Consistent profits...

[whitster]

what is doable is totally contingent upon

1) how skillful u are, how much leverage u use, what your risk tolerance is (acceptable risk of ruin, etc.), the volatility of the instrument u trade, etc etc etc.

but i say this again. listen now, or pay later (trust me).

concentrate on your trading - the mechanics, the discipline, the methodology, and MANAGE RISK

do NOT concentrate on the money. it does not work that way. most traders lose money. the market is designed , by the aggregate action of all participants (longtime frame, shorttime frame, hedging, speculative, etc.) such that it will make most traders into losers

you can fall into that camp, or you can decide NOW to manage risk, to ALWAYS set your stops @ entry, and not to concentrate on $$$ per trade, but on managing trades and risk

personally, the only thing i really trade (on an intraday basis) is futures.

And I only keep from 2k to 10k in my futures account

i am able to do that because i manage risk - that is what is important

if u move out in timeframe and/or down in volatility, you can get a bit looser, but the basics still apply

 

[pairtracker]

Quote from whitster:

what is doable is totally contingent upon

1) how skillful u are, how much leverage u use, what your risk tolerance is (acceptable risk of ruin, etc.), the volatility of the instrument u trade, etc etc etc.

but i say this again. listen now, or pay later (trust me).

concentrate on your trading - the mechanics, the discipline, the methodology, and MANAGE RISK

do NOT concentrate on the money. it does not work that way. most traders lose money. the market is designed , by the aggregate action of all participants (longtime frame, shorttime frame, hedging, speculative, etc.) such that it will make most traders into losers

you can fall into that camp, or you can decide NOW to manage risk, to ALWAYS set your stops @ entry, and not to concentrate on $$$ per trade, but on managing trades and risk

personally, the only thing i really trade (on an intraday basis) is futures.

And I only keep from 2k to 10k in my futures account

i am able to do that because i manage risk - that is what is important

if u move out in timeframe and/or down in volatility, you can get a bit looser, but the basics still apply

Whitster:

Would you please advise me the futures contract you are doing?
Is there a futures chart site similar to bigcharts.com. As I use charts strictly to trade.

Thank you.

 

[whitster]

i trade (mostly) the YM dow jones Mini futures contract

$5 per tick (which is 1 dow point)

i usually trade from 1-4 contracts

quite often just 1 or 2. works for me

i am content with making reasonable income, and i constantly filter money from my futures account. i NEVER add to the account. ever.

this keeps me disciplined.

when and if I get to the point where I have FAR more liquidity and longterm investments (gold, bonds, mutual funds, dividend stocks, real estate, collector cars, etc.) I will move up in position sizing, but I find that nice small position size works best for me, and fits my comfort level

fwiw, i tested my methodology for 6 months or so on DIA before ever trading YM. futures are snarky beasts. set yer stops and take yer lickings when it moves against.

I sometimes trade Nikkei, but that thing SCARES THE LIVING HELL OUT OF ME.

i have never seen a futures contract like that. sure, Hang Seng is kind of erratic too, but Nikkei pushes like nothing else. Not to mention the 5 point spread

wild stuff

i prefer to get my nikkei exposure by just buying options on EWJ.

YM is a beautiful, fluid instrument

and i LOVE Fed day. I prepared for 2 hours last night just for the fed announcement.

 

[pairtracker]

How much for one YM contract? Where you check the chart?

All futures chart sites only provide limited indicators for just about one week period.

Thanks for assistancwe.

 

[whitster]

YM per trade fees run me about $2 per trade, so $4 round trip.

any brokerage that offers futures trading will give u an intraday feed.

I use interactive brokers.

 

[pairtracker]

I try to figure out the reason to do YM. Why traders prefer YM ti
DIA?

 

[Ripley]

Quote from baidu2005:

I try to figure out the reason to do YM. Why traders prefer YM ti
DIA?

A lot of n00bs to take money from. Its like stealing candy from a baby. lol..

 

[FaderTrader]

Quote from Ripley:

A lot of n00bs to take money from. Its like stealing candy from a baby. lol..

As in, lots of up and down island reversals to fade?

 

[Ripley]

Quote from FaderTrader:

As in, lots of up and down island reversals to fade?

whatever that means... I don't even know the trader lingo.. I am still kicking ass.. goes on to show you how easy it really is.

 

[whitster]

the reason YM is preferred vs. DIA (generally) is that YM is a futures contract. It offers better leverage, better liquidity, etc.

It also trades nearly 24 hrs a day.

YM is $5 per point, and with 3k u can trade 2 contracts

so (not that u SHOULD do this) u can get $10 per Dow point based on a 3k account

DIA is such that you need to buy 100 shares to get $1 per point. Thus, to get 10 per point you need to buy 1000 shares of dia

1000*116.00 = 116k. with 4:1 intraday leverage u would need about 30k in yer account to do this vs. 3k in yer account for the YM

Also, YM gets favorable Futures tax treatment (60/40)

etc.