***my First Post***

Quote from stockjedi:

I Trade 4 Money:

I just read your thread, it looks like you came across a bit cocky. Making $200k by end of 2008 is difficult but possible.
You would have to play a lot of OTC stocks in order to get there which is very risky! High risks could equal high rewards.

But I have to tell you something: having big dreams and goals is a great thing, don't listen to what others have to say about them (including me).

I came to the US about 16 years ago with $8k in my pocket, very little English, and after all my friends and family told me not to do it because I would fail. But guess what I had big dreams (to become a rockstar!! :) ) and be rich. I was a high school drop-out who put together an advertising company at the age of 19 (after everyone told me I would fail), made some cash, saved up my $8k to fly to the US. I started working a $5/hr factory job for 6 months. During that time my English was getting better, so I went and got a job paying $7.50/hr. Since I was pretty talented with computers I moved on to IT/Technology in 1992. I worked 10 hours a day, went to school at night and eventually became very wanted on the market because of my certifications and experience. I went from making $40k in 1996 to $55k in 1997, $90k in 1998 and so on, until making 6 figure income. Last year I cleared over $300k including stock options and I own 4 houses now. Now the interesting part is that I really was interested in trading/stocks and started doing that in 1998.

I opened my account with $1k at E*Trade and my portfolio went up to $200k by 1999. But I was a dumbass and didn't know anything about charts, TA, stop loss or trailing stops (I have a thread about this that you can read) I never hit the "sell" button and most of it went down the drain. In conclusion I just want to say: screw the naysayers who tell you it can't be done. I am a living example of someone who has done it. All of us can accomplish anything if we set our minds to it and work our asses off.

All the pro fund managers from Merrill Lynch and such will tell you that you're lucky if you can make 10%/year on your money. Guess what: I just doubled my account in 3 weeks, took some risks but it paid off. So it is do-able!
I'm back in action now and will take my account to new highs but this time I have learned my lesson, read all the books, watched all the videos and listened to all the good advice that can be found (especially on ET) and I am taking the profit along the way.

Good luck to you!
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Thanks for sharing your story. Pretty inspirational. I know it's possible to make lots of money in this business. There's guys on this board who trade with 50-100 lots and make 5 digits on average on a daily basis on this forum.
 
I trade for money...I was just going to ask where you were :) . How's the trading been?

I'm going to get shot down for saying this, but I cant help myself...... Goals are near impossible to achieve in trading.

By that I mean, a trader is at the mercy of the market with every trade. OK, so you have stops in place, a PT, you did ALL the TA you can think of, you know every chart pattern in the book, you read the news everyday, you track the sector, the industry, the whole nine yards....... next day, your stock gaps 4pts against you...your "goal" of making say 500 that month...HA..guess again, and you end the month at a loss.

You had a goal, you did everything you could, and you got screwed.

My only goal?... lose less than i did last year.

Setting goals in trading is kind of like saying "I'm right about this trade"... didn't Mark Douglas say it's wrong to try and be right?..to inforce your belief on the market?..

cm
 
I think "dollar goals" make you do things that you normally wouldn't, especially if they are daily dollar goals. You have to be willing to take what the market is willing to give you each day, and not try to swing for the fences on every trade.

IMO it is far better to set goals on trade execution. If you can perfect that the dollars will follow assuming you have a decent system.
 
Quote from I Trade 4 Money:

Hello. I would like to take this time to introduce myself. I want a lot of money. I'm 24 and I want to be a millionaire by the time I'm 30 and over 10 million by the time I'm 40. I have no debt. I currently trade with the 23,000 that I have in my Scottrade account. Just 2000 more and I get 4:1 leverage. I could use the 6000 I have in my bank account to get that stupid 4:1 SEC rule requirement, but if I can't make 2000 with 23,000 with 2:1, quite frankly, I don't deserve that 4:1 leverage. At this point in my life, I would consider myself a "loser" for a lack of a better word. I still live with my parents (lame excuse #1: Want to save every bit of money I have so my trade account get's bigger and bigger). I have no car (lame excuse#2: Same as lame excuse #1). I have no girlfriend (lame excuse #3: Same as lame excuse#2). My first goal is to turn from a loser to a winner. In order to do this my first target goal is to have at LEAST 200,000 in my account by the end of 2008. You may ask yourself, how in the hell I'm going to make that kind of cash in that short of a time period. One word my friends: LEVERAGE. As soon as I increase my 23,000 account to 30,000, I'm going to get a loan for 30,000. Since I have good credit, I can get a loan for less than 8%. Put that 30,000 with my other 30,000 and now I have 60,000 in my account. With 2:1 leverage that's 120,000. If have enough experience to scalp by then, I might decide to use the 4:1 leverage. By that time, I obviously need to find a better platform than Scottrade, one that has low transaction costs for high volume traders. You guy's got any suggestions for any good platforms? Anyways, that's my plan for the time being. I'll give updates from time to time. Thanks for reading.:D
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comic genius this stuff. it should win several awards. script writers pay good money for this.
hahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa
 
