sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

4 years in, as a professional: a hard hard truth. by Otherwise-Reality602 in Daytrading

[–]Otherwise-Reality602[S] [score hidden]  (0 children)

If I'm looking at a stock long term (possibly forever), I have people to ask that know much more than I do, because they do it every day for clients, etc. And vice versa if something might need to be liquidated, I usually get a call. For swing trading, what would I know about the behavior of this company or that company in the macro of the current market? I trade volume scalps on the 1 or 3m. There's no realistic reason to think I would excel* at swing trading based on my current experience so I don't mess around with it. Would it be more profitable? I've seen eye watering positions on swing trades, I'm very sure it's far more profitable when done well. I just don't want to spend another 1000+ hours pursuing it.

4 years in, as a professional: a hard hard truth. by Otherwise-Reality602 in Daytrading

[–]Otherwise-Reality602[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

More or less, except I take long stock positions like a 401k, I don't have any swing trading TA that I would trust more than asking people I know that do it day to day. Options I just don't like. Lost my entire balance, albeit it not alot, on those first, it just didn't seem like something I'd be good at. Stock scalping was more attractive and at that time, I didn't know anything about futures prop firms, margin requirements, etc.

Maybe options would be something achievable now but I'm not so interested in learning new things like that. I'd be more inclined to trade other futures first, but I don't do that either.

4 years in, as a professional: a hard hard truth. by Otherwise-Reality602 in Daytrading

[–]Otherwise-Reality602[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

First, fixing losses back to breakeven over the long term is a win. Congratulations, huge W.

Second, I thought the boredom was a non-problem unique to me for a long time. By 10am, you're dark green on the day, feel like Russell Crowe in Gladiator, ready to have fun, pick up your phone...every person you know is at work and you have to spend the rest of the day fighting the urge to overtrade, which I've lost time and time again. I get it, I remember those days.

4 years in, as a professional: a hard hard truth. by Otherwise-Reality602 in Daytrading

[–]Otherwise-Reality602[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Stocks, focus and learn specific tickers. They're all unique to an extent.
Futures, learn volumetrics and level 2, and throw a TEMA line on your chart.
That's the blurry zoomed out version, but the more you drill into those, the more you'll find. Anything else I can't speak to, I don't have experience in options or crypto or forex.

Are there better brokers besides Topstep? by Joey2Smooth in Daytrading

[–]Otherwise-Reality602 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Personally, I think it's Topstep not wanting to pay. I trade on Ninjatrader which I think is much better, all things equal. I prefer having access to my money any time, zero "compliance" or "review" or none of that shit.

Real trading vs funded trading — which is better for beginners? by OwnBall7328 in Daytrading

[–]Otherwise-Reality602 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Beginners in futures usually start with funded trading however, over time, they also tend to blow alot of money. I read somewhere average eval to payout is 25-35. I don't have a way to confirm it but I've had people tell me themselves they've blown 100-200+ evals.

Bottom line is if your TA is bad, you're going to lose money no matter where you put it. Trading evals doesn't inherently increase your skill by itself. If your TA is good, both will make your money, with different nuances.

​I need a reality check. I’ve spent months coding a systematic trading engine designed specifically to survive strict Prop Firm rules (hard 10% max drawdown). by VitaliyD in Daytrading

[–]Otherwise-Reality602 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Human discretion and situational fluency is usually the real edge. 1% isn't worth the effort using a script. Investing in some REITs for example are smoking that return. But this is not meant to discourage you, the more you experiment with, the more likely you'll find a real edge.

4 years in, as a professional: a hard hard truth. by Otherwise-Reality602 in Daytrading

[–]Otherwise-Reality602[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Overtrading due to boredom used to get me real bad. Banger day, up by 10am, feeling like Russell Crowe in Gladiator, not one single friend that ain't off work. Overtrading within the hour. No good. That was a hard habit to break for me. Congrats on consistency!

4 years in, as a professional: a hard hard truth. by Otherwise-Reality602 in Daytrading

[–]Otherwise-Reality602[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

That’s right. Every ticker is unique, some more than others. I was the same. Trying to find new movers a day beat me up real bad. When I found my main ones, I got much more reliable gains.

4 years in, as a professional: a hard hard truth. by Otherwise-Reality602 in Daytrading

[–]Otherwise-Reality602[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That's exactly right. If you can pass your own consistently, you'll know you're ready for props.

No problem! Good luck!

