sweeping out profits

[lescor]

If you are with a professional or proprietary firm, the amount of capital in your account isn't usually an issue, since you are trading the firm's money and they will extend as much margin to you as you need, within reason.

I've had $40,000 in my account for most of the year, but have moved some of it into other things and am now trading a $15,000 account. Nothing has changed, I still do the same size and never have a problem. I put in 1-2,000 share orders on 60 stocks for opening orders alone and often get 10 or more fills.

 

[Quah]

Quote from Marc to Market:



If NY gets nuked, I'd more than likely die, but assuming the topic starter lives far enough away from NY or DC, why would he want to keep cash in his mattress? The US Dollar would likely suffer just as much as other securities such as equity or bonds or whatever. I think if you're betting on a nuclear event here in the US, you'd far be better off investing all of your money in gold per se. This is a fucked up way of thinking, but I do know a few paranoid people who live their life this way after seeing 911 personally.

Marc

Well, you obviously missed my whole point. I'm not paranoid about anything.

 

[nitro]

Quote from lescor:

If you are with a professional or proprietary firm, the amount of capital in your account isn't usually an issue, since you are trading the firm's money and they will extend as much margin to you as you need, within reason.

I've had $40,000 in my account for most of the year, but have moved some of it into other things and am now trading a $15,000 account. Nothing has changed, I still do the same size and never have a problem. I put in 1-2,000 share orders on 60 stocks for opening orders alone and often get 10 or more fills.

You are not trading at Bright then. AFAIK, the 15K number at Bright is a "line in the sand." That is, if your account goes below 15K for a certain period of time, the payout is no longer 100%, but I believe it is 85%.

All prop/prof firms have their own quirks...

nitro

 

[praetorian2]

I personally have 2 accounts. In one account, I daytrade. I often use 4:1 leverage intraday, and go home with more than 1.5:1 overnight leverage. This account is very successful b/c I'm just using very short term trading in it. I usually average about 20-30% return monthly in it. My main concern though is since I use so much leverage, every so often, I take a massive hit. Therefore, I usually sweep this account into a larger account which only invests in long term positions. This second account doesn't use leverage, and only invests in deep value stocks. Therefore, this account doesn't have the same type of % returns. I don't mind though, because as long as I don't exit the positions, short term fluctuations don't matter to me, and I use them to add to my positions.

I have for a long time kept the trading account at about 60k and swept it out every time it got up to 75k. Recently, as my other account got larger, I have let my trading account go up to 100k. This gives me much larger profits to sweep out each month. I have found that when I let the account ever get up to more than 30% of the sweep out ammount, 130k+ it almost always just produces an outsized loss for me. Therefore, I'm quite religious about sweeping the damn thing. I will probably let the trading account continue to grow as my other account grows and keep it in about the same perportion of assets. I like the pretty steady sweep out profits, but I don't want to risk too much of my account on short term, highly leveraged trading.

 

[Quah]

Quote from Marc to Market:



No, I didn't miss anything.

What I'd like to know is why you'd want cash if the economy goes into turmoil? The US dollar would likely go down the drain, so why would you suggest cash in his mattress if terrorists nuke NY?

Marc

Yes, you did miss something. I didn't suggest cash in his mattress if terrorists nuke NY. I suggested having your money somewhere other than your futures trading account if, for some reason, there was an event that caused a position to go against you dramatically.

I agree that having cash in your matress you not be the best thing if terrorists nuked NY. But it sure as hell would be better than having it in your futures account sitting there as excess margin when your long position goes bigtime against you - and the broker keeps it. I'd rather have the cash and a margin call than absolutely nothing.

 

[bobcathy1]

I agree sweeping out is a good concept, if you are not actively trading that money it would gain interest in a CD or MM. I only keep so much in the trading accounts too.

There is an old adage...."Those that can't do, teach...." So always remember that when you shell out hard earned money for an expensive course. It is YOUR job to surpass the teacher!