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I have done many combines with Topstep Trader and could never seem to meet the targets. Some times, I would experience the same thing you are saying - when a full contract trade would go against me, I'd exit, even though the "chart reason" that I got in didn't actually fail, only to find the trade would then turn around and do exactly as I'd expected initially. Other times, I would blow out a combine because I'd hit the "I don't care" attitude because deep down I still knew it wasn't real money. When the micro's came out, I stopped doing combines, and instead switched to trading a live account using the micros. I have skin in the game, but I can give the trade more room to breath and work out as my account was relatively small. Trading the micros became a game changer for me and I became a profitable trader.
So, based on my personal experience, I feel trading the micros is better than continueing to spend money trying to get a funded account. Of course, you have to do what you feel fits your needs most.
Hope this is helpful.
Yeah I can use that scheme using 1/10 the values for micros ($16 per trade). Doing that I think that will help with the psychological aspect of the trading and also will enforce me to be super selective about the trades I'm taking.
Hi Luv, thanks a lot for sharing your experience. You described exactly my mindset on the combine! Hehe.
Now I know that I'm not prepared or want to trade E-minis. I feel the micros is the way to go at least in this early stage. Time will tell.
Like everyone has said, Micros are best and there is no substitute to trading Live. Stay disciplined, keep reminding yourself what your trade plan is and stay away from trading too many contracts. At this point, you are not trading for wealth, but to build consistency and make affordable mistakes. The combine is only helpful after you have become very consistent, mastered your psychology and you want to scale up.
Remember the oft-stated fact 90% of traders fail (like with any start-up business).
Best of Luck to you.
If you think you're hitting the loss too frequently, then I would trade the 5 micro ES contracts which reduces the value of a point to $25. I felt exactly the same way you did. I didn't have patience to trade with 1 or 2 micro ES contracts.
Yeah, the problem of trading 5 or more micros and still having constant looses are that on top of that, the commissions sums up a lot. So at least at first I´ll start with 1 or 2 micros. Right now I don´t want to make big money but at least want to stay alive for another trading day. The only time where I go with 4 micros and works pretty well for me is when the chart goes parabollic, I wait for the pullback or rebound (depending long or short) and I can grab 4/5 ticks. From statistics I have 60% of success doing that.
I understand the commission with 5 micro accounts will go higher than one ES contract. What I have been practicing is to stay in the game everyday. I have learnt that everyday we see plenty of opportunities and we only need one or two good trades. Try to put a target for every day like 5 points on ES . It can be with micro or mini. If you consistently achieve this over a period of 2 months, you can jump one contract.
Start with 2 micro ES , trade for 2 months until it becomes a second habit . Close for the day if you hit 5 ES points . The fear of loss can only be reduced with smaller contracts.
Hi Bob, hope you are well! I took note of your Journal idea in regards to your above quote. I am new here and glad I read you mentioned the Journals. In your opinion, should I search by views to find the best strategies available? I definitely want a 1:3 R/R minimum strategy, but there seems to be so many journals, and seeing which is the best strategies for a daytrader in the morning hours. Looking to trade 1 /ES contract with a profit target anywhere for 3 to 10 points per day.
Any help will be greatly appreciated, and I look forward to hearing from you.
What is your balance? If you used 5-10 micro contracts and your balance is big enough you can ride out the bearish reversal until it reverses back to bullish and at worst you can profit 1.5+ ticks if your worried it won’t get to your tick goal (volume is now low). You could use this strategy for 2 micro contracts with less risk and more leverage.
Actually I don't want to use that much of contracts yet. I'm realistic and I know that I won't have a 10k account so I prefer to go with 2 micros at most so I can have either more room to wait the price action develops to direction of my idea or just to take more losses and still be alive. Of course too many looses in a row will stop me and put me back on the sim and thinking what was wrong.