Am I doing something wrong? Making money can't be this easy...

T

tycoonman

Hey guys,

Novice trader here. I am using OEC's demo platfrom and trading the ES mini in demo account. All im doing is finding trends (which are very easy to see) and just riding them for about an hour to two hours at a time for 1 contract (so that I simulate what im planning starting with when I go live). Anyhow, i'm making $200-$300/contract...wtf??? Also, trading one contract only requires $2500. I have my limits/stops set-up.

It can't be this easy. What am I missing? Is there something very different when you go live that demo accounts don't give you? This is not meant as some cocky thread. I am really confused/concerned so that when I go live, I don't blow up in 15 minutes with my $5,000 account.

Thanks in advance for the help guys...
 
Execution is very different, you don't get filled that easily, unless you take liquidity.

Psychology is different. You have nothing to lose on a demo. You lose $300, big deal. What happens if you open your live account, and you're down $500 your first day. You get skiddish and dig a deeper hole.

Be realistic with your demo trading. Make sure you are profitable across weeks rather than days.
 
post a screenshot of todays demo executions.
How big are your stops?
Despite what people say about demo being entirely different, in my experience, unless you are trying to scalp for a tick here and a tick there, then the emotions are the only real difference between demo and live.
The Ninjatrader demo takes into account the bid/ask size, last trade, time and order delay to determine fill probability which makes it even more realistic
 
I suggest you give up and save money.

More than 90% of small traders lose. They just lose!!

Quote from emg:

let me give u an idea of a typical loser.

At 1am, charlie is watching a trading infomercial. The infomercial stated how to get rich quick by investing a trading system $5000.

After a week of debating whether to purchase the system, charlie decided to buy the system.

After purchasing the system, charlie begins to papertrade. for 2 months, his sim account is up $30K plus.

Charlie decides to trade live and begin to shop for a brokerage that offer deep low commission rate and best data feed.

Charlie talked to a mid 20 yrs old broker and gave him a deep low commission with a so called best data feed in the industry (generic brand).

Charlie opened an account and funded $5000. He talked to his mid 20 yrs old broker about his HOLY GRAIL system. Because his broker knows that most people lose trading, he encouraged charlie the system is the best and suggested to trade greater volume.

Charlie begin to trade live doing 1 lot. He profit on his first trade.

The next day, Charlie begins to add more lots. Instead of trading 1 lot, he increased 5 lots. The trades profit. He begin to feel like a hero!

A week later, Charlie increased to 10 lots and finally lose.

A month later, Charlie account value fell from a $7000 to $1500. Charlie became frustrated and begin google searching for another 3rd party educational vendors.

He came across another 3rd party educational vendor that will almost guarantee $7000 profit per day if subscribing his $3000 per month service.

Charlie decided to subscribe and funds his account additional $5000.

Charlie begin to trade live and suddenly his generic data feed malfunction. He called his mid 20s years old broker for an explanation why his data feed malfunction. His mid 20 yrs old broker blamed his computer malfunction and suggest he needs to buy a new computer.

Charlie decided to listen to his mid 20 yrs old broker and bought a $2000 computer.

Charlie began to trade live. He loses 4 days in a row a total loss $3500. Charlie demanded a refund and called the 3rd party educational vendor a big liar.

He was so upset and begin to look for another3rd party educational vendor. He found a forum site elitetrader.com.

He begin to read other comments in the elite forum looking for a free trading education.

When Charlie creates a new thread asking for a good coach, the handler EMG advises him to give up trading because more than 90% of traders lose. They just lose!!

Charlie decided not to listen to EMG and began searching for 3rd party educational vendor in the elitetrader forum.

He came across this god speaking sales pitch 3rd party vendor that his system work. This god speaking 3rd party vendor directed him to his site. From there, Charlie decided to subscribed.

2 months later, he lose. Charlie was so fed up and asked his mid 20 years broker if he knows anybody make money.

Charlie regretted not listening to EMG



Next up. Why a newbie prop trader lose.
More...
 
Quote from ksmetana:

Execution is very different, you don't get filled that easily, unless you take liquidity.

Psychology is different. You have nothing to lose on a demo. You lose $300, big deal. What happens if you open your live account, and you're down $500 your first day. You get skiddish and dig a deeper hole.

Be realistic with your demo trading. Make sure you are profitable across weeks rather than days.
More...

Good point. Definitely nerves will be an issue. Even with the demo account, I lost $385 the first day and i felt defeated, but then I started to really study the trends, and tried to ride them. I will definitely have to get my nerves under control when going live. I almost feel that its smarter to read the trend, setup your limits/stops and let it ride till everything hits (which it does about 86.7% of the time for me in DEMO). Now, the question is, how much do the fills really adversely effect you when you go live? What is the time/price variance in getting your fills when you go live. Obviously, the fills go right away in demo mode.
 
Basically, if you place a limit order at the bid, which has say, 1000 orders already sitting out there. You are now last in line. You don't get executed until 1001 contracts are hit.

In demo, you get filled much quicker.
 
Quote from tycoonman:

Hey guys,

Novice trader here. I am using OEC's demo platfrom and trading the ES mini in demo account. All im doing is finding trends (which are very easy to see) and just riding them for about an hour to two hours at a time for 1 contract (so that I simulate what im planning starting with when I go live). Anyhow, i'm making $200-$300/contract...wtf??? Also, trading one contract only requires $2500. I have my limits/stops set-up.

It can't be this easy. What am I missing? Is there something very different when you go live that demo accounts don't give you? This is not meant as some cocky thread. I am really confused/concerned so that when I go live, I don't blow up in 15 minutes with my $5,000 account.

Thanks in advance for the help guys...
More...
================
Tman/trend man
a]Long story short;
read my ES comments made today [see ''search ''top page]

z]I have several medical books[DR Cherry...] in my library;
enjoy reading them, wonder if making money as a DR is easy???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????[you may assume gov grab of health care is unconstitutional]

Bottom line ''finding trends'' is very important;
but perhaps 5% of it, not that real time is anything like a demo, or papertrading, which actually is somewhat helpful.
Thanks
,murrayTT
 
Quote from pauk:

post a screenshot of todays demo executions.
How big are your stops?
Despite what people say about demo being entirely different, in my experience, unless you are trying to scalp for a tick here and a tick there, then the emotions are the only real difference between demo and live.
The Ninjatrader demo takes into account the bid/ask size, last trade, time and order delay to determine fill probability which makes it even more realistic
More...
 
Quote from ksmetana:

Basically, if you place a limit order at the bid, which has say, 1000 orders already sitting out there. You are now last in line. You don't get executed until 1001 contracts are hit.

In demo, you get filled much quicker.
More...

is there any way to replicate real time? ninjatrader? what else?

also, if the fill are set up on priority basis, then can't I just put in a bid that has very few bids? There has to be a way to efficiently get filled right?
 
in regards to EMG, cant you find another way to tell people trading is difficult? it is getting very monotonous reading " 90% lose, they just lose".
 
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