Day trading a suckers game?

[Pkay]

those selling the fantasy they can make a living day trading ES with a $50,000 account.

You can't trade the ES with a $50,000 account??

 

[Pkay]

OP, I can assure you that it's easier than you think...on a 1 min chart no less.

Why do your say that it's easier than you think? Most people say it's very hard, harder than swing trading?

 

[Pkay]

Everyone is different I guess. Once I stopped looking at sheet like the ES and focused on something that MOVES


Takes 1-2 hours of NQ morning trading make a nice living. Takes 2 minutes prep to get the lay of the land for the day. Five contracts isn't super high leverage. When you get more experience, you can make that 5 contracts at 2-3 places in a good trend as it continues to go your way. Enjoy the moment. Time is not related to specific money amounts and that's a gift, not something to stress over.

Trading is not a grind. It's endless opportunity.

Do you mind sharing the bare bones of your strategy? Thanks.

 

[fan27]

You can't trade the ES with a $50,000 account??

You missed a key part of my statement which is "make a living".

 

[expiated]

For example, do they work with moving averages?

Because they seem to show a trend so well, I kind of fell in love with Heiken Ashi Candlesticks several years back. However, I very much disliked how they distorted the true location of each candle's open and close, so I set about finding one or more moving averages that could replace them and be plotted over normal candlesticks. I now have three to choose from, which I count as part of my edge over former institutional/proprietary and fellow retail traders...

Heiken Ashi Candlesticks on the left...substitute moving averages on the right

 

[speedo]

You can't trade the ES with a $50,000 account??

This place is well stocked with those who will tell you what you can't do. Do your own work and draw your own conclusions...and yes, any competent, experienced trader can earn a decent living on 50k in the ES without undue leverage. Most will never develop the discipline, competence or experience but that's up to each.

 

[imjohn]

Whenever one of these troll threads come up, there are volumes of comments by people who have no idea of the nature of day trading. Millions of people who are not traders "stare at a screen all day" for minimum wage, millions more for a modest living, millions more for a good living. The reality is most traders other than scalpers may have a few to a handful or two of signals per day. You get to the point where you know whether a setup is imminent or pretty much how long it will take for one to form. I spend much of the day playing guitar, doing pieces of martial arts forms, paying bills, researching things I want to learn about and either trying to provide some advice or guidance to a developing trader of good will or laughing at the comments of trolls and fools on ET. There are MANY worse and less profitable ways to earn a living and I've done a few of them.

This is same for me. I get a handful a day. Definitely able to recognize times when a setup is imminent vs times when there won't be anything to do for a while.

I've read other posters talk about staring at screens all day or a need for hyperfocus... I don't doubt other people have that experience, and I hope their results are worth the effort. But day- to-day reality for me is a few brief periods which demand heightened focus, interspersed among a LOT of relaxed periods that require very little attention.

Prior to trading, I spent a decade in another field where I commuted an hour a day in maddening traffic, to then stare at screens or sit through sleep-inducing meetings for 8-12 hours a day. I had no complaints about the pay, but the work was mind-numbing and sucked the life out of me. I had colleagues who were in the job for 30+ years and I knew some who unfortunately died 2-3 months post retirement.

I've often recited a quote to myself "If a man makes two-thirds of his existence subservient to one-third, for which admittedly he has no absolutely feverish zest, how can he hope to live fully and completely? He Cannot."

That said, I get it if a person's circumstances chain them to a job they despise, I've been there, and feel fortunate that I was eventually in a position where I had the time, resources, and inclination to learn trading, because I greatly enjoy it, and don't recall any days where I've dreaded the thing. Sucker or whatever, to each his own here on Elite Opinion.

 

[speedo]

This is same for me. I get a handful a day. Definitely able to recognize times when a setup is imminent vs times when there won't be anything to do for a while.

I've read other posters talk about staring at screens all day or a need for hyperfocus... I don't doubt other people have that experience, and I hope their results are worth the effort. But day- to-day reality for me is a few brief periods which demand heightened focus, interspersed among a LOT of relaxed periods that require very little attention.

Prior to trading, I spent a decade in another field where I commuted an hour a day in maddening traffic, to then stare at screens or sit through sleep-inducing meetings for 8-12 hours a day. I had no complaints about the pay, but the work was mind-numbing and sucked the life out of me. I had colleagues who were in the job for 30+ years and I knew some who unfortunately died 2-3 months post retirement.

I've often recited a quote to myself "If a man makes two-thirds of his existence subservient to one-third, for which admittedly he has no absolutely feverish zest, how can he hope to live fully and completely? He Cannot."

That said, I get it if a person's circumstances chain them to a job they despise, I've been there, and feel fortunate that I was eventually in a position where I had the time, resources, and inclination to learn trading, because I greatly enjoy it, and don't recall any days where I've dreaded the thing. Sucker or whatever, to each his own here on Elite Opinion.

 

[Pkay]

This place is well stocked with those who will tell you what you can't do. Do your own work and draw your own conclusions...and yes, any competent, experienced trader can earn a decent living on 50k in the ES without undue leverage. Most will never develop the discipline, competence or experience but that's up to each.

Thanks, I thought that $50k was more than adequate to trade ES. And you are right, there are more than enough people here telling all and sundry about what they can't do.

 

[Pkay]

Because they seem to show a trend so well, I kind of fell in love with Heiken Ashi Candlesticks several years back. However, I very much disliked how they distorted the true location of each candle's open and close, so I set about finding one or more moving averages that could replace them and be plotted over normal candlesticks. I now have three to choose from, which I count as part of my edge over former institutional/proprietary and fellow retail traders...

View attachment 215893
Heiken Ashi Candlesticks on the left...substitute moving averages on the right

That's interesting, what moving averages do you use? Thanks.