Give to sstheo a break and listen what Sir Callumbus said. I get the point of C. Saying that a stop at this point in time is suspicious given the performance listed but i don’t see it a red flag if sstheo noticed a hole in his setup. Growing an account is not a race is something that require tenacity patience and perseverance too. And handling correctly situation of protracted drawdown. 0.2% a day is a far more reasonable goal and everyone that think is not should before submit a verified track record before to start to speak. Otherwise are just words.
From Micros to Millions: 2% per day
- Thread starter sstheo
- Start date
Yes it's everyperson's makeup which is different, some can't cope with inactivity, others can't cope with too much action.I feel the other way to be honest.
When I have overnight trades on or swing trades I'm constantly thinking about it and checking my positions. Even if it's well in the green. That's when I lose sleep and may even wake up in the middle of the night and check positions on my cell phone.
I won't lie and say my short term trading is stress-free, but stress levels are fairly low and when I'm done for the day and FLAT I sleep like a baby.
IMO, high stress levels in short term trading comes from not knowing or trading with too high leverage. Of course, it may also be that some people generally are not suited for this kind of activity as is the case with everything else in life.
My experience, younger people want action because they require the experience which it brings.
I can recall as a young bloke dismantling my whole car motor and reassembling it - because I wanted the experience. These days phooey to any work on vehicles!
But perhaps I can expand my theory; A trader who is scalping every trading day on short time frames, the level of concentration required will soon bring burnout imo.
Just distractions alone will bring a toll to your efficiency.
A trader may be able to sustain this for a while but it's not a viable long term plan because it just isn't. We don't grow younger, even sportspeople experience an edge which doesn't last.
I always like to think in terms "Don't work harder, think smarter".
Short term trading allows quick returns but position size invariably is small.
Long term has slower returns but position size increase along with more time to think and more time to enjoy distractions.
The micros are great for testing strategies and systems and they are OK for longer-term trading.
However, for scalping and intraday trading with over 40 R/T's per day, they really suck....due to the commissions which are anywhere from 100% to 400% higher than the regular contract for the same leverage.
For instance, Interactive has one of the lowest E-mini micro rates at $0.25/side. However, that is over 3 TIMES the rate of their large contract commission which is $0.85/side. Other brokers are even worse.
Change the last line in the sentence to 1 MES per $5000
@sstheo , I respect your decision to back away for a bit, and hope you'll be back, but regardless, I want you to know how much I have enjoyed the trading room over the last 7 weeks since I joined. And, I have learned a lot from you, and another couple of members. I am trying hard to apply what I've learned, but decades of development makes it hard to change fast.
What I know, and learned in the room from observation, is everybody has their own thing, and trying to do somebody else's is counter-intuitive, likely to fail. So, I am, at heart, a scalper. Big deal. I watch, I get in, I get out. If I make a hit, it's good. If I fail, I have it under control.I take those lessons with me to real life. I have a crossroad, I make a decision based on the knowledge at hand, and make my move. If I'm right, I move right along. If I'm wrong, I quickly recognize it and back up before I'm up to my neck in alligators. Don't spend a lot of time underwater anymore.
What I learned from you guys in the chat is the key word in that last sentence....quickly. I had it, lost it recently, but now it's back. I watch everybody and see what they have that would work for me. It's been a great experience and I certainly appreciate the opportunity to have participated. I hope that, the next time something goes wrong in my life that I have an opportunity to work on it, in whatever field it may be, with people like the ones I've traded alongside in your group.
What I know, and learned in the room from observation, is everybody has their own thing, and trying to do somebody else's is counter-intuitive, likely to fail. So, I am, at heart, a scalper. Big deal. I watch, I get in, I get out. If I make a hit, it's good. If I fail, I have it under control.I take those lessons with me to real life. I have a crossroad, I make a decision based on the knowledge at hand, and make my move. If I'm right, I move right along. If I'm wrong, I quickly recognize it and back up before I'm up to my neck in alligators. Don't spend a lot of time underwater anymore.
What I learned from you guys in the chat is the key word in that last sentence....quickly. I had it, lost it recently, but now it's back. I watch everybody and see what they have that would work for me. It's been a great experience and I certainly appreciate the opportunity to have participated. I hope that, the next time something goes wrong in my life that I have an opportunity to work on it, in whatever field it may be, with people like the ones I've traded alongside in your group.
Yes it's everyperson's makeup which is different, some can't cope with inactivity...
You have NO IDEA how bad it is in my head with sitting on hands following my new rules when a swing goes wrong. NO IDEA! IT'S NUTS! Shameful! My God man, TWO SWINGS OF 1000 POINTS A POP IN THE NQ OVER TWO MONTHS, AND I BUY AT THE TOPS? IT'S NUTS! I should have been bidding on both those bottoms, but with the election uncertainty I could not take the risk. NUTS! BILL POOLE-like stuff? UG!
But we gotta' follow the rules. :-(
Equity curve on the right looks like the 'Holy Grail'.
You can spend your life looking for it, and it is probably curve fitted anyway and wont be that good in future real trading (the 10 strategies were uncorrelated in the past but will correlate in the future)
Instead I would just trade system on the left and make money, so what if the equity curve isnt smooth, as long as you make big returns in the end.
You know that for certain ?
I know of few money managers who put all of their eggs in one basket...so to speak.
What we are trying to do here is build a set of systems with a goal of attaining an efficient frontier.
This is very similar to managing a portfolio of stocks and bonds.
https://www.investopedia.com/terms/e/efficientfrontier.asp
Sure, adjustments are going to have to made over time....old systems retired, new systems introduced....
it's all part of the process of managing money.