.. I do that to relax, just like people do golf to relax... now, if you dont have a second home, I get the sending the data to a "provider"... I just dont trust providers... I have done RFP for my company for storage clouds, and they all fail compliance and legal checks... which is why EMC ended up building a private cloud on our facilities... but if you make decent $$$ trading, you can buy a loft in SoBe.. Miami, FL if that is your thing.. for under $50K... so a second location can be a good thing .. the common charges will be more than the mortgage, but at least you get to have the write off's if you claim it as rental.. and rent it out of course :P... seasonally..

Thanks for the Reader's Digest explanation. I think I'll stick to Carbonite.

Cheers....

Hapster 

Thanks for the Reader's Digest explanation. I think I'll stick to Carbonite. Cheers....

different solutions for different requirements... your requirements are different from mine... we all do what is best for us. Now, getting back to topic... aztrader09... 100+ ticks for a month is a good return on the account... the trick will be working to not give back all 100 ticks the next month... so discipline is key IMO.. if you are not increasing contract size... perhaps have another account that allows you to transfer funds online from what I personally would call .. "at risk" money.. which is used for trading.

Nice tread, but how much can I make from a 10k account a month. Probably not much

ArnieM 

Nice tread, but how much can I make from a 10k account a month. Probably not much

depends on your goal, if it will be replacing your job income, your overall risk appetite and money management style... not to mention discipline..

as an example.. using 6E as the instrument being traded.. assume you can consistenly make 10 pips... you retain 20% of earnings (meaning, from your winnings you set aside 20% on a daily basis and the rest is used for increasing your contract size) and that you compound your contracts.. meaning, as your account grows, based on your rules, you add one contract... and risk 1-2% per trade only.. stopping at 3% loss for the day... the main thing is to assume that when you make your 10 pips you stop.. or close to 10 pips.. like a range perhaps with a 10pips average.. whatever works..

anyhow, within a year with discipline the account can grow... but there are a lot of factors that go into it... my point being... dont assume you can stop working with 10K... you would need to be trading at least 250K-500K or more to make a living with it... and be truly consistent... IMO.. I am sure that some within this forum are making a living with less perhaps, but I would not personally quit my job to trade anything less than that amount and ensuring that I can consistenly make 5-15 ticks per day with 20-50 cars... but that is just me... I trade to increase my accounts and retire early, not to make a living...

a disclaimer as everyone reviews the spreadsheet picture attached... keep in mind that being consistent is not that easy and there will be losses during some days, weeks or even months... the spreadsheet does not take into account any of that, it is merely an exerciseI did for myself to show why I should trading futures after I made my 4 ticks and not regret seeing the market make much larger moves...

I was beat from the Halloween weekend. All the grass mowing on Thursday, out late every night this weekend and then last night trick or treating with my kid and then to the fall festival at our church where I had volunteered to help with clean up. So got in real late last night, woke up right on schedule but barely functioning.

So no trades today.....and of course it was a 200 cent move today.....I saw it set up and hesitated and then it was too late.

I did manage to scratch out 29 ticks of fake trades today just marking them as I saw them happen. Perhaps I was lucky but so what, lucky is good too.

Back to live trading tomorrow.

Was up +22 ticks finished up +8 after giving most of it back in the chop. That little voice that says, stop trading now spoke really loudly at the +22 level. I even said it out loud. But CL was moving halfway decent at the time and so took another trade. Small stops combined with tight action produced a -5 at one point and so to finish +8 is a good finish.

BUT, I need to learn to listen to that little voice more carefully. I always lose money if I ignore it.

Another thing I am learning is to be a lot more patient both in waiting for the right setup and then waiting for the trade to develop and as long as the trade is developing in my direction, to just wait it out. This is really hard for me but I am learning. Prices don't move in a nice straight line from S/R to S/R......but they do move there.

My goal is to take 2-4 trades a day vs the 8-13 a day I am doing now. The commission cost will go down, my ultimate exposure to the market will go down, and my ticks per trade will go up....all good things.

