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Hola!
Thanks for replying. Yes I can see the pros and cons of both worlds. I do have a system that at least on the SIM worked, I made an excel to trace it so I realized that was enough and had to jump in live. Since I don't have 25k to open a big account I thought that a combined could be a good choise. And probably it was from the psycho point of view. I could "feel" the difference. I'm thinking my next move now. The trailing drawdown looks more like a trap to me than a real discipline measure, bit it's just my opinion. It's great you could be funded with them and I wish you the best!
Yes I did that's why I decided to go live somehow, because I could see in my journal that I was profitable and consistent about 60% of the times on the SIM. Always using the same rules, stops, etc.
I noticed not to much talk about your strategy and trading style.
I used to be a pure scalper. Now days I hold for about 10-120 minutes so my exits are in alignment with strong volume for nice smooth and clean exits.
I’m going to mention something rather controversial and something that should only be used when you know the trend direction and when volume is strong, trading is strong with the trend you want to take profit.
The below method only works if you really think carefully about your entries and that your entries are based on clear data decisions. Otherwise this method is gambling and you will lose $100+ in a flash!
In NinjaTrader if you are using Micro accounts you only need 1.25 - 1.50 ticks to get profit (bare minimum). What I do sometimes when the trend line is very strong and I’m trying to earn $500+ a day is after a trade is open I click sell (even if I am several minutes from actually closing the trade) and the little pop-up opens and I keep my mouse over the sell button on the pop-up. I trade with 4-10 Micro contracts and I wait for 1.50+ minimum then click sell. I usually do this with 10-20 contracts when I am extremely confident that the volume is strong and trend is bullish. Also you must make sure your stop ticks are matching your account balance so your margin does not blow the account. I don’t do this with bearish trends simply because it reminds me of saying the alphabet backwards. Again only do this method when you are very confident with volume and trend. There are some good indicators that can give you strong insight into the data you need to trade like this. Other trading platforms don’t have this pop-up feature.
I keep wanting to preface that you need to really understand the chart and that the volume is strong and trending bullish and you have your support & resistance and moving averages are pointing in your favor and that you looked back several dozen bars or longer. Double check your account balance and margin.
I typically earn about 25% or more of my daily income doing this and I have had a single loss, out of like 10,000+ trades of this exact method. The closest I have had to a loss was just “0” ticks.
Keep in mind this style of trading is intense and you need to keep your eyes glued to the charts.
Yes I think I agree with you, that was the approach that I was usingon sim with E-minis with good results. With micros I can be more "relaxed" because the losses are smaller. One thing that scared me with the combine was the fact that with big contracts, any small correction even with 1 contract represented a -$300 move (taking into account the current volatility) With micros I think I can play better my strategies without going panic and start doing stupid things.
Thanks a lot! I´ll keep you in mind if I decide to go into that direction
What’s up dude. I will share my experience and thoughts as a trader who has traded a personally funded live account as well as my experience as a trader for Helios currently.
I think to begin you should ask yourself if you have a definitive plan/edge/setup that you’ve collected data on while you were paper trading on TOS. Your 3years paper trading/learning won’t mean much if you havent collected data, data with favorable outcomes that you really can lean on over a period of time. You should have clear planS on how to effectively manage risk, how to effectively manage your trades, how to log and evaluate trades (important as markets changes and you have to be quick to adapt or at least notice when your edge is blunted), and how to manage your psychological aspect of trading. Sounds a bit excessive but let’s be real this is YOUR BUSINESS, and this is important regardless if you trade for yourself or for Helios. If you have CLEAR direction in your trading, you will feel less of the “uncertainty” that you are feeling that is preventing you from going live.
I passed the 25k MG in 15 days trading 1-5contracts of the MNQ with 4,320 in profits, so it’s possible to pass using the micro contracts in a reasonable amount of time. You SHOULD NOT be trading regular emini on a 2k account. I can almost guarantee that if you do you will fail your MG. You just won’t have enough breathing room to make reasonable trades.
Not with That out of that out of the way let’s get real. How much money would actually drop on you account 1k? 2k $500? Do you think you can effective manage that money? If you start a mini gauntlet 50k at 170 a month, let’s say for 2months that 340 dollars. Being that you trade the Es/Mes that’s 6.8pts on the ES and 68pts on 1 MES contract. You could blow through that in a week or 15mins if you trade ES and didn’t manage your trade properly. So realistically if you are profitable in your paper trades and you have CLEAR direction in your trading process, and you have some money to blow the go for it. I’m a huge advocate of “funding programs” because they offer the chance to minimize the risk of losing money and it gives you a bit of psychological pressure having to paying for gauntlet or combines. One HUGE plus is having an active risk manager on you EVERYTIME you step in the markets. Sound like a burden but every real trader that trades live will till you that managing risk, stay discipline over time, and staying on track becomes a challenge over time. With these programs they force you to be disciplined and methodical if not you get booted. Being that ypu are a developing trader, you may need that. For me I look at it as paying 20% for an active risk manager which I gladly pay.
At this point I’m probably ranting a rambling. If you have clear edge, know exactly what you are doing, have a sizable chunk of capital then skip the prop firms and trade for yourself. If you are developing, don’t have clear direction, Don’t have a lot of capital, want trading coaches and someone forcing you to be a professional through risk management then try out for a firm through these funding programs. Everyone will rant and cry about how it’s rigged so you fail, but don’t listen to them. Let’s be honest if we can’t reach those metrics (be profitable for longer than 15days, make more than you lose, and be able to apply risk management, then should we really be risking live capital?
Just my two cents and experience from both trading my money and trading for Helios.
I would be a good idea if you were to limit your losses per day to some smaller amount. After losing your loss amount take time to analyze your trades.
It seems to me you might be getting close to profitability, Ariel.
Sometimes when we go live, we start with losses. If you trust in data that proves you have found an edge, and your trades were in line with your plan, than all you did was start with some losses. No big deal. There's nothing more normal than losses.
You can help your psychology when trading real money by risking only 1% (or less) or your account per trade. So, your question about trading micros only makes sense in the context of you account size. In the unlikely but possible event of starting out with, say, 7 losing trades, you would only lose 7% of your account, which is completely survivable.
If you are in the Mini gauntlet you can trade micros, 10 micro contracts= 1. Also email customer support and tell them you want live commission rates for micro contracts. They’ll give you cheaper commissions it’ll help you a little bit.
Thanks Dan. What I trade is mostly ES (or MES) When I trade MES what is what I was trading these days I use the tape and chart from the ES to see it´s volume. I also use the $ADD and $TICK and have the Dow and Nasdaq to see also how are they performing. With all of that I was able to find something that works for me on the sim and after going thru a deep review of my combines trades I applied the same criteria but the fear came into play and made me do stupid things like don´t honor the stops, don´t wait the trend resumes, enter earlier that I supposed to do, etc. So in the end I have good trade ideas but totally messed up by psicological factors.
About my trading style, I narrowed down to 2 basic movements. Swings that can last 20-30minutes, sometimes more depending on the day and quick scalps when for example the price is going parabolic I wait for the top (or bottom) and take 4/5 ticks with a quick scalp. That worked for me for almost 4/5 months on sim. The swings are made with no more than 2 contracts and the scalps with no more than 4.
