Quote from iceman1:
You ever have time to do any reading after the market closes-- are do you have more important things to do -- and expect others to give you all the answers? In other words-- if you're not willing to work really hard, particularly in the beginning -- try something else.
In the final analysis- what works for one trader may not work well or suit your personality. You need to early on- find your own niche and trade in accordance with your OWN drummer. Not everyone can swing like Tiger Woods -- but many many can shoot below par ---- playing their game.
My god this is one of the most vacuous responses to this thread yet. Right up there with Risktaker's usual BS.
Foible, since you have found a willing mentor who makes a few grand a day, you're better off just leaving the prop house and camping out in her office for a few months. While you're there, read everything you can get off of her bookshelf in the off hours. (You seem to be doing better than most, actually, for your first month of trading.)
You might also want to ping optioncoach and a few others on this forum for more info on the benefits of different approaches -- prop houses have frighteningly high attrition rates and everyone here is basically right about them. Think longer term. Take a more studied approach at first. Jumping in with both feet and with very little capital, even if you do jump through all the prop house hoops, is still a very risky way to get into this business.
I have known some very intelligent people in this business who started with more money, developed solid money management plans and good trading models, and still washed out in under a year. They were surgeons, retired attorneys, mathematicians...smart people. When I think back, the hardest stories came from those who joined prop firms.
When I think about the people I know who have succeeded, they started in legitimate asset management firms or on their own at home and all of them had a mentor! And they merely survived their first three years -- none of them hit homeruns during this time period. The really successful traders I know personally (I can count them on one hand) weren't making any real sort of money until they hit the five to seven year mark. All but one blew their accounts more than once in the beginning, but had fortunately only risked what they could afford to lose.
Seems like you're pretty well set up --
(1) You're only risking $5K,
(2) You've found a willing mentor,
(3) You're smart *and* savvy.
Think of this $5K as tuition and make the trades count for something when you're ready to make them -- my personal opinion is you're better off leaving this firm and striking out on your own with some solid rational analysis and a good trading station. (You don't need to lease a desk at a firm to get these anymore.)
Someone will invariably jump in here and tell you I'm full of $#!t. They just might be right. In the end, it's really just surviving the first year (i.e. sound money management!) that will allow you to take the next couple of years you need to gain the knowledge and experience required to move to the next level.
My 2 ticks.
