How Much Should A Trader Make?

Dr. Ari Kiev, author of Trading in the Zone, stresses that setting a hard dollar figure goal is essential to being a top trader and outperforming your own expectations. You can see his speech here:

http://www.clicklive.com/NYMEX/symposium_2003/kiev.htm

I believe this idea has validity for most traders with a positive expectation. It seems to work well for the traders at SAC that he coaches.

I think it does have its limitations though. For a global macro trader who makes his money from trend following, you can not just will the market into a profitable trend mode.

Overall though I think it is a good idea that we all set the bar high for ourselves. Reach for the stars. You might just grab one.
 
That was a great link, thanks for sharing it.

For myself, all I need to do is make 2.5 points a day and I've doubled my money for the month. Could I make more? Sure, but after 2.5 points I can walk away and have a life.
 
I think all traders should have goals. I like to aim for 10% return per month without using margin. This mean low risk everyday income trades. Consistancy is key, but 8%-13% on any given month is successful trading IMO.
 
IMO for a decent sized account ($1 million +), 30% a year with drawdowns below 15% is good.

30% a year on a $1 million account means that by year 5 you will be making 1 million per year. And that assumes you keep it all in your trading account, rather than invest say 500k (which will provide 25k-100k spending money per year, depending on your investing skills) and trade with the rest.

Sometimes you will have outlier years when the markets are really favourable, and 50-100%+ is possible (e.g. 1999-2002) with low risk.

For optimal results, do this from a tax haven with lots of cheap beer, food, and women.
 
Are you one of Don's students??
Did he teach you opening orders and how to trade??
I wonder if Don makes money? He must, from the results of your trading Don must make what, 10X your numbers?? I have got to save for that boot camp, they must have the holy grail.
 
I have the general goal not to lose more than half of my account between the great rate I get and haircut in any givin year, pair trading the internet stocks.
Here are my numbers
1999 -25,000
2000- 25,000
2001 -25,000
2002 -100,000 COF-PVN Damn the bad luck
2003 -25,000


At least I am consistent:cool:
 
Quote from opmtrader:

Dr. Ari Kiev, author of Trading in the Zone, stresses that setting a hard dollar figure goal is essential to being a top trader and outperforming your own expectations. You can see his speech here:

http://www.clicklive.com/NYMEX/symposium_2003/kiev.htm
More...

I'm still listening to him after about half an hour. I also own and read his book, Trading to Win. He seems to be regurgitating common trading rules. Nothing new. "Keep a journal, cut your losses, have a stop loss, etc." He's also saying some pretty stupid things that every trader knows doesn't happen such as "plan to make $10,000 a day every day." No one's trading is ever that consistent.

Also he's not a very good public speaker.

Play it in the background if you're going to load it up.
 
Quote from opmtrader:

Dr. Ari Kiev, author of Trading in the Zone, stresses that setting a hard dollar figure goal is essential to being a top trader and outperforming your own expectations. You can see his speech here:

http://www.clicklive.com/NYMEX/symposium_2003/kiev.htm

I believe this idea has validity for most traders with a positive expectation. It seems to work well for the traders at SAC that he coaches.

I think it does have its limitations though. For a global macro trader who makes his money from trend following, you can not just will the market into a profitable trend mode.

Overall though I think it is a good idea that we all set the bar high for ourselves. Reach for the stars. You might just grab one.
More...
Opmtrader: Thanks for the link!

ol
 
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