One year officialy day trading

[robalocc]

Hello to all.. I ave been reading posts on this forum for the past 7 years,the advice and comments I have read here for free, has made me a better trader 100 times compared to nonsense money I have previously spent over the past 5 years buying courses,books,seminars etc... although I did learn terminology and many other things...I feel the "real" info on here gave me the upper hand to finaly succeed.
In 16 days I will be officialy daytrading for 1 year as a full time occupation. As of today the year has grossed me $147,000 before taxes. I trade the emini dow. I just feel I owe this forum my time to shortly describe my journey.

My first year I took my chances spread betting, I was sure I was going to make money because after paper trading for a whole month, I was making serious money, as a matter of fact I was surprised how easy this is, and didnt really care about signals,candlesticks,trends,stochastics and the rest...I finaly decided to open an account with 7000 euros I had saved up, after approximately 3 months my account was at 0.
I was flustered, came back to the forum, read books,seminars etc... paper trading was so so, I was wondering if my first paper trading gains were simply luck...
Seven months later I open an account again with 5000 euro I have saved and this time it lasted 4 months.... back to zero . my frustration was unreal, sleepless nights, and a awful feeling of failure.
determined to be successful I studied and studied, paper traded for 6 months and I barely broke even, I opened a real account again with 3000 euro , and that lasted 2 months... I gave up !!
I am a chef, and a good chef if I may say so, I was offered a job on a cruise line making 6 times the money I was making in Greece. I had saved 65 thosand u.s Dollars in 2 years, and decided to daytrade part time as my job was too important to be staying up all night and day trading and studying. I opened an account again worth 5,000 u.s dollars, after trading for 2 years my money became 43 thousand.. I asked to take a leave from my job for 1 year and they allowed me, and have a contract stating I can start my work after the 52 week period. During this past year is when I was daytrading for a living. I was 13 thousand shy of my regular pay, but I will admit the hours were the same if not more daytrading... But I enjoy it much more, and I am my own boss.
I decided to look at all my trades from the past, and what I was doing different. I was very surprised that in actuality I was trading the same, almost the exact way I have done in the past, except for a few things..but my "system" was the same. What I found was that I was trading "scared" and that is the reason why I wasn't successful. Maybe it sounds silly, but its the whole honest truth. My stops were way shorter, and my gains were way quicker taken out. Trading scared was iresponsible ... I now follow my system and knowing I will have losing days does not effect me, before tose losing days would cause fear ( lack of funds/income) I will go back to my job for a year again, and day trade on the side, then will decide for good. I just wanted to share this experience to those who may be going thru the same thing I did. I DO NOT mean trade without fear, I am trying to preach find steady income and trade money you cAn afford to lose, it will make a world of difference. Have a plan, stick to your proven plan...test it , back test it. The rest is psychological...more than I ever could imagine. Good luck to you all...Happy holidys !

 

[robalocc]

I wanted to ad... In the begining, I went out and purchased a multi monitor computer set up, one for 1 minute chart,3 min chart,5min chart,one for trading platform. Underneath each one I had bollinger bands,macd,stochastics,rsi,volume, 5 ema avergaes on screen, auto treadline alerts and probably much more.... and they all made it more difficult. I'm not going to tell you which ones worked because in reality they all work, I chose the 3 that worked for me and my way of trading, I learned to read those 3, I am in rythm with them and the price movement, they together with the chart tell me when to enter and exit the trade,I do not enter or exit due to my gain/loss amount... I now have a laptop with one screen... and trading is actualy much much smoother.

 

[kwickwool]

Good honest post with good information. I remember going back 5 years that fear feeling type of trading and you are so right if the pressure is on your account balance you end up collecting profits too early and letting losing trades run.

The best item on your post which is why I am replying here is the "in rhythm to the price action"....so underated and probably the most important aspect of trading. I like to think of it as almost conducting an orchestra, you feel the market and what it is doing and where it is going. Allso choosing your indicators is not as important as being able to read what they are telling you 24/7.

Good post................

 

[15 min tlb]

Hello to all..


