Trader P/L 2006 Questions and Discussion

[illiquid]

Quote from kiwi_trader:

I trade a lot less size in my day trading account than I could but I don't think that makes me a bad trader - just satisfied with what I make and not in need of a bigger challenge in this area of my life. I am in awe of the 15k per day guys though. IMHO

Kiwi

Yeah I guess account size was the wrong target, I should have meant maximum exposure instead. For the record, I currently trade between 1-2 lots in EUR, JPY, GBP, and 2-4 in CAD.

I limit myself to single lots in ZB, QM, ZI etc cuz I'm the consummate contrarian indicator in those markets.

 

[Dogballoon]

Quote from illiquid:

I would just be suspicious of someone with a large account making a very consistent but relatively small amount daily in a highly liquid and volatile market like EUR.

So it's the liqudity constraints that make it hard for equities, but not so in futures, so a large account in futures with a smart trader should be able to bypass the liquidity problem and better maximize their strategy.

That makes sense to me, if I understand you right.

 

[tradewiz50]

Quote from regulajo:

Quote from naz9403:



Even if i make a laughable $30 bucks a day thats 6% and 6% is 6% right?

Naz, are you making fun of my $8.00 today, I worked hard for that...

Wow, $8.00 a day. You could afford 2 of these maybe?

 

[illiquid]

Quote from Dogballoon:

So it's the liqudity constraints that make it hard for equities, but not so in futures, so a large account in futures with a smart trader should be able to bypass the liquidity problem and better maximize their strategy.

That makes sense to me, if I understand you right.

I made the reference to constraints in stocks because there are some strategies that just max out at a certain point, which is not usually the case in futures. But I guess my point would apply to equity traders as well.

Take a trader that makes a consistent $500 daily trading say euro futures. Knowing that his max intraday exposure was 1 lot or 20 would tell you whether he is a genius or a (so-far lucky) fool.

 

[illiquid]

kiwi,

I don't know what others might get out of posting P/L's for themselves, but for me it's to humiliate myself as much as possible when I do stupid things and post outsized losing days.

No better way to get over one's ego in not wanting to take a loss than to magnify it a hundred-fold on a public forum.

 

[kiwi_trader]

LMAO ... thanks for that illiquid. Excellent.

 

[krazyanyway]

Quote from MasterRaistlin:

I know a few people who mysteriously only seem to pop in when they have positive days. I'm sure they just "forget" the other days

It all depends on trading style really. I get one red day every two months, and I'm nowhere near a great trader. But I'd have to agree that amongst all the different trading styles that are applied by members here, it's hard to believe that red days are so rare for just about everyone. Then again, the most obvious answer is that some red days are ... "omitted"

Now let the first-post-ever flaming begin ?

 

[BoyBrutus]

Quote from illiquid:

kiwi,

I don't know what others might get out of posting P/L's for themselves, but for me it's to humiliate myself as much as possible when I do stupid things and post outsized losing days.

No better way to get over one's ego in not wanting to take a loss than to magnify it a hundred-fold on a public forum.

Excellent point illiquid. Since posting on the PnL thread my average daily profits have actually decreased and so have my losses for that matter. I thought about stopping posting but then realize that this is the next step to take to not have these external influences, in any form, from affecting me. So I have stated this publicly, so it shall be done.

 

[Thunderdog]

Just a quick observation, if I may. There is no question that many of the numbers presented in the P&L thread are impressive, and I suspect that a sizeable proportion of them are actually valid. However, here's the thing. Unless the reader knows the trader's capital base, there is a lot missing in the way of context. The first question that comes to mind whenever I read about a trader's or fund's absolute dollar earnings is, what is the equity or capital base? Don't you? And if so, then why would it be any different in the P&L thread?

 

[giggollo]

How do you define "capital base"? If I have $100,000 buying power available to me, and today I use $20,000 of it only, and tomorrow I use $50,000, what is my capital base?