fxjaykay

1. The only way of actually knowing what you do (or realise that you don't) is by going live at some point. 2. When you do go live with your trading plan, especially when you are not a seasoned trader, you should keep it as small as realistically possible. 3. Also, before you go live, you should practice, as I mentioned. So your point was? Please clearify so that we can benefit.

Tomerok, just stating the obvious, but still: the fact that you ask and thus doesn't know, tells me that you're not quite ready. And in reality, there are only two reliable sources of information to that which you ask for - the market and yourself, Neither I nor anybody else on this forum can know better. So go ask the market and yourself instead. How? Prepare. Go live but smaller (I am presuming that your 10k is what you have got to put in there), which might mean trading something else than futures. If you can make it work small, then make the transition to what you had in mind. By then you should have a well founded idea of what you are capable of reaping in on an average daily basis, and also what can go wrong at times. Let me repeat one point - start small. If you can't make it work small, you won't make it with a larger account either. Now, 10k is a rather small account, but you can go for forex for instance, that will give you the possibility of placing real trades with realistic order handling and outcome, but still put only a smaller part of your capital on the line. /j

Two things come to mind: 1. regarding futures trading platforms, my experience is that the difference between a live and a demo account can be huge, as demo orders are not routed for real, nor are they subject to first-come first-served rules that apply IRL, where you will stand in line after those who simply are faster, and they will not be few. Forex on the other hand (not currency futures but actual forex) tend to be closer to reality even with a demo account. One reason being that the forex markets are extremely liquid most of the time, especially if you trade the majors, so switching to a real account is more seamless. 2. Many tend to point out the difference between demo and live trading in terms of the pressure. Personally, I have to disagree. I guess it depends on you as a person. If you trade the demo with a serious mind, sticking to your rules, taking the trades that you should according to your plan, not taking the others etc, you should be dead-on. If switching to real money makes you goof, you probably spend to little time on the demo, or you are trading to large positons, or both. Look at the demo trading as a test that you need to pass in order to be eligible for live trading, that should put the right amount of pressure on yourself. Anyway, since you are in the futures markets, be very careful when switching from demo to live. You need to be prepared for some not-yet-experienced slippage to say the least. Take care.

Trading has no purpose of its own. Consequently, if you feel the need to ask whether you should stop, then you probably should. If you change your mind, you could always come back, right? Also, since you state (and re-state) that you are seriously addicted to over-trading, that says it all very clear. Trading is not for junkies. Get yourself straight, stay away, and don't even look this way during a pre-defined time. So yeah, you should quit, for some time or for good.

The Mac Mini is not really designed to be a workhorse. I have one for just surfing/music/watching movies, but I wouldn't use it for trading unless I had to. A Mac or PC with better specs (incl a graphics card with dedicated memory, rather than integrated graphics borrowing from the RAM capacity) would be commendable. All trading platforms that I have tested on Xp on Parallels have worked just fine. I have not tried Tradestation, but from what I've heard, that one works as well. If you Google on "parallels tradestation" you'll find some on that subject. Anyhow - unless the Mac is powerful enough with enough RAM, you could have performance issues. Best, fxjaykay

I use a MacBook Pro 17" with XP rolled on Parallels, this is my main machine since I do move around a lot, and it works just fine. /J