Can you make a living trading futures?
- Thread starter born2trade
- Start date
andrasnm: âBe very careful but if you scalp you can maybe make it. learn to "sit on your hands" and let some profit run. Use trailing stops, without major profits you will burn up.â
I agree with andrasnmâs recommendation of some form of trailing stop. In conjunction, I use profit targets to close out most of my position allowing only a small portion to continue.
I do not scalp, at least in the way that I define scalping (2-3 ticks). I look to profit off of larger extensions while protecting myself with stops that are formulated from S/R and market statistics. I can imagine it is very difficult for screen traders to scalp profitably.
I agree with andrasnmâs recommendation of some form of trailing stop. In conjunction, I use profit targets to close out most of my position allowing only a small portion to continue.
I do not scalp, at least in the way that I define scalping (2-3 ticks). I look to profit off of larger extensions while protecting myself with stops that are formulated from S/R and market statistics. I can imagine it is very difficult for screen traders to scalp profitably.
I was heavily buying as my initial stake grew. I never learned
to add on with any ryme and reason. We have had a drought
and we had limit up days so I could not add on when I really
should have and added only after limit days were over. The
whole summer was crazy but I had my stake growing nicely.
Several small selloffs I added more contracts...it was great....
I had decided to make a million and sell out for good. Guess what
happened.....
Since than I get excited every time we have midwest crop shortfalls.
to add on with any ryme and reason. We have had a drought
and we had limit up days so I could not add on when I really
should have and added only after limit days were over. The
whole summer was crazy but I had my stake growing nicely.
Several small selloffs I added more contracts...it was great....
I had decided to make a million and sell out for good. Guess what
happened.....
Since than I get excited every time we have midwest crop shortfalls.
Thanks for sharing that Andras, I can't even imagine the pain you must feel just thinking about it. If I lost 1/10th of that I would have probably been looking for a high rise with an open window. That explains the angst I read in many of your posts towards short term trading, and I don't blame you one bit.
While I know it is of no comfort to you, I'm sure many new traders will read your posts and maybe it will save someone from repeating something like that.
Thanks again,
Kirk
While I know it is of no comfort to you, I'm sure many new traders will read your posts and maybe it will save someone from repeating something like that.
Thanks again,
Kirk
'till today futures are my pet trading vehicles but also I am quite
afraid of them. I later traded the original DOW index at the CBOT.
I have many futures buddies and I am quite over that experience.
I had to have learned something from it - at least I hope. Ag
markets are something different - in the indecies you just don't
have these limit up days that I just can't forget(at least not in
days in a row..... It's a sweet feeling to be that right !!!! That's why if one trades the SP it must have been sweet to be short the last months or two.
I know some who were, myself not included...
Like they say - the trend is your friend.
afraid of them. I later traded the original DOW index at the CBOT.
I have many futures buddies and I am quite over that experience.
I had to have learned something from it - at least I hope. Ag
markets are something different - in the indecies you just don't
have these limit up days that I just can't forget(at least not in
days in a row..... It's a sweet feeling to be that right !!!! That's why if one trades the SP it must have been sweet to be short the last months or two.
I know some who were, myself not included...
Like they say - the trend is your friend.
I understood that ES futures are $50 per contract, and the NQ futures are $20 per contract.
Can you restate, or elaborate, to make it clear to me, please.
I had figured that six ES futures contracts would be figured as below:
(6 times $50 per contract = $300), for each 1 point move.
Apparently, I am missing a digit.
In addition, I want to verify what I have heard in a chat room. I was told that I can figure to provide capital to my account of about $2,500 per contract. So, if I want to trade three contracts per trade, I would need to provide a minimum of $7,500 dollars.
Is this a good ballpark figure?
Thanks,
Jeffrey
Jeffrey,
ES futures are $50 per POINT, and the NQ futures are $20 per POINT.
Therefore, 6 ES = 6x ($50x S&P500) = 6x ($50x1043.75) = 6x $52,187.5 = $313,125
Or as I previously posted 6 ES = 3000 SPY = 3000 x 104.375 = $313,125
Yes, some brokers allow $2500 daytrading margin per contract. (Which significantly increases the leverage and is a double edge sword. I don't recommend novice futures traders to daytrade with such high leverage. You should learn as much as possible before trading with more than 4:1 leverage.)
Therefore, if you want to trade three contracts per trade, you must have at least 3x$2500 = $7,500.
(Keep in mind that you can trade 1 Dow emini futures contract with $1080 (initial margin), not $2,500 )
Fohat
ES futures are $50 per POINT, and the NQ futures are $20 per POINT.
Therefore, 6 ES = 6x ($50x S&P500) = 6x ($50x1043.75) = 6x $52,187.5 = $313,125
Or as I previously posted 6 ES = 3000 SPY = 3000 x 104.375 = $313,125
Yes, some brokers allow $2500 daytrading margin per contract. (Which significantly increases the leverage and is a double edge sword. I don't recommend novice futures traders to daytrade with such high leverage. You should learn as much as possible before trading with more than 4:1 leverage.)
Therefore, if you want to trade three contracts per trade, you must have at least 3x$2500 = $7,500.
(Keep in mind that you can trade 1 Dow emini futures contract with $1080 (initial margin), not $2,500 )
Fohat
Is there anything equivalent to Nasdaq Level II in futures trading on CME?