Share your opinions and experiences on Futures Trading.
5/28/2007 4:07:03 PM
vmcd62
Posts: 7
|
Well, this site has certainly attracted traders of all walks...some good, and I'm sure some not so good.
I am curious as to who is profitable overall in their trading career, regardless of whether you are trading for a living or not.
I am in the 95 percent...
If you would like to sound off and let us know what side you fall into, it would be interesting to see the results...
|
|
• permalink
• reply with quote
|
5/29/2007 1:20:26 PM
hhounds
Posts: 0
|
I am in the 95% although I am holding my own now after a year of trading. I started out making money and then lost and lost. Now I go up and then back down but am no longer losing (just not gaining either)
|
|
• permalink
• reply with quote
|
5/29/2007 2:33:48 PM
vmcd62
Posts: 7
|
By the way...this post was not meant to embarrass anyone...I am proud to be in the good company of 95 percent of other traders...not that I like the end result...
|
|
• permalink
• reply with quote
|
5/29/2007 3:20:39 PM
Step
Posts: 0
|
I'm lucky to be in 5% by your definition.
|
|
• permalink
• reply with quote
|
5/29/2007 3:25:24 PM
vmcd62
Posts: 7
|
"Step" wrote:
I'm lucky to be in 5% by your definition.
Congrats Step...I feel like I'm on the cusp of being in the bottom of the 5 percent(for the year at least..I have a ways to go before breaking even overall)...just need more discipline, discipline, discipline...and patience... :wink:
|
|
• permalink
• reply with quote
|
5/29/2007 4:44:37 PM
Step
Posts: 0
|
just need more discipline, discipline, discipline...and patience...
... right, and be not to greedy, be realistic in expectations, have good tools, back test and forward test your ideas first... 
|
|
• permalink
• reply with quote
|
5/29/2007 7:13:24 PM
newtrader
Posts: 0
|
95% is too simplistic:
1) the exact number is an industry estimate with little verification behind it.
2) there isn't 95% losers and 5% winners. Generally, there is believed to be a wide band of people who are approximately breakeven. The latest I saw, was probably 80% assorted losers, 15% breakeven area, and 5% profitable.
3) Most of the top 5% are market makers, corporate organizations/investment banks with powerful research (such as Goldman's) behind them on behalf of their clients, or other industry professionals. Few are individuals trading from home, spending a 100 bucks a month on a trading service...
4) It is unlikely that the 5% is a wealthy 5%. Like other things, it is also a spectrum. Someone making 5,000 a year might claim to be in that group. Is that what we all dream of? The real goal, is probably be in the top 1% or less.
I would say I am roughly in the breakeven category.
|
|
• permalink
• reply with quote
|
5/29/2007 8:00:05 PM
vmcd62
Posts: 7
|
"simplistic" is not a word that describes you newtrader...you made this anything but simplistic..I have no proof of the 95-5 "statement"...that figure has been used often...but it was more for fun just to see what kind of answers we get, and so that maybe can learn from the profitable ones..the question I asked was "Who is profitable overall in their trading career?"...nothing unclear here, but a very simple question to answer.
..and yes, I would think that "the real goal, is probably be in the top 1% or less."
|
|
• permalink
• reply with quote
|
5/29/2007 9:52:05 PM
Administrator
Posts:
|
the truth is 90% 5% 5% but that changes every year a break even trader is thought as a loseing trader
|
|
• permalink
• reply with quote
|
5/30/2007 2:05:06 AM
bfons
Posts: 0
|
[b:884e337044]Based on this, why am I even trying to be in the 5%?[/b:884e337044]
I don't have the time and resources as the big dogs do. So if that places me in the 95%, why would I even bother trading?
|
|
• permalink
• reply with quote
|
5/30/2007 11:39:58 AM
vmcd62
Posts: 7
|
"bfons" wrote:
[b:5832544ba1]Based on this, why am I even trying to be in the 5%?[/b:5832544ba1]
I don't have the time and resources as the big dogs do. So if that places me in the 95%, why would I even bother trading?
That's a good question...people want to try to suceed at this even if the money runs out...
|
|
• permalink
• reply with quote
|
5/30/2007 3:09:32 PM
Brian
Posts: 0
|
i trade for a living with my own money and make enough to replace the income from my former career as an auditor
|
|
• permalink
• reply with quote
|
5/31/2007 2:10:51 AM
StratRider
Posts: 0
|
:a0a3aecfd8 wrote:
I trade for a living with my own money and make enough to replace the income from my former career as an auditor[/quote:a0a3aecfd8]
that is my only goal, just replace my current salary. No real greed here, but I do still have a day job
|
|
• permalink
• reply with quote
|
5/31/2007 3:45:59 AM
vmcd62
Posts: 7
|
"StratRider" wrote:
:413d6407ac wrote: I trade for a living with my own money and make enough to replace the income from my former career as an auditor[/quote:413d6407ac]
that is my only goal, just replace my current salary. No real greed here, but I do still have a day job Yes me too...although maybe double what I make in a job would be more like it...