I've started tracking my daily max draw down and my daily high mark in terms of ticks. I don't know exactly what that data will tell me at the moment but I think it will provide useful data.

I'm also noticing that I am having trouble making my daily profit target consistently. I target 30 ticks every day but often get to 22-26 ticks and if I keep trading, normally experience a pull back to 11-15 ticks. I have surpassed the 30 ticks a couple of times but those are the exception. Not sure why this is an issue but I suspect it has to do with the movement during the morning that I either capture the majority of or not. Once the movement is over, the chop that results after the movement is over often eliminates some of the gains.

A possible solution is to be somewhat more aggressive in attempting to capture the early movement and then stand down permanently. At this point, I am leaning toward this solution. Currently I remain somewhat hesitant to be aggressive but as time goes by, I am beginning to suspect that is costing me ticks. Both in terms of opportunity lost by not taking a trade and by being to conservative in my profit targets.

Tomorrow, I will give this a try: Bigger targets, more aggressive entries in terms of taking all signals that are presented.

Full report tomorrow.

Cheers

aztrader9 

I target 30 ticks every day

You cannot make the market give you 30 ticks a day. You can only get what she will give.

If the volatility is there for your setup to make 30 ticks then it is all good. If the volatility is not, it is good to take what you can and leave.

traderwerks 

You cannot make the market give you 30 ticks a day. You can only get what she will give. If the volatility is there for your setup to make 30 ticks then it is all good. If the volatility is not, it is good to take what you can and leave.

No but I CAN be more aggressive during prime trading hours and that was the purpose of the post.....not about making the market give me something. Only a fool would surmise they could MAKE the market give them something. "She" does in fact "give" many opportunities throughout the day. It is our job to recognize them and take full advantage.

Today I got up real early, I figured FOMC, inventory, etc would make for an interesting day and sure enough it was.

I was up early +16 ticks and then ran off a string of losers. I had a long bias in what was for me a short environment and so kept getting stopped out. The daily chart had broken previous resistance and so I expected to continue upwards to the next resistance level. So when I finally capitulated and went short, I was -24 ticks and then I caught a 30 tick winner to the downside. Funny thing, I had a target clearly marked on my chart for the short but decided to move my target up to be "safe". This left 20 ticks on the table and of course the original target was hit plus a little. +6

So now, I was conflicted, I still had the long bias, after all a new daily low had not been hit but my signals were telling me short, so I went with the long bias and kept getting stopped out but the short signals would have been stops as well. So after a few trades, -70 ticks. (this is where I broke my daily stop rule)

Then, prices failed to make a new daily low and I finally got a long signal. (These prices represented a 75% pull back on the daily high.....low risk trade) I entered long, but my stop below the swing low and held on. It took a while....almost an hour....but the 125%fib extension paid nicely. This also was confluence with the high point painted on August 4th. I exited the trade 3 ticks from the high of day.

The net effect was a +30 tick day. But overall I am counting this a net failure as I needed a miracle (100 ticks) to make my profit target for the day. I got it but should not count on this type of thing happening very often.

I also held through the news, my stop was below the swing and it held through the news and even though I had no idea what the number was, my experience says that after the news, prices tend to do what they were doing before the news which in this case was going up so I just held it. I was in the process of moving my stop up when the target of 100 ticks was hit.

Even though this was an exciting day and one in which I made money, I do not wish for a repeat anytime soon. I would prefer boring days in the sense that I don't need a hail mary to win the day.

I did however learn a valuable lesson about how to hold trades for longer than a few minutes or seconds. I held that one for 50 minutes, most of which was before the news and only 2 minutes after the news I was done.

I also learned that fib theory does work.....the low risk long I kept wanting and getting stopped out on would have worked had I executed it properly the first time. Will look better execution methods this week......but in practice only. I suspect it is a stop placement issue....unfortunately.