Quote from cashmoney69:

I trade for money...I was just going to ask where you were :) . How's the trading been?

I'm going to get shot down for saying this, but I cant help myself...... Goals are near impossible to achieve in trading.

By that I mean, a trader is at the mercy of the market with every trade. OK, so you have stops in place, a PT, you did ALL the TA you can think of, you know every chart pattern in the book, you read the news everyday, you track the sector, the industry, the whole nine yards....... next day, your stock gaps 4pts against you...your "goal" of making say 500 that month...HA..guess again, and you end the month at a loss.

You had a goal, you did everything you could, and you got screwed.

My only goal?... lose less than i did last year.

Setting goals in trading is kind of like saying "I'm right about this trade"... didn't Mark Douglas say it's wrong to try and be right?..to enforce your belief on the market?..

cm
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I would have to respectively disagree with your statement that "Goals are near impossible to achieve in trading". I believe the first process in achieving a goal is setting a goal at a "reasonable" level. Once that reasonable level is accomplished, re-evaluate the goal. I'm in the process of developing a SUPER trading plan. I believe I'll put the odds in my favor by doing so. More than 90% of traders don't even have a trading plan; I happened to be that 90% before I decided to read "Mastering the Trade". That book is highly recommended reading for anyone reading this post. I've decided to focus on futures market, particularly the ES and YM. As I've stated in the previous post in the Index forums, the positives far outweigh the negative when comparing futures to equities. I'll write my first detailed and comprehensive trading plan later this week, definitely before this following weekend is over. I'm going to write my daily, weekly, monthly, and yearly goals as well in the trading plan. I'll try to post it ASAP.
 
Quote from I Trade 4 Money:

I believe the first process in achieving a goal is setting a goal at a "reasonable" level.
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I want VLO to close above 62.00 tomorrow. Thats 1.17 pts .... this seems reasonable....but do you think the market cares about my goals?..no. Reasonable or not.

cm
 
Quote from cashmoney69:

I want VLO to close above 62.00 tomorrow. Thats 1.17 pts .... this seems reasonable....but do you think the market cares about my goals?..no. Reasonable or not.

cm
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Sorry, but that is not a goal. That is a hope or expectation.

A trading goal would be to develop a system that gives you an edge.
 
This is it folks! I've finished a draft of my trading plan. In this journey to become known as the 100-lot trader, I'm going to have to grow some balls. The money management/position-sizing plan I created (shown below) is not for the faint of heart. It's a money management/position-sizing plan I must adhere to in order for me to ultimately become known as the 100-lot trader. I plan not to take out any money out of the futures account unless I absolutely need to. I currently have low expenses (I'm still living under my parents roof) and therefore do not need to withdraw any money from this account. After I get to level 9 I may decide to withdraw some funds here or there to reward myself. Preferably, I would not like to withdraw any funds from this trading account until I get to point where I feel comfortable trading anywhere from 50-100 contracts on a daily basis (and profiting on a consistent basis of course). The contract I'll be focusing on is the E-mini S&P 500. Please feel to give my trading plan some constructive criticism.




Some rules:

I will not hold a position after 4:15pm EST and before 9:30am EST. I will be trading on an intra-day basis from Monday thru Friday only. After each trading session is over, I'll go over all the trades I've done for the day and see what I'm doing wrong and what I can do to improve my trading.


My Trading Plan.

