[darthtrader]

how would you setup your first index futures account/strategy/risk management/position size/profit target?

i just closed out my last swing trade today so should be getting setup in the next few weeks. i'm looking to open a $5k tradestation account. trade YM, 1 contract.
i have been thinking a 10 point stop, 20 point daily profit target. do those sound reasonable? I would like to then add in another 5k to the account once i'm consistent to be able to scale with 2 contracts.

any general mistakes anyone made they would like to share that might be able to avoid?

also, did anyone not blow up their first account? I realize that may be a given on this account.

LOL. Those who don't admit that they didn't blow up or nearly kill their very first futures trading account must be world-class traders by now.

[weiwei]

darth trader, those are reachable goal on YM. but TS execution plateform, in my opinion, is not scalper friendly.

So make sure that you master how TS execute, and be comfortable with it.

[darthtrader]

thanks guys, great to hear 20 points is a reasonable goal.
Cant say how much I love this board already. Other boards ive been on it feels like I know more than the posters, on here I know absolutely nothing.....

[weiwei]

darthtrader, one way to get a feel of a market is to find out its daily average range.

It can be easily done with Excel after you imported the daily OHLC data.

It will then give you a view on if what you asking is realistic or not.

For YM, it puts in about 80 points a day. So 20 is not too much to ask. IMHO.

Originally Posted by weiwei »

darthtrader, one way to get a feel of a market is to find out its daily average range.

It can be easily done with Excel after you imported the daily OHLC data.
IMHO.

Why not just use Wilder's ATR on a daily chart?

Average True Range - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[weiwei]

Cooter, that is ATR. as for me I am only interest for daily range for scalping purpose, which is (High - Low).

[The Bear]

Originally Posted by darthtradar »

how would you setup your first index futures account/strategy/risk management/position size/profit target?

i just closed out my last swing trade today so should be getting setup in the next few weeks. i'm looking to open a $5k tradestation account. trade YM, 1 contract.
i have been thinking a 10 point stop, 20 point daily profit target. do those sound reasonable? I would like to then add in another 5k to the account once i'm consistent to be able to scale with 2 contracts.

any general mistakes anyone made they would like to share that might be able to avoid?

also, did anyone not blow up their first account? I realize that may be a given on this account.

I think it's very doable with a 5K account, but just stick to trading 1 contract for the next year. I checked my records for you, in my first year as a speculator I had a drawdown in the account of 8.2%, so according to my records I did not blow up the account, this included commission fees. This was mainly trading the YM short term. That was about 300 round turn trades. If you are disciplined, you can minimize blowing up any accounts the first year.

Don't get obsessed with making money or your 20 points per day. If you can break even in the first year or two for futures (including commissions), you probably have a bright future.