sevensa

You don't need Amibroker to open the files. You can open Amibroker .afl files with notepad, or any text editor.

This is true for any US broker if you want to daytrade stocks.

Your anology is a bit off. Sim trading and real trading is not like playing virtual tennis and real tennis. This is like practising tennis with a training partner and playing competition. You are honing your skills and shots while practising and then applying it in match play. One of the big problems with beginning traders are that they don't stick with one thing long enough to see if this is viable, but continually adding/removing indicators. This is very possible and very likely that any profitable system can have two losing weeks in a row. If you only sim trade for two weeks during that time, you might abandon a good system. Also IMHO to say one should trade a micro fx account is probably far worse than sim trading. Different markets have different personalities and by trading one market and then switch over to another is most likely not going to work. To use your analogy if you want to play tennis, you should not start playing racquetball and then enter into a tennis competition. I won't be able to explain my entries and exits to a 10 - 12 year old, but they still work for me. How can you say then that I have a wrong system? I am wondering if you have any facts to back up all the statements you are making? I would be really interested in reading up more about them for background information.

You realize that your response makes no sense, right? I realize you are just here because this is the only place where you can even remotely attempt to pretend to actually be someone (even though you just embarrass yourself), but this wouldn't hurt your cause by taking a minute to think first before you post.

I wouldn't bother too much with him. This is just "forsearch" who was banned twice before and saw his chance to come back again with a new id when new management took over. He clearly has nothing better to do. Pretty sad really.

Good thing then that calling people psychological instable is not part of any of the below...

Are you actually making money with all your theories? Are you trading at all? Just curious...

There is no best way. That is why trading is so hard. If there was a best way, everyone would be doing it. The only way to find what is working for you is to look at different charts and different intervals for many, many hours until you find something that you are comfortable with.

I don't see how this is misleading to say that if you have an edge that result in average profit that covers commissions and then some, that you do not have to be concerned about commissions and that you can make a decent living that way. Maybe you can explain if you average $12.5 a trade and pay $5 commissions to achieve that for an average profit of $7.5, how commissions will cause a trader to fail, even if trading 4 contracts, 5 times a day? I still stand that comissions is probably the last reason why a trader fail and the main reason is over leveraging and lack of a real edge. I also fail to see the relevance of your example and look to be a bit of a stretch. Why would your Derek Jeter example above only relate to scalping and commissions and not any kind of trading? I don't see how you draw the line from that to scalping, nor to your statement about commissions. I think this conversation has run its course since the topic has moved on from the original premise and apparently now is if one can learn to be a trader or not. An interesting topic indeed, but not one I am interested in debating.

I said average profit per trade and never said you have to win them all. Average profit per trade of 1 tick means that sometimes you will win more and sometimes you will lose, but on average after 5 trades you would be 5 ticks ahead, minus commissions. I am surprised that you do not understand the concept of average profit per trade. In your "math", your average profit is less than 1 tick ((1 + 1 + 1 + 1 -1)/5 = 0.6). You are changing the math to try and prove your point. You don't need to be correct 80% of the time. You can easily be correct only 50% of the time and still net 1 tick average profit per trade. Scalping is not a losing proposition. Scalping is a losing proposition for you. There is a difference. Just because you cannot do something does not mean it cannot be done. You are not helping any newbies by not understanding core concepts and making generalizations based on your own inability to trade a certain way.

Ok to quote you: If this is not your expertise, why do you think then you are qualified to provide advice on this topic? You are focussing on the percentage commissions of the total account. If you are profitable after commissions, the commissions you pay will not be the reason you fail as a trader. The ratio of commissions to contracts stays the same . Actually in many cases it comes down as you can negotiate lower commissions with higher volume. In my example the trader is profitable with 1 tick profit that is enough to cover commissions and make a reasonable return per month. My point is that comissions are not such a big deal as you want to make it sound. Comissions are the least of his worries, since even with one contract, he still makes 7.5% which is still much higher than the 1% you advocate. Why then are commissions a concern? In your arguement above if 40% goes to the house on 4 contracts, then 40% is going to the house in 1 contract. If you pay $5 for 1 contract, you pay $10 for two. If you are a scalper type trader, your percentage pay for comissions will always be higher than if you hold for bigger profits. If your average trade is 1 tick for one contract, it is 2 ticks for two contracts. If you are profitable for 1 contract after commissions, you are profitable for 2 contracts after commissions, regardless of what percentage you pay for comissions. That is all that matters. A trader needs to be more concerned about levarage and make sure that even a small drawdown wouldn't wipe him out. That is what would wipe him out. Not comissions. Do you trade for a living with trading profits your sole income? Is 1% enough for you to live on? How much of that 1% do you actually take out each month as I assume you also like your account to grow, so you would actually live on less than 1% a month?

In my opinion, with the low commissions obtainable nowadays, commissions are the least of your worries and is not the reason why traders fail. I think most traders fail due to no edge and low margin requirements allowing them to trade far more contracts then they should and cannot survive a drawdown. You cannot just look at commissions and number of contracts traded and ignore average profit per trade. If your average profit per contract covers your comissions per contract and then some, then commissions become irrelevant and you need to look at leverage and drawdowns. No one should be trading 4 contracts if they are not profitable trading 1. Assuming your average trade is 1 tick profit in ES, then using your example, for the 5 trades of 4 contracts each, your gain for the day is: 12.5 * 4 * 5 = $250. Subtract the $100 commissions and you come to $150 a day and $3000 a month. That is 30% on a 10K account. Not bad for 1 tick profit per contract. Even if you trade one contract, this is still $750 a month, or 7.5% on a 10K account. I don't see how anyone can make a living trading by going for 1% a month, unless you have a very large account. With a 500K account, 1% is $5000. Very few will make a living trading a 10K account, but you surely don't need 500K either and to suggest this is what is required just because you lost your shirt trying, is not very sound advice.

And then hope you do not come back and find you lost internet connection, or your trading software terminated for some reason while you were away as this will not have the desired affect on your anxiety level.

What's the point then of having a yearly goal if you stop early without reaching it? If you want to take December off, your trading plan and goal should take that into account.

How would you explain to someone what it means for it to change color from one bar to the next? Write out the condition of each bar and see if that helps.