Quote from Kevin Schmit:
None of us said that it is not possible to make $60
per day on a single YM contract. I said that with only
a $4000 account, any trader who attempts it stands
less than a 10% chance of not blowing out his account.
This is true even of an experienced trader, a less
experienced trader probably stands less than a
1% chance.
The key number here is the 4000, not the 60. I and my
partners make more than $60 per day per index futures
contract traded. But we do it with an allocation of $20k
to $30k per contract, not $4k. And we can only afford to
take even that level of risk because the index futures
model is only a small portion of our portfolio. I am not
skeptical of $60 per day per contract, I am skeptical of
$60 per day per $4k
Let me try once more with another tack. To all you who
think it $60 per day can be done on $4k, I ask you what
chance of a 50% drawdown would you find acceptable?
10%? 20%? 33%? Tell me that and I'll tell you what
fraction of Kelly achieves chance of a 50% drawdown
and from there we can derive the statistical properties
required of trading strategy in terms of win %, avg win
size vs avg loss size, etc. Or alternatively in mean/
variance terms. Once you see these stats, you will
see how unlikely it is for 90% or more of traders to
function at this level.
95% fail at this game within 1 year. It makes no difference if you are trading with $500 margins or using 30k per contract. Without discipline and proper risk management you will fail as well. Why should one more money in an account that is not even insured when they can put it to work elsewhere ?