avir4tg

In the beginning one contract is more than enough even during low periods of volatility. These are the times when you will really test your patience and discipline. What do your trading rules and strategies say you should do during low vol. periods? I coach others to only increase contracts when they are tracking their rules compliancy to >than 90%. If you can't follow your rules with one contract, you have nothing but pain waiting for you with multiple contracts. Lastly you have to take what the markets are giving you and the fact that you are looking at ways to trade differently (with more contracts) is dead on. However, most of our peers on this board will tell you not to increase size until you have more time and experience. Good luck my friend.

In the beginning one contract is more than enough even during low periods of volatility. These are the times when you will really test your patience and discipline. What do your trading rules and strategies say you should do during low vol. periods? I coach others to only increase contracts when they are tracking their rules compliancy to >than 90%. If you can't follow your rules with one contract, you have nothing but pain waiting for you with multiple contracts. Lastly you have to take what the markets are giving you and the fact that you are looking at ways to trade differently (with more contracts) is dead on. However, most of our peers on this board will tell you not to increase size until you have more time and experience. Good luck my friend.

Definitely agree with comments regarding the volatility of FDAX. I love trading this instrument just for that reason. However, please proceed with caution. A few of the folks I work with prefer it as the pre-market contract of choice. I would also like to suggest that you don't ignore good books on the "trading psychology" required to be successful. At the end of the day your indicators are probably less than 20% of your trading results. My favorite recommendations are: The Daily Trading Coach by Brett N. Steenbarger, and Trading in the Zone by Mark Douglas. Another good read is Millionaire Traders by Kathy Lein. It interviews very successful traders and walks you thru their failures and success. Good luck! BTW, you can't go wrong with Mirus and Ninja Trader. I've been with them for a long time and have no complaints. I would recommend them to anyone.

I'd like to offer both congratulations (in a positive way) to this trader for giving trading a shot and knowing when to walk away. We regularly read about have a "trading or business plan." Anyone that's ever started a new business knows the importance of having an exit strategy. I submit our trading plans must also have an exit strategy. From my experience engaging with other traders, trading with risk capital is often not the case. They may start with risk capital, but then quickly turn to any capital when things go bad. From there it's a slippery slope.

Hi Tradezilla. I'm a full time trader of e-minis, mostly TF, and ES. I'm a very short term scalper and avg anywhere from 50 to 250 RT's a day. I would love an opportunity to check out your skype room. How can I get info to join? Thanks for the opportunity. I look forward to hearing back from you.

A couple of quick thoughts. 1) I stop trading if I take 3 consecutive losses. I evaluate if I lost on good trades, meaning I followed all of my entry rules but still got stopped out. If this is the case I walk away for 15 minutes and come back with a totally clean perspective. No direction bias, etc. If my losses were due to not following rules, then I'm done for the day. 2) My trading style is very short term scalping. I have a daily goal that I will often stop at. Being done early is one of the benefits of being a full-time trader. 3) I only trade e-minis. If there is a clear and decisive trend (1500T, 550T charts never cross over my EMAs) I may stick around and take advantage of what the market is offering for the day. 4) I also have a 3 hour a day trading limit that I have to admit I break more often than I should. I typically stick around longer if I'm down for the day. Gotta continue to work on this one.

I agree with all the comments that "position sizing" is key when calculating how big or small a stop loss should be. I submit the only badly placed stop loss is not using one - at all that is. If anyone (short term day trader) was trading the eminis on 7/15/2011 you could eaten some big losses being on the wrong side without stops. There were several whippy, multi-point moves in the e-minis. My observations are that most traders let their losers run, and cut their winners short. If a trader doesn't have the discipline to get out of a losing trade, don't you agree they MUST trade with stops? Trading without stops is arguably the #1 ruin of failed trading careers. From my experience it makes sense to use different stop loss strategies based on your trading time frame. If you're a long term trader, larger stops seem appropriate. Short term traders will typically go with tighter stops. Either way I'm a big advocate of knowing exactly where I'm going to get out before I fire on a trade. I'm a very short term scalper so when I enter a trade I automatically have my stop loss entered. If I'm trading the TF I start with a 10 tick stop. With the ES I'll use an 8 tick stop, etc. I'm very active in managing and adjusting both my loss and profit stops based on how the trade is working out. I like to use the swing high/low indicators as guides on stop placements. My strategy works very well for me, however I'm sure it wouldn't work for others. The most important thing is to incorporate a stop loss plan that suits your trading system and that you can follow instinctively. No right or wrong answers on this thread.

Hello wanr. I know my reply will not directly answer your question. I just want to throw out that you should also invest time in the psychology side of trading. I hope others on this thread will agree with me that the majority of mistakes you will encounter will be "between your ears." I've observed many new traders constantly switch their trading system because they blame their losing performance on bad technical indicators. Most of the time it's "The archer, not the arrows." When you are starting out is the best time to build a good foundation for the mental side of trading. At a minimum I'd like to suggest you journal your behavior while trading. If you really want some good feedback assign and track your outcomes to money. For example when you break an entry rule which results in a losing trade - how much did it cost you? Just my 2c. I wish you the best of luck!

I've always believed that "trade management" is most important. A good entry can become a loser, just as a bad entry can become a winner. It all depends on how stop loses and profit stops are managed. Sorry for the grey answer. If I had to vote I'd go with exits since they represent both loss and profit stops.

#1. Always trade with stop losses. Trading without them is the #1 ruin of traders.