Professional Traders. need advice

I know quite a few very successful traders that I talk to regularly. Many of them are $1M+ traders. You know how many of them trade primarily futures? Zero. How many of them trade primarily U.S. equities? All of them.

The futures and commodities markets are the toughest games out there. It's like taking on Tiger in golf with only a putter...why would you do that?

fwiw you are following my footsteps. I also went from community college to SFSU and trading was my only income the whole time.
 
I agree about the futures part. Try equities. Read all of elitetrader from 2001 to 2004. If you can read all of that, then you will have a ton of ideas to get your going.
 
Why so many haters on futures? It's hard enough when starting out let alone adding thousands of stocks to screen through.

Perhaps his account is too small for even 1 YM contract now, but that doesn't mean the OP should dismiss it as too risky and too hard to not get whipsawed out.

If the OP puts in the screentime it can be better determined what suits his personality and trading approach.

Of course, that is taking into account a good RM and MM plan.
 
Quote from illinimatt81:

Why so many haters on futures? It's hard enough when starting out let alone adding thousands of stocks to screen through.

Perhaps his account is too small for even 1 YM contract now, but that doesn't mean the OP should dismiss it as too risky and too hard to not get whipsawed out.

If the OP puts in the screentime it can be better determined what suits his personality and trading approach.

Of course, that is taking into account a good RM and MM plan.
More...

I agree with this - it does depend on personality. Some people are better suited to scalping - some people are better suited to position trading....so my bias is towards position trading. Some maybe even able to do both or a combination in between.

But from my own personal experiences, I just don't see a long term future in trading extremely short-term...for myself that is. I should have re-worded my other post.
 
Quote from illinimatt81:

Why so many haters on futures? It's hard enough when starting out let alone adding thousands of stocks to screen through.

Perhaps his account is too small for even 1 YM contract now.....

If the OP puts in the screentime it can be better determined what suits his personality and trading approach.

More...
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Good point i -matt, on converging personality & plan.;
& learn differance between bull market & 2008 bear market.....

I didnt see it as haters on futures,OP himself said he stopped that futures slop/chop/trading.
Frankly I am glad i didnt try to learn trading on futures or options, why leverage ignorance?????.

No offense intended, every one starts out ignorant;
our points, why leverge ignorance when starting?????

Sure ,focus on a few [SPY,GE.....] stocks are better to learn with[less business exspences/losses];
& more %% swift speculators in derivatives than stocks.

Also helpful=''I believe, & I still believe,you go with the trend,
and the stronger the trend the better''-Rich Dennis, futures trader, in Jack Schwager books:cool:

I believe;
believe that also, and it applies to stocks also.
 
The current market, economy and experiences are definitely not the norm - - so do not be put off with how difficult trading has been.

Most here are like most everywhere - - especially now - - losing their as*! Futures only magnify the difficulty as well as the little experience you have.

But it is AWESOME that you understand much of what it is going to take to make it in this biz. Just the fact that you went back to simulated trading - SPEAKS VOLUMES.

Hang in there. Hone your basic premises and give it time. Soon enough it will all come together.

pay$ense
 
<i>"The futures and commodities markets are the toughest games out there. It's like taking on Tiger in golf with only a putter...why would you do that?"</i>

I'm not so sure about that. I think if all of the successful stock traders were forced to trade futures, they'd adapt just fine. I highly doubt it would be stocks or bagging groceries as the choice. I've traded stocks, options, commodities, FX and index futures in my time. Options are by far the toughest, stocks and eminis are about equal with differences between the two.

Futures are a tough game... only in the trader's mind. It attracts the gamblers and brings out gambling fever in most all who try. Learning to overcome the mental pitfalls, trade for the $$ instead of the adrenaline and achievement (ego) is steepest curve to navigate.

I agree futures require a different mentality and skill set, but they are imo simplest of all once that mental mastery is in place.
 
