460 percent in under two months ...
... is a sure sign of
gambling, not trading.
I'm actually wondering how I stack up against the experts.
Badly.
Very badly: they understand
position-sizing and
risk management, but you don't.
That's why they'll still be there to trade next month, whatever the market does, and you won't, necessarily.
And in the long run, that's actually
way more important than the 460% figure which (unfortunately) impresses you - and in this business, the long run is all that matters.
They understand that successful trading is all about risk management, but you think it's about profit maximisation. That's a
dreadful parameter by which to compare how you're doing with the experts.
When you sit down to start trading, each day, if your priority is "to make as much as possible over the day", then Auntie Xela has read your tea-leaves and is warning you that you have some nasty accidents, shocks and blown accounts in store. If it's "to be able to sit down again at the same time tomorrow and trade again", then you
might have a chance. But at the moment, a major "
Back To The Drawing-Board Re-Think" about your priorities and aspirations in trading is clearly needed.
Apologies for "blunt speaking": needless to say I mean nothing personal at all by it, but it is what it is, and at the moment you're inexorably headed toward fulfilling and maintaining your curious username.
Yes, they are. I am.
Much better (but I made about 9% in January and about the same in February, each with a funded account, not 460% in two months on paper): that's partly because we have
very different concepts of what "better" means.