Topper, I get what you're saying. MLNX was already on it's way down from the top of it's BB so short would have been the likely postion. GCA also in a downtrend. Lescor, I'm assuming your strategies are based on daily closings for the next morning and you were expecting a breakout of CMTL? Or do you also get signals on intraday movements and went long after CMTL cratered expecting a bounce?
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
You should upgrade or use an alternative browser.
Grinding it out, day after day
- Thread starter lescor
- Start date
Hi Lescor,
I trade mostly futures and started with 49k on May 25, 2010. Due to my day job as an anesthesiologist, I can only swing trade. This is my first attempt to be semi-pro serious about trading. I dabbled in trading in med school/residency since 2000. I'm 2 years in anesthesia practice - no school loans.
I papertraded (starting with 300k) in April to practice futures - the results (10+%, max 7 contracts) are much better than my live account (2-3% return / month? Max 1 or 2 contracts) mostly because I wasn't afraid of the drawdowns in the papertrade account and also because I sell way too soon in the live account for fear of losing proft. I can improve this to increase returns to maybe 6-7% / month.
I trade futures because I need to hold overnight due to my dayjob and can't handle any major gaps.
I keep a journal, use a 100% discretionary RTM system, scale-in/out, hedge with ETFs, don't overtrade, keep a 1-2% loss rule, read all the news (because I love to not because I have to), etc. I just use price action, a few MA's and trendlines. Hold only for a few days. Only have 1 - 2 trades going on at one time due to my time constraints in monitoring and exiting positions.
I would like to get to 30-50k / month. And tomorrow I'll be increasing my account to 100k (but not necessarily doubling my contracts).
Thank you for this thread.
If you were in my shoes, how would you approach the goal of 30-50k / month - continue what I'm doing and add just more trading capital and continue grinding -- or scrap it all, stop anesthesia (or work part time - it's easy to do) and apply what I know to day trading stocks - not futures?
I do not understand how with a 110k account plus leverage, you aren't risking more than 2% (assuming a max 2% loss rule per trade) of your 110k when you can sustain a "-10k day". Can you explain?
Live account from May 25 - present:
I trade mostly futures and started with 49k on May 25, 2010. Due to my day job as an anesthesiologist, I can only swing trade. This is my first attempt to be semi-pro serious about trading. I dabbled in trading in med school/residency since 2000. I'm 2 years in anesthesia practice - no school loans.
I papertraded (starting with 300k) in April to practice futures - the results (10+%, max 7 contracts) are much better than my live account (2-3% return / month? Max 1 or 2 contracts) mostly because I wasn't afraid of the drawdowns in the papertrade account and also because I sell way too soon in the live account for fear of losing proft. I can improve this to increase returns to maybe 6-7% / month.
I trade futures because I need to hold overnight due to my dayjob and can't handle any major gaps.
I keep a journal, use a 100% discretionary RTM system, scale-in/out, hedge with ETFs, don't overtrade, keep a 1-2% loss rule, read all the news (because I love to not because I have to), etc. I just use price action, a few MA's and trendlines. Hold only for a few days. Only have 1 - 2 trades going on at one time due to my time constraints in monitoring and exiting positions.
I would like to get to 30-50k / month. And tomorrow I'll be increasing my account to 100k (but not necessarily doubling my contracts).
Thank you for this thread.
If you were in my shoes, how would you approach the goal of 30-50k / month - continue what I'm doing and add just more trading capital and continue grinding -- or scrap it all, stop anesthesia (or work part time - it's easy to do) and apply what I know to day trading stocks - not futures?
I do not understand how with a 110k account plus leverage, you aren't risking more than 2% (assuming a max 2% loss rule per trade) of your 110k when you can sustain a "-10k day". Can you explain?
Live account from May 25 - present:
Attachments
Hi Lescor,
I trade mostly futures and started with 49k on May 25, 2010. Due to my day job as an anesthesiologist, I can only swing trade. This is my first attempt to be semi-pro serious about trading. I dabbled in trading in med school/residency since 2000. I'm 2 years in anesthesia practice - no school loans.
I papertraded (starting with 300k) in April to practice futures - the results (10+%, max 7 contracts) are much better than my live account (2-3% return / month? Max 1 or 2 contracts) mostly because I wasn't afraid of the drawdowns in the papertrade account and also because I sell way too soon in the live account for fear of losing proft. I can improve this to increase returns to maybe 6-7% / month.
I trade futures because I need to hold overnight due to my dayjob and can't handle any major gaps.
I keep a journal, use a 100% discretionary RTM system, scale-in/out, hedge with ETFs, don't overtrade, keep a 1-2% loss rule, read all the news (because I love to not because I have to), etc. I just use price action, a few MA's and trendlines. Hold only for a few days. Only have 1 - 2 trades going on at one time due to my time constraints in monitoring and exiting positions.
