How to know when your ready

B

bigbrent701

So guys its been about a year since i started a journal about my journey with the markets. My question is how do you know when you are ready. I firmly believe that I am ready to go live and i am going to give my reasons below. Feel free to drill me on anything guys. Bash away have at it now is your chance. I am all ears.


I feel I am ready to go live because I truly feel i understand the underlying theme and the bigger picture in the market. Over the past year I have really studied price very closely to determine who is in control and what turning points look like.

I have designed a method that is complete with entry, stop, profit taking, and money mangement ideas. My system has been layed out and my goals have been outlined.

I have found a mentor that has taught me important things about the market and is openly available to me during the trading day in real time to explain what he feels is occuring. I have adapted his style as my own and I feel it really is my own style now.

My biggest issue I feel is my limited capital but unlike others here I am starting out the way things should be when you are limited capital. Yep i said it first ONE LOTS. I will trade ONE LOTS until I have built up my confidence and expanded my capital base.


The combination of a system complete with entry, stop, profit taking exit, and money management along with having a mentor that uses the same method will allow mw a better fighting chance to go live in the market.
 
brent - you are more prepared than most when they dive into futures and it looks like you have your shit together. I'd start tomorrow.

Keep in mind that when real $ is on the line, things can change... Not your setups and stuff like that, your mental state will change. Be ready for it and stick to your rules.

Good luck!
 
Scared money is dead money.
Believe it or not but 1 lot is not good for limited capital because your primary concern being underfunded is to protect your account. This fear will lead to you cutting winners short. My advice is to start with 2 lots and and always sell half at your first target and then move your stop to breakeven on the other half. This will allow to take part when the move continues and capture more profit at the risk of none of your original capital.
 
Volent actually that is part of my strategy, as I have learned through sim trading and from my mentor trading multiple lots gives more flexibility. Surely not having to get all in or out at a given point can be a true advantage.
 
Similar to what a previous poster said, you have to confront how you'll react to fear, greed, hope, confidence, pessimism, stress, strain, despair, pomposity, exhiliration and the array of emotions that will arise from the fluctuations of profit and loss in your account. You won't know until real money is put at risk.
 
One suggestion Brent that helped me - turn off or block out your P&L, esp one that updates each tick in real-time. You'll drive yourself nuts. If you truly believe you are ready to go, give it a try.
 
yes you do seem to have your shit together,

there is only one question you need to ask yourself before commiting your capital,

and that is:

how well did i perform on the simulator? was I profitable? will I achieve the same results when I allocate real money to the account?

because your real results will be very similar to this.

even if your answers to these are negative. you should still go ahead and trade with real money, it is the next step in your trading education cycle. just trade with fractional lots if you can to minimize the damage but enough to feel the pain.

best of luck to you.
 
Quote from jiggly:

yes you do seem to have your shit together,

there is only one question you need to ask yourself before commiting your capital,

and that is:

how well did i perform on the simulator? was I profitable? will I achieve the same results when I allocate real money to the account?

because your real results will be very similar to this.

even if your answers to these are negative. you should still go ahead and trade with real money, it is the next step in your trading education cycle. just trade with fractional lots if you can to minimize the damage but enough to feel the pain.

best of luck to you.
More...

I have found that if you can do 70% as good as your sim results, assuming you have good sim results, you are on you way. Real money changes things fast. I would recommend you not go to 2 contracts until you have 3k in real profits you accumulated over some time, say a month ateast. Once start slow and consistent then add slow and steady. Good trading is boring remember that.
 
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