Going down with the ship ...

[qwiktrade]

Originally posted by aphexcoil
Alright, here is the deal. I am 25 years old and want to get a nice house for my parents, a new Porsche Carreta GT and donate the rest to charity.

How do I turn 5K into 1000k though trading index futures? Now, don't tell me it can't be done because I don't want to hear that. I want to hear you tell me that you've done it and this is how you proceed. Nothing is impossible and I am highly disciplined. I know about systems, rules, etc -- but I have never traded index futures before and I'm a little excited about the prospect of pushing 1 contract around for a month and then have it become 2, which then becomes 4, which then becomes 8, etc -- all while skimming 2-4 ES points a day on average from this beast.

Aphexcoil

Originally posted by darkhorse
reality check:

Imagine all net positive traders standing in line to receive their paychecks from the market. The order of pay goes from biggest and best to smallest and worst. The guys at the front of the line always get the biggest lump sum. The guys at the back of the line always get the smallest, some of them only pocket change.

Look in front of you. See all those thousands of guys? See the titans at the very front making five hundred million a year, all the way down to guys making 30 or 40K? See all those blood stained veterans, lightning fast mavericks and ruthless soldiers of fortune? The pie is limited, and aaalll those dudes ahead of you have to be paid in full before you get to see a single red cent.

Now look the other way. How many people are standing behind you in line? Maybe like three other fish who just managed to struggle across the zero line. When you make it into breakeven land, there's an old guy with balloons in a blazer and top hat who shakes your hand at the gate: "Congratulations, you can finally pay your nut without bleeding to death! Here's fifty cents, don't spend it all in one place."

Still want to make a million? Or just a measly little hundred K? Fine. Great. First you have to get past all those other experienced hardcases who would rather eat dog vomit than give up a single spot in line. It's easy to take money from sheep- all you have to do is push the other wolves aside. Snicker.

Originally posted by aphexcoil
Publias,

I appreciate your views and warnings, but everyone is different and we all have very specific sets of discipline. I have traded QQQ before quite successfully -- I'm sure ES won't be that big of a leap.

Also, not everyone has the right set of mental parameters to trade futures. You could have a perfect system, but if you are the least bit prone to unstable emotions, you're out of the game.

I will do just fine -- trust me on this one.

aphie

Originally posted by Publias


2pts a day avg. can be done...

But she will NO DOUBT eat this guy for lunch if he thinks he is just gonna set-up shop and master the game...

Originally posted by Publias


preachin to the choir my friend

She will eat eat eat eat for breakfast lunch and dinner...

Originally posted by Publias
Aphex,

I can't help but think of that old spanish proverb every time I see one of your posts... how does it go???

Oh yeah; "To speak of bulls is not the same as to be in the bull ring"

Publias

Originally posted by aphexcoil
Publias,

I prefer the Chinese Proverbs myself.

aphie

Originally posted by J_Commisso
5K into 1000k in 18 months via E-minis

There is no use trying, said Alice; one can't believe impossible things.

I dare say you haven't had much practice, said the Queen. When I was your age, I always did it for half an hour a day. Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.

~ Lewis Carroll ~

and then a few weeks later..

Originally posted by aphexcoil


My ability to lose money is beyond just a statistical blip -- I need to stop fighting myself and trade what I see and now what I think. It is just hard because I feel like we're still in a bear market.

Apparently what I think is always wrong -- so there should be a way to make money off always being wrong.

Originally posted by aphexcoil
If the market corrects between 5% - 10% by November expirations, I'll be living the good life.

If it keeps going up, I'm taking up sewing the Martha Stewart way and practicing some of her new brownie recipes.

Originally posted by aphexcoil


I need help -- I'm a mess.

aphie.. youve been given a tremendous amount of help on this board.. youre losing because you thought you knew more than those who tried to help you.. even if your new option position does work, you wont win in the long run because youre out of control.. get a grip on yourself, stop trading and figure out what your strategy is.. then you might have a chance to learn something.. and dont think you are learning just because you are losing money.. its entirely possible to wake up today and lose money the same way you lost yesterday and the day before and not learn anything.. good luck..