I would like to get to 30-50k / month. And tomorrow I'll be increasing my account to 100k (but not necessarily doubling my contracts).
Thank you for this thread.
------------------------------------
1) If you were in my shoes, how would you approach the goal of 30-50k / month - continue what I'm doing and add just more trading capital and continue grinding -- or scrap it all, stop anesthesia (or work part time - it's easy to do) and apply what I know to day trading stocks - not futures?
2) I do not understand how with a 110k account plus leverage, you aren't risking more than 2% (assuming a max 2% loss rule per trade) of your 110k when you can sustain a "-10k day". Can you explain?
I trade mostly futures and started with 49k on May 25, 2010. Due to my day job as an anesthesiologist, I can only swing trade. This is my first attempt to be semi-pro serious about trading. I dabbled in trading in med school/residency since 2000. I'm 2 years in anesthesia practice - no school loans.
I papertraded (starting with 300k) in April to practice futures - the results (10+%, max 7 contracts) are much better than my live account (2-3% return / month? Max 1 or 2 contracts) mostly because I wasn't afraid of the drawdowns in the papertrade account and also because I sell way too soon in the live account for fear of losing proft. I can improve this to increase returns to maybe 6-7% / month.
I trade futures because I need to hold overnight due to my dayjob and can't handle any major gaps.
I keep a journal, use a 100% discretionary RTM system, scale-in/out, hedge with ETFs, don't overtrade, keep a 1-2% loss rule, read all the news (because I love to not because I have to), etc. I just use price action, a few MA's and trendlines. Hold only for a few days. Only have 1 - 2 trades going on at one time due to my time constraints in monitoring and exiting positions.
I would like to get to 30-50k / month. And tomorrow I'll be increasing my account to 100k (but not necessarily doubling my contracts).
Thank you for this thread.
------------------------------------
1) If you were in my shoes, how would you approach the goal of 30-50k / month - continue what I'm doing and add just more trading capital and continue grinding -- or scrap it all, stop anesthesia (or work part time - it's easy to do) and apply what I know to day trading stocks - not futures?
2) I do not understand how with a 110k account plus leverage, you aren't risking more than 2% (assuming a max 2% loss rule per trade) of your 110k when you can sustain a "-10k day". Can you explain?
Quote from LVMises:
Can u share/ do u have trade stats such as your winning %, profit factor?
thx in advance
I have detailed stats broken down per strategy. The overall sum of all strategies is what's important though. A few numbers from 2010 so far:
winning days 93 (65%)
losing days 51 (35%)
$ sum winning days $850k
$ sum losing days -$323k
daily profit factor 2.6
Quote from Gambitman:
Hello
Great journal lescor, I found it over the weekend and have read the enitire thread. One of my problems with RTM trading has always been a news source that is timely and accurate. I was wondering if you would mind sharing what you use for intraday news . THankyou
I have News Strike audio during the day. Pre-market I use Briefing and Fly.
Regarding a few posts asking about details of some rtm trades. I definitely apply a fair bit of subjection when deciding to enter or not. The speed and size of a move, liquidity, sector, etc all factor in. Sometimes I look at a chart and think it just looks too dangerous. Those are often big winners, but capital preservation is always priority #1 and I'd rather skip it than get nailed. If I do step into something that looks really out of the ordinary, it's always with small size.
Quote from anesthesiaman:
I trade mostly futures and started with 49k on May 25, 2010....
You are definitely on the right path, just keep doing what you are doing. Don't rush to up your size, just keep growing your account and gathering stats and refining the system. You're off to a great start, but two months is a long ways away from thinking about quiting your job. You can make a lot of money swing trading futures, so why not just carry on? Your goal is an attainable one.
Somehow managed an ok week, all I remember is grumbling a lot about how much the market sucks. Glad the month is over, I like a clean slate.
+$13k for the week, 415,000 shares traded. Daily pl +7, 0, 0, +2, +4. Thursday saw some good stock movement, was the best day for intraday rtm in a couple months, which isn't saying much.
For the month I grossed $41,000 on 2M shrs volume. Over half of that was just sitting on some positions for the 100 pt move up in the spoos. Actual trading wasn't that hot.
Off to Vancouver for the weekend. Have a good long weekend you Canucks.
+$13k for the week, 415,000 shares traded. Daily pl +7, 0, 0, +2, +4. Thursday saw some good stock movement, was the best day for intraday rtm in a couple months, which isn't saying much.
For the month I grossed $41,000 on 2M shrs volume. Over half of that was just sitting on some positions for the 100 pt move up in the spoos. Actual trading wasn't that hot.
Off to Vancouver for the weekend. Have a good long weekend you Canucks.