I entered the market with $26K in Feb this year, traded stocks for a few months and started trading es since May 11. A few weeks later I began to trade es exclusively.
I had some bad trading habits, and didn't follow my rules either, as a result I lost almost half of my precious capital in the past week, 4 losing days in a row:
09/09/2016:
-9444 - I couldn't see this in my worst dream.
09/12/2016:
-2542
09/13/2016:
-481
09/14/2016:
-343
That's 12,558 in total out of 25,726, 48.8% loss. I wouldn't make drastic changes unless it really really hurts. I decided to give it one last shot with new trading methods and new rules.
Some of my basic rules:
- Trade one contract only.
- Both stop loss and profit target are two points, must be attached to a new order. Max loss of one trade is around $100. Stop loss order can be slightly adjusted if there is a major resistance/support level nearby.
- Max loss per day is $300, shouldn't be more than $350 under any circumstances.
- If the profit reached $200, max allowed retracement is $100.
- Follow the trend, trade break-outs. Never bet on tops and bottoms.
My daily profit target is $120, this is the minimal amount for me to survive. I have about $700 monthly income from my previous career. I withdraw $2K per month. I can't afford to lose.
I use IB and Button Trader.