-qwik

 

[GreenDog]

Don't listen to these dream-destroyers. And hey... I have a game for you:

I'm thinking of a number from 1 to 10. Post what you think it is, and if you're right I'll send you $50,000 cash -- if not then you send me your $5K (or whatever you have left ).

If you like this game, we could play weekly. This could be your best opportunity yet to hit the motherlode!!

I'll be waiting for your answer.

dog

 

[aphexcoil]

Greendog,

3?

 

[J_Commisso]

Hey Qwik that Publias guy sounds pretty wise

GreenDog thats some good ish bro!

 

[chasinfla]

this offers an excuse to post a sort of proverb:
<i>
For every sinking ship, Providence has appointed a Captain to go down with it.</i>

 

[aphexcoil]

I am now starting to see the trials and tribulations of becoming a successful trader. I must stop doing this half-ass and really buckle down hard and treat it like a business.

Alas, as TS Elliot once said:

"We must not cease exploring, until at the end of all our exploring, we will return to the beginning, and know it for the first time."

 

[OVERtheLINE]

Originally posted by chasinfla
this offers an excuse to post a sort of proverb:
<i>
For every sinking ship, Providence has appointed a Captain to go down with it.</i>

charles, what the %$#^ u should have taken don out by now
you will be the one that deserves the respect to go with the title

 

[PuffyGums]

November expirations seems too soon. Of course those options are cheap now, but for a reason. No doubt the 'plan,' if you believe such things, is to keep the market rising past elections. However this rally has the potential to linger on a bit longer than people expect, especially judging from today's action which was the 'GOP regains control of the Senate' rally. (Hate to be ghoulish, but as Cramer says the market does not pay respects.)

I have trouble believing that your consider your actions to be part of a reasonable business plan. I suppose its because you don't know what a reasonable business plan is. I suspect that if your uncle or father (or whoever is in charge of you) were to read your posts, he would close down the trading and put you back in school.

Not being mean or a dream dasher, but the market can be meaner and dash more dreams than any jerk on ET. You do not respect the market and you don't understand the parameters of your trade. I can't see how this is going to end up happily.

 

[daniel_m]

and if I can just briefly join in the quotefest, Thomas Carlyle said:

"“Foolish men mistake transitory semblance for eternal fact”

which is where, unfortunately, you're still at.

in the wise words of et's very own Dr Zhivodka, we need to aim for some measure of truth beyond the platitudes..

and at this stage, you've shown but the barest trace of a conceptual bridge between the saying and the all-important doing...

come on bro... this is getting painful... so let me, for one last time, attempt to dispell any remnants of grand illusion about the trading lifestyle you might be harboring:
this is fuckin serious shit, it demands fuckin serious attention and requires fuckin serious committment.. anything less than that and you are seriously fucked!
your heretofore lax "it's cool daddio, 2pts a day? no sweat.." attitude is not only highly deluded, it's an affront to humanity!

 

[PuffyGums]

Originally posted by aphexcoil


<b>Well I brought up the charts on IBM and it looked like it was sitting on top of a hill </b> -- so I figured that it looked to be going back down. I called tops and I may be wrong -- I will learn through trial and error.

Sigh. All charts look like that. Its a psychological bias that you have to train yourself out of. All markets which rise look like they are sooo high up and surely must fall down. (As a corollary all falling charts psychologically look cheap and appear due for a reversal to the upside because they are near the lower boundary of the frame and are near the 'ground.')

However this is not true. A market that has gone up alot has the potential to go up further. That is why your counter trend trades all resulted in quick losses. You were picking tops and bottoms in a trending market which is THE EXACT THING YOU MUST NEVER DO.