1. Questions Regarding My Purpose and Myself:

Why do want to be a trader?
I want to be a trader because I am excited by the challenge to be successful in a discipline that is notoriously difficult and where, allegedly, 90% of participants fail. My primary objective in wanting to be a trader is to generate sufficient annual income of at least $200,000 in order to support the type of lifestyle I want to live. My secondary objective is to spend more time with my friends and family and enjoy the freedom of being able to be my own boss. These objectives are important to me because they provide purpose and direction to my life and enable me to lead a more balanced one. I believe I can achieve my objectives because I am extremely motivated and persistent.

What Sort of Trader are You?
I am a discretionary trader and my style is very aggressive - which makes me suited to scalping intra-day. I understand that I cannot predict the future and I accept that I cannot control the markets. However I can control myself, which I will do by adhering strictly to my trading plan that is detailed, specific, tested and profitable.

What are Your Strengths and Weaknesses?
My primary strength is allowing my profits to run. This contributes to ‘my edge’ and helps me towards my goal of being consistently profitable in the markets.
My primary weakness is overtrading and chasing. The following aspect of my trading plan will help to control this weakness and prevent losses from spiraling out of control. I have a pre-defined daily stop. If it is hit, I stop trading or the day.

Are You in the Right Frame of Mind to Trade?
I will only trade on days when I am rested, relaxed and not distracted by work or family etc. I will be guided by my trading plan and I will adhere to it rigidly. It will help to prevent me from making trades that are poorly conceived and executed; i.e. trades that are based on gut feeing and motivated by fear and/or greed. I will not trade on days when I am feeling off hung over, particularly tired or when I am mentally distracted by other events in my life.

2. Questions Regarding Trading Goals:

What are Your Annual Trading Goals?
My annual trading goal is to develop my trading ‘edge’ in order to tip the balance of probabilities in my favor. At the moment, this comprises two separate elements, namely:
1. I model the best trading practices, including having a written, clearly laid out trading plan.
2. My strategies are well developed, tested and monitored comprehensively to ensure that they remain tradable, market sensitive and profitable. I expect to achieve these goals because I read many books and magazine articles pertaining to trading and study the words of wisdom from the more experienced members of Elitetrader.com.

What are Your Weekly Trading Goals?
My weekly trading goal is to trade every day of the week in accordance with my trading plan. This will entail taking my stops instantly; sticking to my risk and money management strategies; following my exit criteria and devoting most of my time to searching for new trades and choosing only the very best setups. When I achieve this goal I will pat myself on the back by hanging out with my friends.

What are Your Daily Trading Goals?
My daily trading goal is to trade according to my plan. Today I will stick to my plan because it is detailed, specific, tested and profitable. I am confident that I have the self-discipline to adhere to it, which, in turn, will ensure that my weekly, monthly and annual goals are met.

3. Questions regarding Market and Instruments:

Which Markets will You Trade?
The instruments that I will trade are the U.S Market as well as the crude oil market.

Which Instruments will You Trade?
I will trade primarily the ES because I can incrementally increase the number of contracts I trade as my account grows without effecting the movement of the instrument (I don’t have to worry about liquidity as I would with micro-cap stocks).

4. Questions Regarding What You Do Before the Market Opens:

What is Your Daily Pre-market Routine?
My daily pre-market routine comprises four key areas, namely:
1. To analyze and log yesterday’s trades.
2. To review any open positions and update targets.
3. To assess today’s market conditions and plan accordingly.
4. To plan the day ahead, hour by hour.

Have You Analyzed Yesterday’s Trades?
Each day, I will ensure that yesterday’s trades are analyzed and logged and that my trading journal is up to date. Additionally, I will check to ensure that I adhered to all aspects of my trading plan.

What are the General Market Conditions?
Before trading, I will check:
1. Index futures to see if they are flat, trending up/down or mixed.
2. To see if any key economic reports are due to be released and at what time – i.e. Michigan Sentiment.
3. To see if any key personnel are due to make announcements / speeches and at what time – i.e. Bernanke addressing Congress etc.
I aim to trade the market reaction to these reports and speeches. Therefore, I will not trade for the first 15 minutes following the speech / announcement and observe the reaction to it by the market. This will help to ensure that I ‘trade what I see and not what I think.



Is there anything I should add, delete, or improve upon in my trading plan? Thanks in advance folks!!!
 
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