Can anyone be my trading mentor? (short term trading)

poopy said:
With futures you have to overcome the spread and comms. Starting small with MES with a 9% annualized vol-figure is difficult. Costs: $1.00 for comms and $2.50 in edge loss as a price-taker (all-in). You're going to have to average roughly a point on each round trip to reach break-even. FWIW, I know a guy who keys off of a aggregate VWAP figure (in stocks) in ES and has a four tick target on 10-20 trades a day. I could never do it, but he makes 7-8 figures each year with 100-200 lot average size. You would need membership rates to make it work.

Higher frequency trades in futures are nearly impossible if you're short-banked.
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Thanks for the color and for helping newbies.

I bought a membership to trade ES (~$70k) and negotiated a flat rate $0.10 clearing fee. A retail trading MES pays 12x my cost in fees and faces worse microstructure (never any fills at edge, only gets picked off by arb).

Platform, pro data fees, news feed costs $7k/year. Right now making $1-2k/day on 3-4 lots with a mid five figure account with similar targets and trade frequency to the guy you mentioned.

I've got other income so not drawing on the trading account, plan to top it up by ~$300k over the next 12-18 months to grow provided I'm staying monthly profitable. I don't leverage beyond exchange margin in this volatility; at 9% vol I'd be at 50% margins.

Assuming an edge I wouldn't try to trade short term in the ES without member rates, at least $150k risk capital, and another income to cover the first 2 years of trading. Even then, it's going to be tough. If I get near a 7 figure run rate I'll be looking at diversifying to other strategies, ideally defined risk in equity vol.

Maybe I'll report back in a year with my results, but I'm still short stacked and facing pretty high odds to compete in futures as a manual trader.

Been lurking on ET for a decade, traders I've found informative to read from:
@destriero and aliases, @taowave, @garachen, @rallymode, @MrMuppet, @nokomisjeff

...but if you don't have the discernment to figure out who is sharing valuable info probably best pick another profession.
 
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ESmemberRates said:
Thanks for the color and for helping newbies.

I bought a membership to trade ES (~$70k) and negotiated a flat rate $0.10 clearing fee. A retail trading MES pays 12x my cost in fees and faces worse microstructure (never any fills at edge, only gets picked off by arb).

Platform, pro data fees, news feed costs $7k/year. Right now making $1-2k/day on 3-4 lots with a mid five figure account with similar targets and trade frequency to the guy you mentioned.

I've got other income so not drawing on the trading account, plan to top it up by ~$300k over the next 12-18 months to grow provided I'm staying monthly profitable. I don't leverage beyond exchange margin in this volatility; at 9% vol I'd be at 50% margins.

Assuming an edge I wouldn't try to trade short term in the ES without member rates, at least $150k risk capital, and another income to cover the first 2 years of trading. Even then, it's going to be tough. If I get near a 7 figure run rate I'll be looking at diversifying to other strategies, ideally defined risk in equity vol.

Maybe I'll report back in a year with my results, but I'm still short stacked and facing pretty high odds to compete in futures as a manual trader.

Been lurking on ET for a decade, traders I've found informative to read from:
@destriero and aliases, @taowave, @garachen, @rallymode, @MrMuppet, @nokomisjeff

...but if you don't have the discernment to figure out who is sharing valuable info probably best pick another profession.
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omg really

1 post wonder
 
poopy said:
With futures you have to overcome the spread and comms. Starting small with MES with a 9% annualized vol-figure is difficult. Costs: $1.00 for comms and $2.50 in edge loss as a price-taker (all-in). You're going to have to average roughly a point on each round trip to reach break-even. FWIW, I know a guy who keys off of a aggregate VWAP figure (in stocks) in ES and has a four tick target on 10-20 trades a day. I could never do it, but he makes 7-8 figures each year with 100-200 lot average size. You would need membership rates to make it work.

Higher frequency trades in futures are nearly impossible if you're short-banked.

I am a pessimist due to needing to overcome the spread. A price taker in equities has a chance as the costs are essentially nil. The issue there is the PDT rule.

Equity vol is exploitable, especially in single-name (stocks) but the learning curve is high.
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Thank you sir.

I hope OP takes it to heart.
 
Laissez Faire said:
In comparison - is trading equity-vol easier? If so, why?

And what are the chances that the OP on his own as a retail amateur can become a profitable equity-vol trader? I would guess they're still slim.
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Not easier but convexity will be the key to become very well off if one can figure it out.

OP is too young and does not have the technical background to benefit.
 
SURVIVOR said:
I am 18 years old and deeply passionate about trading.
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like me

but it took me 20 years to even smell a profit from far.

stick to buying good companies and not even looking at the price till you know what markets can do.
i started in 1987 and turned day trading in 2007.

passion is not enough.

you need extreme commitment both financially and emotionally.

and remember just because tiger is your mentor you cannot expect billions
 
padutrader said:
like me

but it took me 20 years to even smell a profit from far.

stick to buying good companies and not even looking at the price till you know what markets can do.
i started in 1987 and turned day trading in 2007.

passion is not enough.

you need extreme commitment both financially and emotionally.

and remember just because tiger is your mentor you cannot expect billions
More...

i had you on my block list for a long time because, not because you didnt anything wrong.

but because it was painful to see you suffering trying to become a trader, it was painful.

i always aid there reason that traders dont become successful is they lack passion.

but now i realize that you are so correct it takes even more than passion.
 
I'm not sure about @poopy he's pretty new here (joined April 2024).

Padu and SML have a Private Message Group you might be able to join to learn day trading.
 
Darc said:
I'm not sure about @poopy he's pretty new here (joined April 2024).

Padu and SML have a Private Message Group you might be able to join to learn day trading.
More...

Poopy is a multinick, he's been trading for decades and posting here since....way back.
Plus should be able to discern he knows his stuff just from limited post history.
Best of luck...
 
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