Search results

I'm looking to teach a few friends some trading methods and was wondering if anyone can suggest good software that combines desktop sharing / chat room / audio? It would be something like the commercial day trading rooms use but on a much smaller scale of course. I currently use VNC to share...

One of my accounts is at Proactive, however not using the platform you mentioned. They are reasonably quick to respond and I haven't had any issues with them. Mark

I think keeping risk at 2% (or less) is vital. The solution is to become better capitalized or you'll lose your $10,000 account. After wiping out two trading accounts I finally became disciplined in money management and don't ever wager more than 1-2% on any single trade. Being adequately...

Thanks for the tip, will look into the Asus models right now. Any other ET members with ideas? Mark

TudorJones, I'm not incorporated but I'm still able to write off trading losses, expenses, etc. directly against income because my day trading activity is declared as income (not capital gains) for CRA purposes. Please let me know if I'm missing something. Mark

I'm looking for a new higher-end laptop and am having trouble finding ones with the traditional non-glossy screen. I do a lot of work outdoors and don't need a mirror. :D So far I've found the IBM/Lenovo Thinkpads and the Panasonic Toughbooks, can you guys suggest anything else? Mark

There are trending and choppy moments in every instrument, over every time frame. Don't blame the ER2, bots, or anything else. Use good money management and patience. Mark

There are sometimes (but not necessarily always) cases where incorporation can help protect your assets -- talk to an accountant about this aspect of incorporation. If you are a profitable trader and wish to *defer* your income tax, then incorporation is the way to go. Your company will be...

I can't remember CRA's exact criteria but it doesn't apply only to trading. You can't flip houses, cars, goats, etc. on a regular basis and declare it as capital gains. Trading is an income-producing activity. On the bright side, you do get to write off anything related to trading so you get...

I switched from Metastock to eSignal simply because of the poor/lagged quotes from Metastock. Sometimes quotes would just stop, or not load at all. eSignal has been perfect so far but I do miss some of Metastock's charting features. Mark

acerbits, I'm a Canadian career trader (futures) also using an American broker. Your gains need to be declared as income whether you keep the funds with your broker or wire it to your Canadian bank account. Of course, losses can be carried forward to offset future income tax (assuming you...

Hoping and praying isn't required -- just make your trade and set the stop. Getting stopped out is a good thing because it protects your capital. If you are getting stopped out too frequently then perhaps your stops are too tight or you are using the wrong tactics for that particular market...

One could argue the only safe time to trade is when the CME is down for maintenence. :D Mark

I find the ER2 responds very well to basic pattern analysis -- you don't have to get complicated to trade this contract. For those who need indicator confirmation, a 5,3,3 stochastic on the 5min chart seems to work well as a cross-verification tool. It's a great contract and I don't trade...

Try trading pattern failures exclusively for a week -- you might be surprised how much your P/L improves. :D Mark

I don't think it is realistic to expect consistent profitability within a few months. It takes years (and for many people, never) to accomplish trading success. However, you may want to keep yourself sane by limiting yourself to one or two setups and paper-trade them exclusively. If the...

You may want to get a simulated trading account first. This allows you to experiment with the different order types and paper-trade without losing real money. Mark

It seems you really want to trade 2-3 contracts with $5000, so maybe the next step is to backtest your system (using that many contracts) and determine what the worst drawdown is. Then you have something objective to go by, and can then decide if your trading method is appropriate. For all I...

If it's money you can afford to lose then be as aggressive as you wish. In fact, blowing up account can be a very good learning experience (assuming it doesn't put your family on the street). Each person has a different comfort level. For me, it may be one contract per $10,000 in my trading...

I find Bollinger Bands and similar tools (e.g. moving average envelopes) useful as a cross-verification tool. For example, a chartist may decide to go long on double-bottom patterns only when the extremes poke outside the bottom bands. No single tool is a holy grail and therefore shouldn't...