I decided to look at all my trades from the past, and what I was doing different. I was very surprised that in actuality I was trading the same, almost the exact way I have done in the past, except for a few things..but my "system" was the same. What I found was that I was trading "scared" and that is the reason why I wasn't successful. Maybe it sounds silly, but its the whole honest truth. My stops were way shorter, and my gains were way quicker taken out. Trading scared was iresponsible ... II DO NOT mean trade without fear, I am trying to preach find steady income and trade money you cAn afford to lose, it will make a world of difference. Have a plan, stick to your proven plan...test it , back test it.

The rest is psychological...more than I ever could imagine.

They give grammar classes as well on t2w.

 

[robalocc]

Yes my grammar is horrible, I am working on that as well : )... I was born and raised in Greece, but getting better .... Kwickwool, I love the "ochestra" ...perfect example !!

 

[Pi3141]

Are you still using a spreadbetting company or have you gone with a real broker now?

Pi~

 

[robalocc]

No I havn't done spread betting since my first year.I have been using a online broker,and just trade the emini Dow (ym).I pay $5.00 per trade, unlimited contracts.Spread betting is simply a fools game iny opinion,but just my opinion.

 

[kwickwool]

No I havn't done spread betting since my first year.I have been using a online broker,and just trade the emini Dow (ym).I pay $5.00 per trade, unlimited contracts.Spread betting is simply a fools game iny opinion,but just my opinion.

Yep, only way to trade. spread betting CANNOT be used if you trade profitably, simples.

 

[donaldduke]

Hello to all.. I ave been reading posts on this forum for the past 7 years

Whats was your previous trade2win username?

 

[malaguti]

Yep, only way to trade. spread betting CANNOT be used if you trade profitably, simples.

Interesting statement. given that its tax free, I find it hard to believe you couldnt find it a profitable way. I'm doing OK, I think you get some underhanded sh** going on, but its still a great way. Other countries aren't so lucky.
What do you use then? Which broker if you dont mind me asking

 

[kwickwool]

Interesting statement. given that its tax free, I find it hard to believe you couldnt find it a profitable way. I'm doing OK, I think you get some underhanded sh** going on, but its still a great way. Other countries aren't so lucky.
What do you use then? Which broker if you dont mind me asking

I use Interacive brokers and dukascopy. I sometimes use capital spreads overnight on the DOW due to their good spread out of hours, also if I have a poor internet connection but am on dealer referal with them and accept that but rarely use them.

End of the day, u are taking from their bottom line profits each time you win, they cannot 100% hedge, so if you do win regular you will come up against tricks. If you can win with a SB you can do it with a direct access broker even better who is only concerned with you trading more to get commission and never takes the other side of the trade.

Just bearing the above in mind ultimately there is only one eventual solution.....

 

[malaguti]

I use Interacive brokers and dukascopy. I sometimes use capital spreads overnight on the DOW due to their good spread out of hours, also if I have a poor internet connection but am on dealer referal with them and accept that but rarely use them.

End of the day, u are taking from their bottom line profits each time you win, they cannot 100% hedge, so if you do win regular you will come up against tricks. If you can win with a SB you can do it with a direct access broker even better who is only concerned with you trading more to get commission and never takes the other side of the trade.

Just bearing the above in mind ultimately there is only one eventual solution.....

OK thanks Kwickwool. I guess its the charges that you encounter every time you make a trade that puts me off..and the tax of course. I normally switch SBs as soon as I get any sh** happening. I might try IB and see if it works out any better. Thanks again

 

[Pi3141]

No I havn't done spread betting since my first year.I have been using a online broker,and just trade the emini Dow (ym).I pay $5.00 per trade, unlimited contracts.Spread betting is simply a fools game iny opinion,but just my opinion.

Why isn't it possible to win with a spreadbetting company? - With some companies the spread is the same as the YM (1point) so technically it would be the same right?

Pi~

 

[justtrader]

Spread bet companies do not monitor your account on an individual basis.
So all this crap about once you win, they start making things difficult is absolute ****e Unless you are trading something like 500 pounds a point, which you would not do, at that level you would go DM.

