[AppliedPeople]

For the last two months, I've been trading ES contracts with think or swim's Papermoney simulator. I'm ready leave the kiddie pool and try wading in the shallow end trading single contracts for real money. I am opening an account with tradestation, and I'm wondering what differences I should expect? Will I experience slower execution? Slippage? Both? The simulator sometimes seems too good to be true...which leads me to believe it is. Any help on being mentally prepared for the frustrations I'm likely to experience would be welcome!

[jonbig04]

When I switched from ninja sim to ninja live there was no discernible difference on NQ and ES.

[BrianNC]

Originally Posted by jonbig04 »

When I switched from ninja sim to ninja live there was no discernible difference on NQ and ES.

Glad to hear that. I have been Ninja sim trading for a few months now and getting close to going live.

[AppliedPeople]

I began trading live today, and I found a very immediate difference...namely that in simulated trading a buy order is filled on the bid and sell orders are filled on the ask whereas the reverse is true in live trading. Pretty big difference! Don't I feel silly.

[jchatel]

For options, you have hidden quotes. Market makers having script to trigger orders close to bid/ask, so I never pay the displayed price. I never tried ES and such though (moving too fast for me ).

Oh and also, stress level is way different, but you are most likely already aware of this

Happy trading.
Jeremy
Affinity

[AppliedPeople]

Originally Posted by jchatel »

For options, you have hidden quotes. Market makers having script to trigger orders close to bid/ask, so I never pay the displayed price. I never tried ES and such though (moving too fast for me ).

Oh and also, stress level is way different, but you are most likely already aware of this

Affinity

Thanks for your comments, Jeremy. I did indeed find that the stress level is very different. Knowing it will be different, and experiencing the difference are very far apart.

As for the ES, I find that the tape also moves much more quickly and erratically on with tradestation than with thinkorswim. It felt like chaos, like gambling. Not where I want to be.

Is there something else you like to trade? Are there other financial futures that move more slowly, that would be good for beginners?

For the moment, I'm back to paper trading. I donated 2.5% of my funds yesterday. Expensive way to learn, but learn I did.

Gabriel

[ZOSO]

If you are on NT sim and you want realistic fills, you must set it to "Enforce partial fills."

[edabreu]

Originally Posted by AppliedPeople »

For the last two months, I've been trading ES contracts with think or swim's Papermoney simulator. I'm ready leave the kiddie pool and try wading in the shallow end trading single contracts for real money. I am opening an account with tradestation, and I'm wondering what differences I should expect? Will I experience slower execution? Slippage? Both? The simulator sometimes seems too good to be true...which leads me to believe it is. Any help on being mentally prepared for the frustrations I'm likely to experience would be welcome!

Mentally prepared .... accept those losses as part of the process. You need them to learn how to lose properly, quickly, and get ready for the winner. In addition, there is going to be more pain when you see the money go out of the account. So, try not to look at it as a daily process. It is the weekly and monthly that really counts. If you are positive at the end of the week, 3 out of 4, then you will be positive at the end of the month. Don't get too frustrated if your broker makes more in commission than you do in profits for the first few months. If you are positive...even 3% those first couple of months, it is still a good beginning. Concentrate on consistency, not profits. If your approach is sound (bigger winners than losers just to keep it simple) then consistentcy will make it work. As you get better it will become exponential as you add leverage.
So, good luck! Watch out for the rest of us who are out to get your money