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I realy understand you STDRAS bc i was in the same situation too.
what i can say is this:
RISK,RISK,RISK and the money management.
Do your home work and make a trading plan for your day trading(its a must).
I hope you the best of luck.
BR
Adam
Can you help answer these questions from other members on NexusFi?
I want to second, third, and forth that this is really really great advice (wish it could be thanked more than 1X). As a matter of fact I think all new traders who come to futures.io (formerly BMT) should read this specific post. It would have saved me so much heartache (wallet ache).
It's funny (and sad) that someone actually mentioned something this to me when I first started my journey and of course I scoffed at as beneath me and not relevant to me and an obstacle to me making a living trading. That attitude cost me $$. Anyone who reads this post and thinks that is the exact trader that should follow this solid gold advice.
Great stuff!!!
What does this advice do IMHO? It slows down the trader that's in a hurry and allows time to take its course and prevents self sabotage since it's hard to do much damage in a short period time when only risking $100 per day and one trade. This gives the new trader who insists on live trading an opportunity to survive and learn at the same time.
I absolutely agree with all the other posts that advised caution and getting actual experience.
A good thing to do is take a couple of hundred bucks and do simulated trading in a TST Combine; you'll find the experience is much like real trading, due to the external performance standards and the fact that you put up some real money. If you do well you can get the money back, but either way you will get a more realistic idea of just where you are and what to improve on.
A very wise and experienced trader gave me some tremendous advice years ago after I was stumbling about losing money left and right, on the verge of quitting trading for good.
He told me to
1. Create an extremely thorough trade plan
2. Keep a detailed trading journal
3. Stay on demo until I doubled 3 accounts utilizing a strict 1% risk on each trade. Then double a very very small live account.
4. Never be complacent, always work to fine tune your trading
5. Be honest with myself
6. Dont give up.
I took this advice to heart and got to work. It took me 2 years(Im a little slow, I know) to accomplish these goals. it was more difficult than I ever imagined. I literally went through 1,000's of blown up FX demo accounts and many,many frustrating days and nights where I doubted myself immensely.
Looking back, as I am very successful now and have been the last several years, i honestly do not think I would embark on trading as a career again if i had to do it over. Nor do I recommend to friends and family to get into the business. I also will not mentor or teach anyone or give any signals or any part of my trade plan.
What trading has given to me financially and in terms of my relative fiscal freedoms it has taken away from me several of my prime years, crushed relationships, and alienated me from my old friends. My next monumental task is to get back into social circles and re-kindle the human relationships in my life that I tossed to the side to pursue this dream with absolute single-minded determination.
I know not everyone shares my experience, and i take full responsibility for my choices and my life. But thats really what it comes down to right?
Choice.
Do it right my friend, dont lose focus on what really is important in life
Your comments were honest....beats the "how hard is it to get 2 points?" that I see all over.
This is a hard business, hard in it's core, it's competitive nature, and it's technical understanding.
You made the sacrifice that many won't and you got there.
I wish you well and thank G-d for brutal honesty!
Matt
Trading futures and options involves substantial risk of loss and is not suitable for all investors. Past performance is not necessarily indicative of future results. You may lose more than your initial investment. All posts are opinions and do not claim to be facts. Please conduct your own due diligence. Use only Risk capital when trading Futures.
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Those thoughts are in line with some recent personal soul searching I have been doing. I think what you describe may also apply to what it takes to become highly successful or wealthy at anything. You have to sacrifice a lot, and what no one tells you is that the end result is not always what you expect.
Do you have a mentor? Or someone to keep you in check? If not, find one, and develop your mental game. Trading is a grind. Every day, you have to grind it out to make money. You have to wake up, and mentally prepare yourself for the markets. A lot of times, it is just waiting around for your setup and keeping your focus during the wait. The more boring it is, the better you will do.
Learn how to control your emotions - only then the FORCE will be with you. Pre-set your rules and stand by them and don't change them on the spot. Many people here will help you including me. 10K is too much. I like the 1YM contract with $100 daily stop. I would add a weekly stop of $300 to that. If you loose more then 2k with this settings there is something wrong with the system you are using. Do you have any set rules ? Are you going to be following someone?
Good Luck !
You got some great advice here, especially about the importance of a business plan. The fact that you haven't yet wreaked havoc trading a live account is in itself a psychological advantage. If you start out on the right path, your chance of successfully trading for a living is above average.
Assuming you have a defined and thoroughly tested trading plan and the ability to follow it, it's possible with the leveraged instruments available to trade for a living with a $10,000 account. From my experience, though, finding a trader with a positive expectancy plan and the ability to follow it has been slightly more successful than quest to see a live unicorn.
I would definitely recommend YM or NQ over ES for a beginner.
If you don't already have a business plan for your trading, I'd be happy to share ideas for putting one together.
