Wait. Trading is hard?

Getting to breakeven shows progress.

Just do more homework. Do more of the stuff that's winning and less of the stuff that loses.

For instance, in trading russell futures, I've found that I had too tight a stop so I changed my trading to increase my stop as well as think more in term of ranges.


Quote from michael21:

Hey guys so I've been trading for about 1.5 years now and I was able to go from losing about $1,500/month to break even in 9 months. For the last 6 months or so I've sized up from 100 to about 300 shares (I was losing bigger money trading futures) and it feels like everyday is the same damn thing. I either make $20 or lose $20...I feel like I'm doing nothing.

Is this a sizing issue? Do I need to size up? I used to have this fire in me even when I was losing. It's slowly turning into eh who cares?

I'd greatly appreciate any advice.

Thank you
More...
 
i was profitable from day 1.

Made 50% in first 6 mths with shortterm futures. However, i have gone back to work :-)

It was easier money and way less stressfull. I gues I could do it back then if my liabilities were small and account balance decent which was not the case.

only after many years of partttime i started enjoying beeing in position. and looking forward to increase size to the level of swinging dick status, which would be 6 digit risk per trade for me.

oh, yes, get rid of TA for serious money.
 
Quote from ELR:

The majority of the problems with following a plan is one´s emotional state. It is like a football game. You have a plan, the opposing team scores two quick touchdowns, you throw the plan out the window and start doing insane things to catch up. Same with trading. Easy to jump off the plan.
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Computers don't have emotional states, do enough backtesting, enough sim forward testing, think up all the possibilities of what can go wrong with the trade and find answers on what to do. But hardly no one wants to do this.

It is very hard going at it alone, as brokerages have a thinktank room size of traders working on all the possibilities of problems that can go wrong with a trade, they brainstorm. So instead of how fast one can open an account and start trading, most be better off working for min of two years without real time trades.
You have to try to become numb when you trade your method, the method makes money or losses it, NOT you unless you alter the rules. Just a numbers game.

Work harder at getting losing % under 20%, leaves 80% for wins/breakevens.
 
Quote from michael21:

Hey guys so I've been trading for about 1.5 years now and I was able to go from losing about $1,500/month to break even in 9 months. For the last 6 months or so I've sized up from 100 to about 300 shares (I was losing bigger money trading futures) and it feels like everyday is the same damn thing. I either make $20 or lose $20...I feel like I'm doing nothing.

Is this a sizing issue? Do I need to size up? I used to have this fire in me even when I was losing. It's slowly turning into eh who cares?

I'd greatly appreciate any advice.

Thank you
More...

Stop day trading
 
Yes, the bigger firms have serious brainpower testing and devising new trading strategies. They have very low costs. But then again the large broker dealers have always had a built in edge via costs, flows, etc.
 
You answered your own question. You aren't motivated like you once were. You need to find that passion again. As cliche as it sounds. Things change you make or loose $20 a day. Maybe its time for a new instrument to trade. All the lessons you learned will carry over. Maybe that will spark some motivation.

Also. if you are trading futures I dont see how you can make money consistently. Move to stocks. No one I know can predict where the entire market will move next. But dumb it down to a single stock and you have a shot. Futures, indexes, etc are just way too efficient. Only used for hedging and hedge fund games. Just concentrate on the stocks that are in play that day...
 
Quote from mastertrader456:

You answered your own question. You aren't motivated like you once were. You need to find that passion again. As cliche as it sounds. Things change you make or loose $20 a day. Maybe its time for a new instrument to trade. All the lessons you learned will carry over. Maybe that will spark some motivation.

Also. if you are trading futures I dont see how you can make money consistently. Move to stocks. No one I know can predict where the entire market will move next. But dumb it down to a single stock and you have a shot. Futures, indexes, etc are just way too efficient. Only used for hedging and hedge fund games. Just concentrate on the stocks that are in play that day...
More...


I always ignore anybody who can't spell lose, because they are more than likely uneducated.
 
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