Already profitable, what's next?

[Steve Alexander]

Hi all,

I have been trading since 2014 and have turned profitable, pretty much positive every week since this year but on a small account, average monthly growth is about 5-10%, risk per trade is 1%. My performance isn't perfect but I follow my system, I miss some trades, mess up on trade management, but I always focus on risk management first.

What is next for me? Goal is to turn full time but that will take quite a while so I would like to ask what the next step for me is? Keep topping up my account with my main income source for every positive month? I do not have 100k, or 50k to spare, I am quite poor as my main income source is low but I am able to save a couple hundreds or a thousand each month. I do not have a wife or kids.

My statistics are not very good but more than enough to make $ and it seems I will always look for ways to improve my "edge", how do you guys trade the same system in and out all day?

I suggest you wait until you are profitable for at least a year before quitting your day job.

 

[metatrader54]

continue, the answers will come up

Care to drop some hints?

 

[metatrader54]

Trading is stressful. Never go full time if your intention is for it to be your main source of income. Too many things can go wrong.

What about increasing the time-frame? If the system works and risk is manageable on 15-min charts, what will it do on 4-hourlies? Then you could go off and do something else.

5 months consistency is a good starting point - why would you now consider altering anything at this point since you started on this journey 4 years ago?

IMO, consistency is your primary goal. Consistency is your mantra.

With consistency you will build your account equity, you will gain confidence, you will be able to gradually increase your position sizing.

Don’t even think about going full time until your account equity makes your current “job” quite literally ridiculous. Don’t extrapolate forward based on 5 months of consistency - that’s dangerous thinking.

Congratulations and I wish you the best fortune in your endeavors!

I am not going to quit my job anytime soon, I was wondering about the next step I take, I feel a bit lost but I will keep trading.

 

[metatrader54]

I'm willing to stand corrected here but I never saw the OP state that he was trading Equities.
He may be playing Futs or spot fx.
With a handle like MetaTrader that leads a little more credence to the latter.

Yes I trade spot Forex.

If you are making money your account should be growing. If you are now doing 5% a month, if you compound your returns you double your account every 16 months.

Keep risking 1% per trade. Keep focusing on protection of capital.

I would not top up my account from my main income. If I was planning on trading full time I would build a savings account to give me a years living expenses so that I could trade for a year without worrying about how I would finance my life style.

Are you trading full time? If so how did you do it? To be honest my goal is not to trade "full time", it's to become rich but I know it will take years and I'm willing to go step by step.

 

[metatrader54]

If you really do have a worthwhile edge, contact many prop firms about leverage, all commissions and costs, their deal, etc.

Post on ET looking for recommendations.

Come back here and post the firm and all the specifics they offer you Some firms are better than others and some firms simply ripping off in various ways and burn and churn. Evaluate the replies.

Do not expect to be taught to be a winning trader unless you have a personal relationship with a winning trader at the firm who will mentor you. Often these forms have the blind teaching the blind, failed traders who owe the firm money, etc. who charge new traders money for their lessons.

Most prop traders never make it so do not be mislead.

If you are a losing trader who thinks he is good enough right now and you do this, expect to blow up lots of time and money.

Bonus: Winning prop traders rarely take new people under their wing in a serrious way, obvious reasons, but if you go in with an edge you may make alliances that benifit you. Look to hook up with the proven winning traders, if you find any.
_______

*This is only one of many options and I do not know if it is best for you.

Do you have any recommendations for prop firms? Or banks? Because I have heard that prop trading is mostly dead and most have moved to automation.

I don't think you have mentioned how scalable your strategy is. Will you be able to trade the size necessary to support your needs? How will the risk/reward change? Since you have no family to support yet, this is a great time to go for it. You may never get another chance. If you fail, it will be meaningless in the big scheme of things, but you will learn a lot regardless of results. Good luck.

Most trades are 50-100 pips for winning trades, although some are 20-30 pips, I think it's quite scalable since it is spot forex.

 

[metatrader54]

Open account at reputable broker (IB or similar), track your results, after a year pay to get them audited, raise small money and manage it for free, repeat. If you genuinely make 50pc a year you’ll get where you want quickly.

How do I go about getting my results audited? How long of a track record do I need? How do I look for investors?

 

[Howard]

The key is consistency and accumulating profits while increasing position size as your account grows. Initially, it may seem like you're going nowhere, but at a certain point in time your profits start accelerating and you're on your way to freedom.

Don't lose money and stay consistently positive even if it's a 'small' daily amount.

For motivation, make a sheet in Excel on compounded daily growth with a set amount of capital allocated per contract/share/lot.

 

[carrer]

Can you share your equity chart. By that we will know if it is sustainable or not.

P.S. If possible with the summarized report details like profit ratio, winning rate, consecutive winning, losses, etc. Mt4 has a function to generate the report.

 

[qxr1011]

Care to drop some hints?

Well,

I strongly believe that the trader in the making is strictly self-made affair. It is so much so that any recommendations or suggestions, when trader is in the middle of the road, have a chance to hurt him probably more than to help.

Each situation is so unique.

Your impulse to find out how others tried to resolve the same issues is understandable but imho would not be helpful to your efforts.

Realistically i see only one way: Trader improves the method to a point when he feels he has to start slowly increase his positions. If everything goes well he switches to full time.

But the devil is nuances.

There maybe some situation when one can be pressed against the wall by life circumstances to be either more aggressive or to stop at all for a while. What is better I do not know everybody choosing for himself.

Good luck !

P.S. As for being poor and having the small account there are maybe some advantages in that. - one does not need much in this case. And as Karl Marx (who to my surprise is in favor here) once said: "The Proletariat has nothing to loose except it shackles !"

 

[alex314159]

How do I go about getting my results audited? How long of a track record do I need? How do I look for investors?

You'd need at least a year of track record before anyone looks at it in my opinion. In terms of auditing, many accounting companies (including big 4) will rubber stamp your brokerage statements and charge you 5k for the privilege. Then I'd go and look for friends and families with spare money to invest, and do it for free - you're effectively paying to build up your reputation.