CollegeTrader,

I'm in basically the same situation as you, same age, going to a state school. I started my learning experience last spring by reading and am now trading my account too (started this fall), although I only trade stocks and etf's. I feel like by reading your post we have a lot of the same questions and are at the same point in our trading, but it just sounds like you need to relax man. Go party some, party a lot. We have plenty of time to figure this all out and in my opinion information overload won't help the learning curve. And don't forget im sure you've probably gotten a lot of stupid mistakes out of the way (I know i have). I believe the best thing we can do now is to continue to learn about the markets while being open minded to other opportunities that come up, and expanding our horizons through internships and things like that. Yes it would be cool to manage other peoples money but there are other jobs in the business world that are just as rewarding both mentally and to your wallet. Also, personally I am setting goals for myself to see if I can even cut it trading money other than my own. I make daily goals such as trying to note where support and resistance are and retracements and such and constantly check to see if my hypothesis was right. Also I double check my ideas by reading this forum. My longer goals consist of % gains to my account. I think its things like this that will help people in our positions.
 
Hey CollegeTrader,

Just like to address a couple of points.

1) A LOT of people are losing a shitload of money! So the guys raving about there succes here are in the minority.

2) The people that are making money now are the ones making money year in year out so their strategies are the ones you want to be reading about and listening to.

3) I am presuming you have done your research and read your stuff but if you haven't read up on a range of strategies.

4) Specialization is good. Learn how to trade one thing well, index future, bond futures, currency, equities, commodities. And then step back and do the rest of the tour and hopefully what you have learned will help you out in the other sectors.

5) Automation is EVERYTHING. If you don't yet know how to program use this time to learn. Although you may not want to be a high-frequancy quant type trader with programming skills you will be able to setup systems that give you signals of setups of patterns that there is no way you can keep your eye on at once. So you might just want to click trade and trade off your fundamentals but at least you can build a system which tells you when implied divs of the main stocks in the NQ change or when volatility in individual stocks spike so you know something is up.

6) Do your reading!!! If you trade NQ know everything about every tech stock there is so that when you read a headline, you know whether its priced in, was expected or whether this is news. Before trading daily setup a plan for the day with which companies are hot and which are coming with figures or news,.

7) Analyse, the day does not end with the last trade. Go over your trades and write down your faults and what you did well. Areas for improvement.

Sounds like a lot of work but you seemed serious and willing to put in the work. There are definitely guys out there winging it with gut feel but you don't seem to fall into that category. This is the other way to get there and stay there. Oppertunities are all around you just need to stay disciplined, honest to yourself and put in the work and this will be as rewarding as it is fun and exciting.

Gluck
FGBS

p.s. If you don't play online poker yet start. Not advocating online gambling but if you can't beat poker you won't beat trading, at least poker is something you determine the timing of, you play when you like, how big you like for how long you like, with trading you have to wait for the oppertunities to arise.
 
A lot of positive responses. Glad to know there is an SFSU alumni responding to my post. Driog yeah this semester has been very stressful on top of trading. I remember my golf coach who was a great player said it takes the body atleast 6 months of practice to learn muscle memory. Same rules should apply to my trading. And yeah i do need to get out and live a little.

I have decided i am going to paper trade for the next 6 months. Im going to stick with the NQ and postition trade one contract using 10-15 pt stops. For those curious to my trading style its a mostly directional. Fib levels, trend lines, SR levels.

Trading futures is my goal however i would never turn down an opportunity to trade stocks professionally. I would love to trade for a firm like Bright, SMB capital, Genesis, etc. I just dont have the capital to post at the moment. Though im setting a personal goal to take a shot at full time trading within the next 5 years. So capital shouldnt be a problem assuming i find a decent job after graduation. I did trade stocks before i started in the futures market. I feel i still trying to learn my place as a trader.

Thanks to all that have replied i really appreciate everyones insight. Especially sense some of the posters are traders i do follow of the form. Any additional insight would be greatly appreciated by all traders.

Everyone started at the bottom. I would like to learn how you got to the top.
 
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