First time on a Simulator

Smart Money,

How extensive is your knowledge of statistics? In statistics a result is considered to be statistically significant if it is unlikely to have occured by chance. The larger the sample, the less likely it is that your statistics are random.

So, with your one evening of paper trading, do you think we could call that result statistically significant? :)

I`m not trying to knock you down here, just something to think about.

I`m quite sure that you will be able to use your knowledge from swing trading in your day trading venture, but there are many differences between the two, although the study of price action may be much the same.

One obvious difference is that the impact of your emotions are greatly increased when you are risking money on a short time frame. You need to make split second decisions under pressure and it is very easy to let your emotions dictate your behaviour.

This is something you have not experienced yet, as you`re paper trading.

However, you should start paper trading like you`re doing now.

If you can trade profitably for 4 weeks or longer trading REALISTICALLY (using the same strategy, discipline, stops, targets, number of contracts, etc), then you may be ready to start trading live. However, you should expect drawdown to happen and when it happen, it will affect you in a different way when real money is on the line. It might cause you to overtrade and lose more money or you may start cutting your profits short on your next trade, also losing money.

That`s why it`s very smart to trade the smallest possible size when you go live, since it is "cheaper" to make mistakes. Increase size only after you`ve earned the right to do so.

If you`re currently earning an income from your swing trading, I would not be in a hurry to make it as a day trader. The slow approach may actually be the fast approach, not to mention the cheapest :)

Good luck!

PS: Using Ninjatrader I believe my fills have been quite realistic on the ES, but I have no clue regarding other contracts.

Best regards,

LF
 
Quote from Smart Money:

At one time, I did average down and the system wouldn't let me buy anymore because I ran out of money.
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Quote from Smart Money:

but I never felt too out of control since my indicators were doing their thing.
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Quote from Smart Money:

But 3% in a night? Can this be real?
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No, it's not real; it's sim.

I've been there, too, with my indicators and my averaging down and my multiple contracts.

Learn to trade 1 contract without averaging down and with a hard stop loss on every trade. If you can make a profit after a month of doing this without cheating, then try it live.

Otherwise, you're a wipe out waiting to happen.
 
Thanks for the advice guys. FWIW, I do trade with real money now, so I know about the pressure of a fast execution and I think I can keep a cool head.

But I will put some constraints on my paper trading and keep at it. And when I go live, I'll do one at a time.

I can tell you though that overnight trading looks a lot different than business hours. Way less volatility, so ramping up on the number of contracts isn't too crazy.

SM
 
Quote from brownsfan019:

OEC's simulator is good at judging where in the queue you might be.

To guarantee your fills though on any simulator, place your limit 1 tick above/below where you want to be filled. So if you want to go long the CL @ 98.60, place a limit order @ 98.59 and if that gets hit, your .60 would have been filled in real-time. This exercise is especially important on the ES. Do not assume your limit orders that just get touched briefly will fill there.

Besides the mechanics of placing orders, it looks like quite a bit of trading and/or # of contracts on your part.

To start - trade ONE contract, regardless of what market. Don't let the numbers fool you into thinking you are a natural and just crushing it. Your ES trades amount to $6.94/ct of profit before commissions. Gold was $30/ct before commissions.

Size is great once you know what you're doing, but when learning how to short is part of your current process, trading 1 contract is an excellent place to start unless you are looking to hit a home run or strike out right away.
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I heard OEC is coming out a new platform just for you called

Lebron James The King of Cleveland

I heard it is the the best and fastest platform in the city of cleveland.
 
Quote from Smart Money:

Thanks for the advice guys. FWIW, I do trade with real money now, so I know about the pressure of a fast execution and I think I can keep a cool head.

But I will put some constraints on my paper trading and keep at it. And when I go live, I'll do one at a time.

I can tell you though that overnight trading looks a lot different than business hours. Way less volatility, so ramping up on the number of contracts isn't too crazy.

SM
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Keep in mind that due to the lack of liquidity it is very easy for someone bigger than you to push you around the playground.
 
Quote from Smart Money:

At one time, I did average down and the system wouldn't let me buy anymore because I ran out of money.
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I hope you don't trade like that for real.
 
Quote from 1a2b3cppp:

I hope you don't trade like that for real.
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No. Only on a smulator. Hey if you like that, yesterday around lunch I went long on a couple of contracts and then the power on my laptop went out. One thing led to another and I didn't look at the account until late last night. I was up $1200! :)

BTW, how do you do a trailing stop when you are SHORT on OEC. Is that possible?

SM
 
Quote from Smart Money:

And when I go live, I'll do one at a time.

SM
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Possibly SIM trade like that, and then post it. Your OP initial post wasn't realistic all things considered. The other piece is that the initial performance bond margin for ES is $5625 per contract and your FCM will likely pad that or fudge it in terms of what they allow you to trade.

FWIW, some of my clients fund a futures account and then SIM trade through the TT or CTS platform before going live. I think it helps in the sense that they have set up and tuned their workstation screen space and the transition to live capital is purely psychological because the visual layout remains the same. They just get a statement at night in .pdf form from the FCM.
 
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