 

[new_trader]

Yep, only way to trade. spread betting CANNOT be used if you trade profitably, simples.

I found the very opposite thing happened with me. When I first started trading with IG Index they kept manipulating the market in order to take out my stop and then immediately reversing it just after doing that! They would also give me bad fills and/or move the market in the opposite direction to what I expected as soon as I entered!!! No matter what I tried I couldn't make money...All this changed when I started to understand more about the market and became profitable...now those scoundrels at IG Index hardly ever hit my stops...what a coincidence!

 

[malaguti]

Spread bet companies do not monitor your account on an individual basis.
So all this crap about once you win, they start making things difficult is absolute ****e Unless you are trading something like 500 pounds a point, which you would not do, at that level you would go DM.

All I can do is talk from my experience. Now that I'm turning my accounts around, slower to fill, slippage, referred to dealer. I notice when I'm winning not when I'm losing. Who knows whether they look at individual accounts, but I get a call from my account manager every so often, so there must be some individual monitoring. Money I make, is money they are potentially losing..you think they're OK with that?

 

[NVP]

Hello to all.. I ave been reading posts on this forum for the past 7 years,the advice and comments I have read here for free, has made me a better trader 100 times compared to nonsense money I have previously spent over the past 5 years buying courses,books,seminars etc... although I did learn terminology and many other things...I feel the "real" info on here gave me the upper hand to finaly succeed.
In 16 days I will be officialy daytrading for 1 year as a full time occupation. As of today the year has grossed me $147,000 before taxes. I trade the emini dow. I just feel I owe this forum my time to shortly describe my journey.

I am trying to preach find steady income and trade money you cAn afford to lose, it will make a world of difference. Have a plan, stick to your proven plan...test it , back test it. The rest is psychological...more than I ever could imagine. Good luck to you all...Happy holidys !

hey R....

thanks for sharing.....i hope your words inspire people that it can be done but only if people look within themselves and explore/discover their own Individual Trading personality away from the other noise.....

the Markets are sitting there for people to make money ......but sadly few step through the looking glass and make the internal mindleap to get the rewards

naturally I could (and other will) make comments about your style , risk profile and other things.......but thats not the point of the thread .....we are all different and need to walk a differnet path in our trading..... one Traders "heaven" is another Traders "hell" so I wont dwell here ......

well done and best wishes for the future
N

 

[NVP]

I would advise people to get their account managers upgraded as soon as possible..if you deal with the kids then you suffer the games the SB's play

if you havnt got the shpeel and bu*llsh*t to talk it up to people who will look after you .....then keep practicing till you can

N

 

[new_trader]

All I can do is talk from my experience. Now that I'm turning my accounts around, slower to fill, slippage, referred to dealer. I notice when I'm winning not when I'm losing. Who knows whether they look at individual accounts, but I get a call from my account manager every so often, so there must be some individual monitoring. Money I make, is money they are potentially losing..you think they're OK with that?

Do you have a DMA account? If not, I suggest you open one and trade it for a while because it will open your eyes up to what goes on in the real market. That way you can make a valid comparison between S/B and DMA. I am not defending S/B but I want to dispel the myth that S/B companies start playing dirty tricks once you become profitable. It is absolute garbage and doesn’t stand up to any real scrutiny.

It really starts to sound desperate and ridiculous when a trader says “I would be profitable if it weren’t for those meddling spread-betting companies”

 

[malaguti]

Do you have a DMA account? If not, I suggest you open one and trade it for a while because it will open your eyes up to what goes on in the real market. That way you can make a valid comparison between S/B and DMA. I am not defending S/B but I want to dispel the myth that S/B companies start playing dirty tricks once you become profitable. It is absolute garbage and doesn’t stand up to any real scrutiny.

It really starts to sound desperate and ridiculous when a trader says “I would be profitable if it weren’t for those meddling spread-betting companies”

I dont have DMA, and I will try this as a comparison thanks.
Im also not saying I could be profitable were it not for SB. My success, and failure lies in my hands, in the strategy that I am executing. There is no element of blame I am putting on anybody other than myself were I profitable or not.