*Simulated* Trader P/L 2007
- Thread starter NoEmotions
- Start date
You have the right idea.
Now, plot your entry price, exit price, number of points gained and the total dollar amount on a daily basis, every day, for the past two weeks.
Sum the weekly performance.
Then go back and reveiw every single day on your charts. That is to say, review everyday, but allways look at the performace on a per week basis.
Do this for next three months, and it might be all you need. to get your entry signal right.
***
Remember Austin's reference to reviewing film.
This is it.
Good trading,
JJ
If you're trading derivatives, stop factoring taxes into the equation. Futures are marked-to-market at market-on-close on a daily basis and you get a tax statement at the end of the year.
There's no way you end up with $50 after making $112 on one contract, period. There's a hell of a lot you can do with that money before you have to give it to Uncle Sam, so don't go giving it away too early.
***
If you really want to learn how to do this (and I'm assuming you do) starting reading articles/books on money and risk management.
Read everything you can come across.
austinp wrote an excellent beginners primer on money management for futures. It doesn't go into the advanced stuff, for that you're going to need to work a little bit harder (but interestingly enough, that thread you started about trading size does go into some pretty advanced money management).
But you have to start laying a ground work so that you can understand what is being said when knowledgeable persons give away their hard earned information to you. (and no, I ain't talk'in about myself
).Good trading,
Jimmy Jam
Day (15) ER Mini
-----------------------
Today/0
Cumulative total after com./ +$1172.25
I can't post friday. Made a lot of mistakes got frustrated and started getting mad. My brain flew the coupe but I ended up making a lot of paper profit. Today would screw up my results. I was not disciplined but was rewarded for it. Not a good thing. So if anything today should be a loss in my total as this account is how I am trying to develope a system framework and evaluate my performance. It wouldn't be helpful if I included todays profit in that.
JJ
Thanks for the advice. I am trying to keep my results clear and realistic to learn from it. So far I haven't been able to settle on what exactly my entries are and what to use as a criteria for trades. I feel like I'm getting close to settled. Then get knocked 2 steps back. Take a step forward get knocked back again. I can only keep trying and hope that someday all the crap I have learned up to this point will start to fall away and I can zero in on what the important stuff is. Until then I don't think I would be successful in making money.
I'll keep on working and keep that goal in mind.
JIM
-----------------------
Today/0
Cumulative total after com./ +$1172.25
I can't post friday. Made a lot of mistakes got frustrated and started getting mad. My brain flew the coupe but I ended up making a lot of paper profit. Today would screw up my results. I was not disciplined but was rewarded for it. Not a good thing. So if anything today should be a loss in my total as this account is how I am trying to develope a system framework and evaluate my performance. It wouldn't be helpful if I included todays profit in that.
JJ
Thanks for the advice. I am trying to keep my results clear and realistic to learn from it. So far I haven't been able to settle on what exactly my entries are and what to use as a criteria for trades. I feel like I'm getting close to settled. Then get knocked 2 steps back. Take a step forward get knocked back again. I can only keep trying and hope that someday all the crap I have learned up to this point will start to fall away and I can zero in on what the important stuff is. Until then I don't think I would be successful in making money.
I'll keep on working and keep that goal in mind.
JIM
JIMMYJAM
I've read a number of austinp's posts about Money management. It does seem to be pretty good info. I suppose I have to be making money to be able to scale up contracts. But it is something to keep in mind once you were a consistant money maker. How you utilize that ability and your capital seems to be pretty important to long term success and making the most of things.
JIM
I've read a number of austinp's posts about Money management. It does seem to be pretty good info. I suppose I have to be making money to be able to scale up contracts. But it is something to keep in mind once you were a consistant money maker. How you utilize that ability and your capital seems to be pretty important to long term success and making the most of things.
JIM
Quote from JimmyJam:
If you're trading derivatives, stop factoring taxes into the equation. Futures are marked-to-market at market-on-close on a daily basis and you get a tax statement at the end of the year.
There's no way you end up with $50 after making $112 on one contract, period. There's a hell of a lot you can do with that money before you have to give it to Uncle Sam, so don't go giving it away too early.
***
If you really want to learn how to do this (and I'm assuming you do) starting reading articles/books on money and risk management.
Read everything you can come across.
austinp wrote an excellent beginners primer on money management for futures. It doesn't go into the advanced stuff, for that you're going to need to work a little bit harder (but interestingly enough, that thread you started about trading size does go into some pretty advanced money management).
But you have to start laying a ground work so that you can understand what is being said when knowledgeable persons give away their hard earned information to you. (and no, I ain't talk'in about myself
Good trading,
Jimmy Jam
Thank you for taking an interest in my trials and tribulations here on ET. As you have correctly pointed out, subtracting 40% for tax purposes from my paper winnings is .... extreme. I base it on my current % bracket and then add some to compensate a little bit. I agree that with a good accountant and some planning paying that much in taxes is giving money away to uncle sam. However, seeing my daily gain crushed by extra burden of 40% tax, motivates me to push harder and study more. I do not want to reach a plateau of 1 or 3 or 5 contract and be satisfied with that. I believe that if I am going to do this seriously then I need to achieve maximum level of profitability that my intellect, knowledge, skill level and discipline allows me to. I do not know if the above explains my reasons behind hitting myself with 40% tax rate. I guess it is like training with some kind of Kung Fu master who is putting his pupil through all kinds of extreme exercises to better prepare him for the competition. Well... same here. If in the end I will pay 20% on April 15 instead of 40% than i will be very happy. In the meantime it is 40%.
As for reading, so far I have completed about 15 books related to trading and have couple more to digest before spring. They have been very helpful and I am slowly beginnig to understand some aspects of trading.
AustinP among others have made a lasting contribution to my education and thanx to him and of course some others ET is still frequented by me for other reasons than just entertainment . I have a habit of going back to my old threads and re-reading them every couple of months and so far every time I have done it, I was able to 'get" something new. As I accumulate more info, I start to see the whole picture better.
I started with a copy of e - signal and a file of a month's worth of YM from 2005. Believe it or not, at the beginning, I was "scalping" it for 1 point. then came the books and internet. Now I am paper trading using live e signal and Open e cry for account and comparing it to my first type of paper trading, the difference is like day nad night. I still have another 5 to 9 months of learning before I will fund my trading account and see if I can hack it. Until then .... more books, more paper trading and more posts on ET. Thanks for your help.
Saxon22
I think JJ's point is that you don't have to pay taxes from you profits until the end of the year as futures are marked to market. So if you make $1500.00 in the first month of the year then proceed to lose $2000.00 you don't pay taxes on any of your winning trades from the first month if they are from futures. If and when your profitable for the full year you will only pay taxes on your profit total for the year. If you are trading one contract for every $5000 capital and you grew your account from 5000 to 10000 by March 1st you move to trading 2 contracts. If you make it to 15000 by July you move to 3. By December you account is worth 18000 you would pay 40% taxes on the 13000 profit. You would then start the process over again with the 12800 that you have left in your account in January trading 2 contracts. At least that my interpretation of how the system works and what JJ is saying. You can work with your profits throughout the year and taxes are taken from the profit you have left. Not all along the way. Hope I got it right Jimmy.
JIM