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Long story short. For the past 18 months I’ve been studying the silver futures market and applying simple TA while doing CME’s practice account. I have done well trading 2 contracts at a time scalping 4-5 cents when my strategy gives me an entry. 2 contracts at a 5 cent profit yields $500 profit. Of course there are no fees involved in the practice account and it’s a completely different game. I know it’s not that easy and I need to learn more. I have learned the importance of patience and discipline.
My question is this. Before opening a real account what educational materials/tools should I cover?
I guess I should just say Where do I start?
Any advice is greatly appreciated
Only with money on the line will you find out if you truly have something (entries/exits which BTW are far more important) as well as you say "learned the importance of patience and discipline".
I suggest you try your luck with micro Gold instead and then move up to, when you feel you are ready, either mini Gold or Silver.
I agree with the other posters. Only you will know when it's time, but you do need to get out of simulated trading at some point. Once you are sure you know when and where you are supposed to enter and exit a trade according to your method, you may benefit a little from additional practice, but without practicing with actual money at risk, you are not really practicing the real game.
By all means keep it small, so the micros would be a good choice. And unless your strategy requires having several contracts (for instance, to scale in or out), I would use only one (1) contract. Why? You will have losses, and keeping yourself able to stay calm and rational while losing is hard, and much harder if the losses are larger. And make sure you have a completely ruthless way to cut losing trades before they become large losing trades.
Those are things that only real-money trading can give you. So start very small, with money you are willing to lose for the sake of learning if you have to.
How much is that? If it's so little that you can honestly say that you don't care either way, that's a good starting number. Don't make the mistake of calculating all the riches that trading will bring you. Your early live experiences probably will involve more losses than you realize. Start small, get your feet wet and learn the game.
And good luck.
Bob.
When one door closes, another opens.
-- Cervantes, Don Quixote
Thank you all for your advice. I plan on dipping my toe in soon. Will start on a small scale and I have no illusions on getting rich. The practice account has taught me numerous things one of which is to cut my loses quickly.
