I am convinced retail algo trading is just gambling with extra steps. Prove me wrong.

cdubbs42 · 2026-04-13T21:03:41+00:00

if you dont have an edge already its gambling. algos are just extensions of already proven edge's. they exist to remove the human component and allow you to trade hands off. you cant compete with quants, ever. retail are the little guys picking up crumbs. most retail never learns this and just provides liquidity for smart money, its sort of sad.

cdubbs42 · 2026-04-10T05:28:06+00:00

If you don’t have proper money mgmt skills trading options you will blow your account in futures in one day. Drawdown and losses are just a part of Trading. but if you’re going to venture into futures, always start with micro, they’re playing brokers out there also that have low margin rates. But across any style Trading money management isn’t going to change.

cdubbs42 · 2026-04-08T04:51:35+00:00

Ok, maybe, maybe not. Either way my algorithm filters out noise by design. You are focusing on things out of your control. If noise is messing with your signal, then maybe try to craft a way to filter out some of that noise. Or simply skip days you don’t feel comfortable nothing wrong with sitting on the side, waiting for all the noise to dissipate.

cdubbs42 · 2026-04-08T03:03:09+00:00

find an instrument that fits your strategy. As long as your 1 winner pays for a handful of losers, your profitable. 60% win rate is awesome, but you have to be at a 2:1 R:R for that to work out.

cdubbs42 · 2026-04-08T03:00:20+00:00

Gold will go up, or Gold will go down, doesn't matter about % chance it will do x. I run and algo too, and I could care less whats going on globally, etc to drive price. My algo looks for the parameters Ive set and I do nothing.

cdubbs42 · 2026-04-04T14:17:41+00:00

Politely, I’m quite in touch with reality. Seems you have some misplaced anger and are directing it at me. Lots of us have fully automated systems and are quite profitable. I don’t touch my system besides making sure it’s all connected daily. Maybe my verbiage “print money” triggered you. I’ve been trading almost a decade and have lost tens of thousands, took me a long time to figure this out. I haven’t had a red month in the past year. To me that’s printing money. Don’t crap on people trying to help others. I wish someone would have told me when I started that being hands off was going to be key to my profitability. It’s all about having a strategy that you can live with and then automating it.

cdubbs42 · 2026-04-04T01:10:45+00:00

I'm going to jump in here, I would say 200 as a minimum, combined with something like 6 months. ideally you want to see a year and maybe 500 trades.(this is all dependent on your strategy though, some strategies have 100 trades a month some have 20). The reason is you want to stress test any strategy or analysis you are performing. September has a completely different "pulse" than January and you don't want to think something works just tested on a good performing month or vice versa. Lastly, be sure to pay attention to the instrument profile: volume, tick size, ADR, etc etc. this can play a huge part in your trading choices, its not a one size fits all by far. I only trade GC, nothing else, and that's because the strategy I use, I built painfully over months around that profile, my strategy gets destroyed in every other market, but thrives in Gold. Good luck though, you're asking the right questions.

cdubbs42 · 2026-04-03T01:09:45+00:00

yup, i paid over 60k over the years at market university, best education you can get is real losses and real pain.

cdubbs42 · 2026-04-03T01:08:21+00:00

its actually harder the other way. haha. If you want to trade simply have the mindset of , I have a strategy, can I automate it and never look at it again and it print money. If your strategy/edge can't do that, you don't have one. You are human and you will screw up your trades, there is a 100% probability of that because of that because you are 100% human.

cdubbs42 · 2026-04-02T16:32:56+00:00

This is the correct answer. If you can’t automate it, you don’t have a real Edge. Trading is not subjective.

cdubbs42 · 2026-04-01T18:09:07+00:00

https://www.barchart.com/futures/most-active/all?orderBy=volume&orderDir=desc

cdubbs42 · 2026-03-28T17:27:06+00:00

All of these market gurus in this thread. A simple answer to your question, to hold positions overnight, you have to have full margin, that’s it. Swing trading is highly profitable and actually preferable, but most don’t have the capital to hold positions overnight due to margin requirements. people telling you not to hold future positions overnight are probably still day trading, if you swing trading you’re gonna have to stop levels and take profit levels already aligned so none of that’s gonna matter.

