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I have a stock 10 tick stop in my NT ATM ... I would love to have larger stops, but I'm down to a grand now from $2k and that's all I feel I can risk... ( was back up to $1200 until today !! lol)
Thanks so much for your interest... I'm sure I need a little guidance. I have been trying this trading thing
all alone, until now...
I'm fighting like heck to not blow that first bank roll!!! Everytime I get to the 50% drawdown level I seem to
focus much better... Ha!! This will be the second time I've touched that level....
My advice is you can't set stops based on your account size. The market doesn't give a damn about your account size, so why would a stop dictated by your account size make any sense? It doesn't.
You do need to set risk limits. Most traders recommend that no single trade exceed 2% of your capital, this means on a $1000 account, your maximum risk (stop) per trade is $20. You can't trade futures with such a small account, you really need much more. Let's say you had $10,000 instead of $1,000. With a 2% risk, your maximum stop is allowed to be $200 per trade. If you are trading 4 contracts, this means each contract is $50. So if you want to really trade four contracts, you probably need around $40,000 before you can really even consider it.
Now, just because your max risk is $200 per trade using that guideline, it does not mean set a stop at 20 ticks every time. It means if the proper stop, as dictated by price action and your research of your methodology, is more than 20 ticks then you should pass on the trade. If price action dictates a 5 tick stop, then you'll use that, not 20 ticks just because you "can".
"Death by 1000 cuts" is what you will end up doing to your account with the wrong stop position. You can't afford a proper stop, so you end up taking bad stops over and over again. One day you may say, ok, I will do a bigger "proper" stop, and it too will get hit and then you'll change everything again. You can't judge trading results from a small sample size. The reason people suggest 2% is so that you have to take 50 stops in a row to go broke (or more, because each trade is a MAX of 2%, but usually ends up being less with good management). You really need 100-200 trades in your sample size before you can make any sort of statistical analysis as to the edge or probabilities of your method.
But, I can tell you for sure, you need far more than $1,000 to trade futures. It doesn't mean go deposit $20,000 from your IRA, everyone needs to learn at their own rate. There are several threads here that discuss this here on the forum.
Of course I realize all you say is true... It would be so easy to take trades if I could set my stops in accordance
to support and resistance levels.
However, I gave myself $2K to see if I can pull off a miracle and I will see it through. I am putting up the good fight. If I lose down to my margin. I will Sim until I can save up that $10K.
I understand. I really do. Through this forum I've met a hundred traders like you. But if you want to succeed at trading, you need to position yourself for success! To win at trading someone else must lose. In order to beat these other traders, you must not be at such an enormous disadvantage.
Now, if you look at 2k as just part of your tuition, which is how I would approach it, then nothing is lost. You are paying money to learn how to trade, just like paying money to attend a campus for college courses to learn something. But, don't expect for your college professor to start writing you weekly paychecks for attending class --- and don't expect to make any money trading. Not until you graduate. And even then, it means you'll need to properly fund your account (probably 25k minimum) to trade for "real".
I will leave you to it. I am not trying to give you bad news or be negative. I am just trying to help.
I agree with you. It is possible for a seasoned trader to take 2k and run with it, but not a beginner. Sure, maybe every now and then a beginner can do it, but not over a large sample of beginners. Is the blog you mentioned run by a seasoned trader, or a beginner? Are you sure it is cash and not sim? Obviously you and I know that just about everyone can make money hand over fist on sim.
yes he posts his broker statements and also has his broker phone number for you to verify. he is a vendor doing this to showcase his skills so he is not a beginner.
Oh, no worries brother!! You're not suprising me with your input. I researched the web for several months
before taking the plunge. I certainly know the odds.
...and those profit numbers from that other account starting w/ $2K... seems to be an awfully good trader at that
wheel...
I realise I am on a journey. It's all good. I'll just learn as much as possible and that only seems to come with
a live account... SIM bores me to death because you don't get the real pain, I trade too much etc. I just banged
out a quick, easy system that would win if I made the correct trades and moved to live.
If there is a bright side... I'm going into my sixth month trading a live account and I'm still kicking!!!
After the initial getting used to the emotions draw down of 50% ... I've been breaking even for quite a while now, with occasional gusts to the upside. I just have such little time to actually pull the trigger live. I can't quite feel comfortable.... Studio hours are long...
But the bottom line is that I love it more than just a way of making money. I love the high tech nature of it.
I better make it, cause I'm hooked. I'll find a way. Just bare with me for awhile....
Hopefully you will give me a hand every now and then... If I don't drive you crazy...
This is the first site that I've come across where I think I can actually learn some technics.
I feel I am a 1%er getting into my current field of recording engineering - Now going on twenty years.
If I can pay the same dues I did there, maybe I can be a 1%er making it in this field also....