Hmm, yes, that would be, because that would mean just another 66 points after that for me to get into profit before June expiry. And that's, well, crazy. Because...war and wheat.
ES Journal - 2021/2022
- Thread starter Buy1Sell2
- Start date
Hmm, yes, that would be, because that would mean just another 66 points after that for me to get into profit before June expiry. And that's, well, crazy. Because...war and wheat.
Just change your holdings ( if you think it benefits you). You will be surprised how fast your emotions adjust to your position.
That's not how it works in futures trading.
Why not?
How do I "change my holdings" in futures?
Huh? Close the position and open a new one.
I mean direction aside, you're not married to anything.
It's the click of a mouse. What are we missing here?
You are missing the performance bond issue.
Well, you got me on that one. Not 100% sure what that even means regarding an ES contract.
Educate me with a link I can read, because for real, I have no idea what you're referring to.
I have no link that can describe it.
Here's how it goes.
Let's say you have 20K cash in your account. You have an open position in the ES that requires a 10K performance bond+10% on the initial. Let's call it 5 ES contracts, assuming a performance bond of 2K per contract. Your position is even at the moment. So your position is +/- 0, but you have a 10K PB requirement. Your account is debit by 10K.
You now have only 10K cash in your account, because of that Performance Bond debit.
The next day, the ES drops 100 points. That's -$5000. Now your performance bond is still the 10K, but the cash available in your account is only 5K, because your NLV, the value of your position +/- the performance bond, is now only 5K. So you now have only 5K available in cash.
Your performance bond is pulled from your cash account every afternoon when the CME closes for that one hour.
Now...I could sell my positions at the open for negative 5000 bux.
That leaves me with a cash balance of 15K.
I could then try to re-enter the same position, but I would be doing it with 5K less. So I enter same positions with 15K +10% instead of 20K. Now I have less wiggle room, because I have the same 10K performance bond, but now only 5K as a buffer in cash, instead of 10K.
If the market drops another 100 points, which is 5K, my cash balance and performance bond requirement equal each other, and I am most-likely margin called. The positions are closed, and I am left with a 10K loss in total.
I have 10K in cash left in the account. I cannot open a new position identical to the ones I had, because I lost that cash by being margin-called. It requires a 10K+% performance bond, but I have only 10K left in the account. I gots no extra 10 initial %.
And it doesn't have to be a margin call to get to that 10K loss. You can do it to yourself as well, by closing the positions, WHEN THEY DO NOT HAVE TO BE CLOSED.
I did that three times during my trading journey, and I promised myself I would not do it again. This latest drawdown has been hell, but by golly, I must stick with the plan. Gotta' keep on with good music and good vibes, man.