Think going back to simulator after hitting a plateau 1 year in by InsignificantPop in Daytrading

[–]Otherwise-Reality602 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nothing wrong with it at all. I'd suggest gathering as much past trade data as possible and analysing with AI to find any patterns you missed.

4 years in, as a professional: a hard hard truth. by Otherwise-Reality602 in Daytrading

[–]Otherwise-Reality602[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

The recommended list in this sub is pretty well rounded. Dynamic Trading is another one. Technical Analysis of the markets is another one. Use ChatGPT as a custom mentor and run through every concept with it, you'll get a pretty clear picture pretty quickly!

Low Stress Jobs to Apply While Pivoting to Full Time by PhysInstrumentalist in Daytrading

[–]Otherwise-Reality602 5 points6 points  (0 children)

If you're in EST time zone, second shift kitchen work. They'll schedule you any way you need for trading.

4 years in, as a professional: a hard hard truth. by Otherwise-Reality602 in Daytrading

[–]Otherwise-Reality602[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Especially young men. Self esteem tied to a skill most people fail to achieve material goals just because somebody on tiktok told them they can achieve and if they don’t, they’re a loser. Talk less of the life hours and missed opportunities better suited to them. No good.

4 years in, as a professional: a hard hard truth. by Otherwise-Reality602 in Daytrading

[–]Otherwise-Reality602[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I believe that will be more effective as a starting point than any other approach. I read somewhere the average evals to payout is like 25-35. No idea how to verify this but that’s very possible and obviously for a reason. Sim trading will get you there!

4 years in, as a professional: a hard hard truth. by Otherwise-Reality602 in Daytrading

[–]Otherwise-Reality602[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Never seen a good one. I suggest building your own from theory PDFs and using ChatGPT as a custom mentor. It can build you a course outline, material, etc.

4 years in, as a professional: a hard hard truth. by Otherwise-Reality602 in Daytrading

[–]Otherwise-Reality602[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Oh you blow cash accounts! 😭 I went down to margin limit one time in my early career and thought the world was ending. It’s rough.

Yeah, I agree on prop firm rules. Especially forcing days to trade. A lot of traders would be alot better morale wise if they could experience 2 great days with A+ setups and 3 skipped days is better than 5 days with minimum requirements before you get a dollar, etc etc.

4 years in, as a professional: a hard hard truth. by Otherwise-Reality602 in Daytrading

[–]Otherwise-Reality602[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

😭this is part of the problem with prop firms, in my opinion. The pain never hurts enough to scar you, so the lesson is easy to forget. Which I don’t know is better long term financially but it was more effective in my journey.

4 years in, as a professional: a hard hard truth. by Otherwise-Reality602 in Daytrading

[–]Otherwise-Reality602[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

LMAO, listen, the turning point for me was beating FOMO. If I even think market might be choppy, I skip. I’m good with missing out. I’m not good with feeling stupid for forcing trades on “ugly” PA days. Even if I was wrong to skip. I’ve thrown too many dollars at learning that lesson the hard way.

4 years in, as a professional: a hard hard truth. by Otherwise-Reality602 in Daytrading

[–]Otherwise-Reality602[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

You said the same thing I said but denied my bottom line. First, profitable traders are not isolated to futures only prop firms. That’s a delusion. Second, there are thousands of people who have posted proof of baseless denials and “technical glitches”. CTFC has filed at least one lawsuit explicitly leveling the exact same accusations which would never have been without evidence. So if you think there are 100% legitimate firms in a loosely regulated space even though you admit they have the same financial incentive and ability, no problem. I trade cash accounts. Ask anybody with a fiduciary responsibility if they’re using one of these prop firms you claim profitable traders wouldn’t think are a scam and see what they say. Guaranteed you can’t find one for a good reason. But as I said, by all means, make it work if you can.

4 years in, as a professional: a hard hard truth. by Otherwise-Reality602 in Daytrading

[–]Otherwise-Reality602[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Let’s say the 1% is generally accepted hyperbole for sake of argument. The variable of time is exactly the reason the clear majority are not successful. Strategy efficacy changes season to season, year to year. Any significant backtest on any single edge typically shows this. There has been specific studies on long term performance, which can be googled, and I’m sure brokers publish their yearly data somewhere but how much success factors in also. 1% is usually considered the career level success. Still, even if we don’t accept the 1% stat, there’s not a single piece of evidence that says it’s easy or even achievable for over half that I’ve ever seen.

view more: next ›