|
|
• permalink
• reply with quote
|
5/31/2007 3:59:50 AM
nimble
Posts: 0
|
I belong oto the 95%
When I get consistent the goal is to replace my day job for the time freedom that trading provides.
|
|
• permalink
• reply with quote
|
5/31/2007 4:09:28 AM
mart
Posts: 0
|
I was in the 95% last year and this year in the 5% and will quit my current job this summer and do trading full time. 8)
|
|
• permalink
• reply with quote
|
5/31/2007 10:20:48 AM
vmcd62
Posts: 7
|
"mart" wrote:
I was in the 95% last year and this year in the 5% and will quit my current job this summer and do trading full time. 8)
Good for you mart..especially when I see you taking those 10+ pt gains when we're flat or stopped..you obviously have game..
|
|
• permalink
• reply with quote
|
6/1/2007 8:17:05 AM
futuresanalysts
Posts: 0
|
A couple of questions for those 95% traders who have been posting here and following along with OMNI
Have you found better success in getting out of the 95 percentile since you began using my OMNI recommendations and my site?
Am I offering meaningful content and helpful trading wisdom in your opinion(s)?
How would you rate my "OMNI Trading Academy" as I like to refer to our site compared to other similar sites you may have visited?
Please be honest when expressing your opinions. I can take the criticism for better or worse.
I will use your responses to tailor the site more toward your suggestions. My plight is to help us all "Bridge the Gap" between the days of old when we had to call our orders down to the dinosaur dens to todays electronic trading environment. You input is not only welcome but vital to our success.
I would like to congratulate those OMNIACS out there who have exhibited great discipline and proved brave enough to take the OMNI trading recommendations each day.
I look forward to your replies.
Oscar
|
|
• permalink
• reply with quote
|
6/1/2007 12:56:32 PM
vmcd62
Posts: 7
|
Oscar...you have an awesome thing going...and if we all had your experience and winning strategy in our heads we would be in the 5 percent...the problem with "some" of the "95 Percenters" is that, since we're not there yet, we have MANY different sources for knowledge(which I'm sure you do too)..but may not have locked in any one particular theory for what works..because..we're not winning overall, so the search for what consistently works is always constant...but also, we as traders overall are independent in our thinking...and so it is tough to ingrain particular thought patterns into us..even coming from a successful trader who is doing it for a living...call it behavior modification, or whatever...
Having said all that...it is tough for some who don't have a large account to put in a breakeven stop when there is positive money on the table...another legendary trader and teacher...who doesn't give us great trade recommendations daily(no recs at all in fact) ...Joe Ross...states that you should "get paid to trade"...i.e., manage each trade so that you are at least paying your expenses(as in a business) and that you are not letting at least half your profits slip away...anyway..take what the market gives you...the little account guys appreciate that thought.
So, for me...my only problems so far in trading are mental toughness and discipline, and maybe having too many sources to tap on trade mgt., etc...I'm not sure if this would help you make any changes for our benefit or not, but just viewpoint...
|
|
• permalink
• reply with quote
|
6/1/2007 9:42:17 PM
newtrader
Posts: 0
|
"futuresanalysts" wrote:
A couple of questions for those 95% traders who have been posting here and following along with OMNI
Have you found better success in getting out of the 95 percentile since you began using my OMNI recommendations and my site?
Am I offering meaningful content and helpful trading wisdom in your opinion(s)?
How would you rate my "OMNI Trading Academy" as I like to refer to our site compared to other similar sites you may have visited?
Please be honest when expressing your opinions. I can take the criticism for better or worse.
I will use your responses to tailor the site more toward your suggestions. My plight is to help us all "Bridge the Gap" between the days of old when we had to call our orders down to the dinosaur dens to todays electronic trading environment. You input is not only welcome but vital to our success.
Oscar
Think you have a lot of positives. But:
-- I think you press too hard each day to have a daily trade. There is nothing wrong with "Flat today." Suggest you add a couple of filters. The mid-June short trades against a strong uptrend were a poor choice for a few weeks. It broke the trendline around May 24, and that was a time to again consider shorts. A good statement to remember is "when in doubt, stay out."
-- A number of people requested that you consider other instruments. This site has become a one-trick pony, of S&P & Nasdaq trades only. I don't understand why you continue ignoring the requests of numerous posters on the forum for a few other instruments?? Diversification would be a significant value add. Just consider something like wheat, crude, euros, bonds, gold. It would also make you different from other websites, who are so transfixed with emini trading. And some days when the s&p loses or does not , then other instruments might balance out the day.
-- There is a horrible number of naive traders out here. They read a couple of books and see Oscar on YouTube, and poof, here they are. Their statements on the forum often indicate a major lack of trading acumen. In their hands, leveraged trading can be dangerous (gee, at $500 daytrading margin, I can get rich in 3 weeks with my $5000 account!! then, "WAAH Oscar, I lost all my money in 10 minutes; why???) I suggest you add some kind of education link, covering some of the basics: leverage, futures trading/eminis, and other concepts. Don't just depend on past videos, make it part of the site. Most of this stuff is free off the exchange websites. Just point to a few things.
--
|
|
• permalink
• reply with quote
|