So two weeks of demo trading with the first few days consisting of losses? Maybe 6 or 7 days of winning? A hot streak is all. A rather small one at that.. You can go months on a hot streak all due to random chance.
Am I doing something wrong? Making money can't be this easy...
- Thread starter tycoonman
- Start date
Everything always works till it doesn't...
Well everyone is a paper trader all-star. Both Ninja and OEC are about as realistic as sims can get, its still just isnt the same. It never will be.
Keep practicing, then go live, lose your shit, then re-fund your account, repeat until you find your way in this game. You will lose money, but I am not an eternal ET-Pessimist, it is possible for make a life for yourself trading. Tough as hell, but possible.
As you've read here, the biggest difference between sim trading and live trading will be the thinking you'll do when your money is on the line.
Paying up a tick to position yourself for a trade if your limit order isn't filled or getting a tick of slippage on a stop order entry or exit should be meaningless in the long run if you're targeting 4 or more points on your trades. Although I've had to wait a while for limits to get filled and sometimes have to give the market a tick to get in, I think I only experienced slippage once using a stop order (1 tick) and that was a Sunday night trade (thin and jumpy) following the Japan quake.
I'll venture to guess that trading with the trend already places you ahead of 95% of new traders.
Here's something I've suggested to others who feel god-like in sim and wonder if it's really this easy. Starting tomorrow, post your sim trades in real time here for at least a week.
Post the price at which you plan to enter, the price at which you'll place your protective stop, and your minimum profit target.
Examples (depending on if you enter with a limit or stop order):
09:50am ET: Sell stop @ 1330.50 to short, stp @ 1331.50, tgt 1326.50
10:20am ET: Offering 1330.50 short, stp @ 1331.50, tgt 1326.50
This will simulate some of the emotion of trading live (will you hesitate on trades because you don't want to "mess up" in front of this merciless crew?) and also will ensure that you don't cheat on your trades (move stops further away, average down, take profits too soon for no good reason, etc.). These little things can suck all the profit out of a great trading strategy.
Good luck/skill to you!
Paying up a tick to position yourself for a trade if your limit order isn't filled or getting a tick of slippage on a stop order entry or exit should be meaningless in the long run if you're targeting 4 or more points on your trades. Although I've had to wait a while for limits to get filled and sometimes have to give the market a tick to get in, I think I only experienced slippage once using a stop order (1 tick) and that was a Sunday night trade (thin and jumpy) following the Japan quake.
I'll venture to guess that trading with the trend already places you ahead of 95% of new traders.
Here's something I've suggested to others who feel god-like in sim and wonder if it's really this easy. Starting tomorrow, post your sim trades in real time here for at least a week.
Post the price at which you plan to enter, the price at which you'll place your protective stop, and your minimum profit target.
Examples (depending on if you enter with a limit or stop order):
09:50am ET: Sell stop @ 1330.50 to short, stp @ 1331.50, tgt 1326.50
10:20am ET: Offering 1330.50 short, stp @ 1331.50, tgt 1326.50
This will simulate some of the emotion of trading live (will you hesitate on trades because you don't want to "mess up" in front of this merciless crew?) and also will ensure that you don't cheat on your trades (move stops further away, average down, take profits too soon for no good reason, etc.). These little things can suck all the profit out of a great trading strategy.
Good luck/skill to you!