Looking To Begin Trading Futures: $$ Losses

[Bfbusa]

Hello Werdgr,

Hmm....thats a tough one. I don't recommend trading futures or stocks in the after hours. Extremely risky. The best advice I can offer is what I would do if I were in your shoes.

First. Learn to swing trade stocks. Thats taking a position for a few days to a week or two. or FOREX. The Foreign exchange.

If you get a day off from work, then you could e-mini futures or stocks.

One more thing. You say $20,000? OK, take just half of that and put in a brokerage account. Keep the rest in a safe place, money market etc.
This way it will force you to trade small at first until you discover your edge and learn proper risk management. Always remember, if you learn to control your loses, your profits will tend to them selves. Always use stops and stick to your trading plan.

Hope this helps, good luck.

[Kiwi]

You could probably trade the new mini-nk in osaka in the after hours timeframe. Its small, liquid, honest, and has nice trends on (say) 5min bars. Also market profile etc apparently work well with the Nk. IB will let you trade it or the SGXNK but you need to check whether its open for USA nians yet.

[ezduzzit]

As I began reading the responses to poor Andrew's inquiry I was flabberghasted that no one was telling this well intentioned but severely misguided fellow to stop trading with real money until he found a method where he was routinely and consistently profitable! There is no acceptable reason to let someone go on like that without calling it to their attention as the first and most immediate order of business.

I take my hat off to Kiwi who was the first and only one to really tell it like it is and bring poor Andrew back to reality before he had to take a job at WalMart for a year or two just to replenish his initial trading capital.

Please, let your initial risk capital come in the form of your time, study and effort, not your hard earned money. Once you have found the method that works for you consistently, that is the time to start risking 1 or two contracts per trade (again just on high probability trades) until your confidence, success and working capital all grow to the degree that you feel comfortable moving up to greater size, which I suggest you do very slowly anyway.

It takes awhile, even at the smallest of size, to adjust to living with your trading emotions when you make the switch to trading real money. You will undoubtedly find that as you increase in size you may have to re-learn how to live with those emotions again and again until such time as you finally reach a size and/or risk level you do not feel comfortable going beyond.

Additionally, Kiwi mentioned patience as a key trait of a good trader. I am here to tell you that successful trading can often feel as boring as watching paint dry, so you better get comfortable with that. Otherwise you are likely to be jumping in willy nilly at the wrong times just to be actively trading and I can think of no more sure way to a rapid blow-out your account.

Andrew or any other inquisitive beginner should read Kiwi's advice over and over again until it sticks like glue and becomes your way to attack trading the markets.

Happy Trading To All

[PipsTrader]

From my own personal experience I would recommend starting off with funds that are expendable. At least for me when the funds are less, I feel less pressure when positions are going against me and I am able to make more sound decisions.

[Bfbusa]

MY Recommendation is this. Download the InfinityAT demo platform. You trade live market with real P\L but with no money. It's as close you will get the real thing and paper trader at the same time.
Infinity Brokerage Services

[dalby]

I think the mini nikkei is a great idea. I've played around with it before, and at 1/5 the size of the SGX contract, it's MUCH more manageable for beginners.

If you have over 25k in the account, then you can daytrade the DIA as a proxy for the YM.

It's an ETF and every 100 shares = $1 per dow point, so you can trade much smaller size than the dow minis, and still get the same market exposure

the problem is that you will violate pattern daytrader regs if you daytrade it with less than 25k

DIA also has inferior fills compared to YM (at least in my experience), so if you can make your strategy(s) work on DIA, you will be well equipped for YM.

[Soultrader]

	Quote:	dalby
	I think the mini nikkei is a great idea. I've played around with it before, and at 1/5 the size of the SGX contract, it's MUCH more manageable for beginners. If you have over 25k in the account, then you can daytrade the DIA as a proxy for the YM. It's an ETF and every 100 shares = $1 per dow point, so you can trade much smaller size than the dow minis, and still get the same market exposure the problem is that you will violate pattern daytrader regs if you daytrade it with less than 25k DIA also has inferior fills compared to YM (at least in my experience), so if you can make your strategy(s) work on DIA, you will be well equipped for YM.

Would you happen to know any brokers besides IB that provides mini Nikkei? Thanks

[dalby]

nope. I am an IB user (also AMTD) and am in the process of signing up for TS.

I didn't realize other brokerages didn't have it