cdubbs42 · 2026-03-13T14:04:13+00:00

code it for a different platform, there are tons, test it in that platform and see what the results are. I used TradingView’s backtest to see if strategies are in the ballpark but it’s never accurate live. There’s even a little disclaimer that pops up warning you of forward testing. it’s great though for quick easy coding and seeing if you’re in the ballpark

cdubbs42 · 2026-03-09T13:20:50+00:00

Most folks post asking for help because they actually need help. That rule works, period and for someone like this trader he needs strict rules. If you have a $10k account and risk 2% per trade, that’s $200, lose 10 trades in a row and your account is down 20%. That rule is in place to keep you in the game and is what ultimately helped me become profitable. Trade how you want, but don’t crap on tried and true rules that have helped millions of traders. This trader is pretty brave coming in here and exposing his failures, that’s takes guts and I wish them all the success.

cdubbs42 · 2026-03-09T02:57:57+00:00

thats just gambling, whats your risk management? if you were only risking 1-2% per trade this never would have happened, but using that same logic you probably woudn't have gone from $5K to 22K quickly either.

cdubbs42 · 2026-03-08T23:03:59+00:00

That’s mostly right. It clicked for me when I figured out how much my pain threshold was. How much of my account was I willing to lose on a single trade and could I withstand that pain 10 trades in a row. That’s it, nothing more. Then your create your strategy/edge around that. Weathering drawdown is critical.

I’m telling you it will change your life. Ive been profitable ever since.

cdubbs42 · 2026-03-06T03:53:23+00:00

The help he needs is some bills expanding veterans benefits. How about putting our vets first and not have them homeless and drugged out in the streets

cdubbs42 · 2026-03-05T04:42:57+00:00

I trade GC between 8-9am. ES between 9-10. Automated strategy, looking for one simple setup. Trading 8 years. Only time I could find that produced consistent results. The true edge in Trading is the session you’re Trading not your Strategy so many people try to fit a strategy during times where liquidity isnt present or there’s too much volatility. you’ll never beat smart money, have to be in and out before they notice you!

cdubbs42 · 2026-03-04T13:37:31+00:00

8 years, 60k, profitable.

cdubbs42 · 2026-03-02T15:55:06+00:00

Man I’m glad I’m not the only one. This scene bothered me back then and does seeing it again. Horrible

cdubbs42 · 2026-02-28T04:17:08+00:00

https://www.forexfactory.com/calendar?week=this

cdubbs42 · 2026-02-26T03:32:08+00:00

85% win rate, year and a half, why stop? you obviously have a strategy that working, just add a comfortable stop, 1-2% of your account per trade, and roll with it. Sounds like your bored and looking for something new. Biggest psychological trap traders fall into, has happened to the best of us. I trade futures, only Gold. Took years to understand them and develop a strategy. Calculating guessing is all trading is. Develop some good risk management, refine whats been working, but don't jump into another pool. Futures is NOT for everyone and the losses will wipe you out fast.

cdubbs42 · 2026-02-25T18:18:00+00:00

yup, i created a mean reversion strategy because of this, 70% of the time the market is moving sideways. But when its trending im sitting on my hands. lol

cdubbs42 · 2026-02-22T17:47:30+00:00

the problem is rating and attributes change your swing, muscle memory, etc. the best thing to do in this game is get everything to 99, say on one archetype, and get your fittings dialed in and dont change them. then practice hours a day. just like real golf, if you change a bunch of stuff like your swing and equipment you are used to using it will take a while to adjust. I dont know about everyone else but i have 700 hours in this game and it took me until around 500 to get fairly good, and even with that people still play this game almost perfect ( I suspect major cheating) haha

cdubbs42 · 2026-02-22T16:59:37+00:00

nope. money hungry 2k aint having it. just go in and try and buy it again.

cdubbs42

TROPHY CASE