Futures account size for trading

[DevBru]

Well you are right about that at least - the ranges and volatility are changed, and there are 200-300+ point moves. By wacky, I thought of "irrational" and "unpredictable" as if something fundamental about the market had changed, which is obviously not true. I'm not saying to use 5 point stops because a lot of those will be hit instantly. But I should mention I am day trading. If you are swing trading or taking hourly candle trades, we are talking about two totally different things, and your 50 point stops won't work there. And if we are getting 1000 point trends I might reconsider because my entries would probably require 30-40 point stops then. So we can just call it my opinion since I didn't ask what time frame - I just assume day trading when it comes to futures.

I consider trading a 5 minute chart as day trading, i am not talking about hourly charts.

A lot of 5 minute NQ bars these days have a range of 50 points or more. So if i have a strategy that buys or sells the reversal after fake breakouts for example and my stop is the previous high or low i have no choice but to go for 50 or 50+ points in stop size.

 

[wmwmw]

I consider trading a 5 minute chart as day trading, i am not talking about hourly charts.

A lot of 5 minute NQ bars these days have a range of 50 points or more. So if i have a strategy that buys or sells the reversal after fake breakouts for example and my stop is the previous high or low i have no choice but to go for 50 or 50+ points in stop size.

It is not a problem.If your previous stop is 25 points,and now it is 50 points, reduce your trade size to half,everything will be the same.

 

[DevBru]

It is not a problem.If your previous stop is 25 points,and now it is 50 points, reduce your trade size to half,everything will be the same.

Hard to do when you are trading just 1 micro on a $500 account .

 

[Gasparov]

I consider trading a 5 minute chart as day trading, i am not talking about hourly charts.

A lot of 5 minute NQ bars these days have a range of 50 points or more. So if i have a strategy that buys or sells the reversal after fake breakouts for example and my stop is the previous high or low i have no choice but to go for 50 or 50+ points in stop size.

Are you getting regularly 300+ points with that kind of a stop? I enter with the right 1 min candle usually regardless of whether it's the 5 or 15 min trend, so I get the move at the exact 1 minute it is reversing. Which means my stop is typically no more than 20-30 points. The 50 point candles tend to come in the middle of these moves rather than at the start.

 

[murray t turtle]

I was going to say his calculation is wrong.
His calculation says if you prepare for 10 losses in a roll, and each loss is $500, you will need a $5000 account.
So he assumes a constant trading size. It does not make sense.
Imagine you trade X contracts micros on a 5000 account, and when your account lose half value, and become 2500, you still trade X size. When your account lose 90% and become 500, you still trade X size. It is insane.
Instead you need to trade a constant ratio of contracts to your account size.
If you trade 10 micros on 5000 account, then you should trade 9 contracts on a 4500 account, and 5 on a 2500 account, 1 on a 500 account,and 20 on a 10000 account. That is correct money management.

%%
I agree
\partly. BUT since he is a new derivatives trader/inVestor\ prepare for more than 10 losses.
SO if he made an error + may have in MAY\LOL\ sounds like No MACnub understated it.
SO like SCHW warns on derivatives ''NOT suitable for all investors''[Or traders]
FOR sure cut back when losing\ unless one has real low % hit rate+ most turtles never had a HI hit rate...........................................................................................

 

[DevBru]

Are you getting regularly 300+ points with that kind of a stop? I enter with the right 1 min candle usually regardless of whether it's the 5 or 15 min trend, so I get the move at the exact 1 minute it is reversing. Which means my stop is typically no more than 20-30 points. The 50 point candles tend to come in the middle of these moves rather than at the start.

Wow, such an amazing precision, you must be a billionaire by now.

 

[Gasparov]

Wow, such an amazing precision, you must be a billionaire by now.

correct! because everyone who trades with precision becomes a billionaire overnight

 

[virtusa]

These days, use a 5 point stop in the ES on any given day, with a 5 point target for the 1:1 R:R, and you will go NOWHERE. You KNOW this.

So what is the proper stop? There IS NONE! It is too wacky! Every entry is wrong with ranges like this! It is luck now!

I enter all my trades with a 5 points stop ES. I almost never have problems to be stopped out short after entering. All depends on where/when you enter.

 

[FTDK]

Wow, such an amazing precision, you must be a billionaire by now.

There is no point in arguing with some people, better let it go.

 

[Bad_Badness]

I would not recommend the INDEX futures for a Mini version with anything less than 30K. 50K preferred, 100K more realistic for anyone serious. The reason is either you are profitable long term or not. If you are, you scale. If you are not, you will lose enough, to be cut out of trading prematurely.

Otherwise stay on paper.