Anyone here trade futures?
- Thread starter papajohn56
- Start date
I've been in this for a while. But def not the pro.
If you need pro advice - elitetrader is one of top forums fot this. they have broker rankings/reviews, software rankings/reviews so it's pretty good place to start.
Also BigMike forum can be very helpfull - this guy trades mostly futures and CL in particular.
What ever you trying - 1stly try on DEMO. check mirus futures - they will give you DEMO account for 1 month, NinjaTrader+ ZenFire data feed which pretty good combo.
If you need pro advice - elitetrader is one of top forums fot this. they have broker rankings/reviews, software rankings/reviews so it's pretty good place to start.
Also BigMike forum can be very helpfull - this guy trades mostly futures and CL in particular.
What ever you trying - 1stly try on DEMO. check mirus futures - they will give you DEMO account for 1 month, NinjaTrader+ ZenFire data feed which pretty good combo.
I really just need the basics. I've got a thinkorswim account I'm using the fake money with right now, but really need to know wtf I'm doing, at least the basics.
from what i've learnt TOS is bad for trading futures, even for DEMO trading, your DEMO have to be as close as possible to your real actions.
that's why i recommend to use NinjaTrader + ZenFire for your datafeed. It's very common amoung average(not BIG$$$) traders - moneywise best solution. If one day you will become BIG trader you gonna use X_trader.
Just my advice.
if you don't have experience trading stocks, start with those. once you get good at that, skip futures and trade forex.
everyone thinks they are a good trader these days. wait until it gets volatile... then we'll see who the real traders are. :love-smiley-086:
everyone thinks they are a good trader these days. wait until it gets volatile... then we'll see who the real traders are. :love-smiley-086:
forex is also zero sum. I need to learn how the basics generally work in day trading or just trading overall I guess.
I just found this:
TOS Enhanced Chat
I just found this:
TOS Enhanced Chat
Look for books by Toni Turner. [ame="http://www.amazon.ca/Beginners-Guide-Day-Trading-Online/dp/1593376863#reader_1593376863"]This[/ame] <- was my first trading related book. She breaks everything down to "layman's terms" when possible and her books read well.
I don't think forex is zero sum bro, because you have to pay transaction fees to your broker.
Think of it like poker, you can still win, but the house is always winning.
If I were to get into forex I'd do it by learning to create Neural Networks that can work with Forex, not actually learning Forex itself.
In a sense, there is no real zero sum anything then as someone is always making a fee/profit without the risk. With it being the same, then its all the same.. amiright?
trading forex, stocks, or futures is all about the same thing
if someone loses the money, there's someone on the other side getting that money. you can be on either side
if someone loses the money, there's someone on the other side getting that money. you can be on either side
For the most part, you're right. A broker has little incentive to facilitate a transaction without charging a fee. Having said that, you still shouldn't assume that the game/business is zero sum.
Those fee's can turn you from a winning player to a losing player real quick. Those fee's can also affect your strategy in the game. For example, if i'm charged a 5% fee every time I make a trade, then i'm probably going to be making long term investments as to minimize the amount of times I get hit with fees. If the fee is %1, then I may be more inclined to give high frequency trading a shot.
Stocks are different. Stocks can gain in net value due to the company gaining in value. Stocks aren't derivatives. With stocks it's actually possible for every party to win in some way.
it's all the same once you start thinking about it in terms of trading and not investing. broker fees, commissions and all that shit doesn't matter once you know how to trade. of course it's good to have low commissions if you're not trading with much capital though. the reason forex is better than stocks or futures once you learn is just that it offers more leverage/profit. even the 3x ETFs don't offer much leverage in comparison to forex. more to lose in forex also, which is why it's good to start with stocks.
The futures, forex and stock markets are rigged for you to lose. Whether it's because of the fact that many of these markets are negative sum games, or that the larger players have access to knowledge and technology that you don't have. At the moment, every other player in the field has more knowledge than you. "if you don't know who the sucker is in the market, that sucker is you".
Your post is essentially the finance equivalent of the "guys, how do I make bank with affiliate marketing?" posts that you see on WF. Why would anyone share their experience and tools?
I love your contributions to WF papajohn56, so I'm not trying to be an asshole, just trying to give you a bit of a different perspective than the other commenters.
Your post is essentially the finance equivalent of the "guys, how do I make bank with affiliate marketing?" posts that you see on WF. Why would anyone share their experience and tools?
I love your contributions to WF papajohn56, so I'm not trying to be an asshole, just trying to give you a bit of a different perspective than the other commenters.
Forex/futures/finance in general is definitely something I would like to learn more about. Not necessarily to actively trade, but just to have an understanding of what it's all about!
Careful. Trading is for those who know.
Very Careful with futures, options, forex, penny stocks. Those can all take your account to zero on the quick. You can bank 10 good trades and tank it on those.
If I were you I would stay away from stock forums and learn the negatives of what you are trading first. Find out how most lose their money. Once you get a handle on that you can dip your toe in. Tons of articles on what to look for on penny stocks and forex, less of these on options. You can find these risk/reward style article at "the penny stock blog", some at go or ezine, Just stay away from the HYPE sites. (didn't want to link spam). The heavily hyped posted boards all get SEC involvement a couple times a year. So beware of what your getting into, you'll find a lot of "friends" on those hype sites....
We all know the goal is to make millions but they hype it for a reason.....
Sorry to be long winded.
Very Careful with futures, options, forex, penny stocks. Those can all take your account to zero on the quick. You can bank 10 good trades and tank it on those.
If I were you I would stay away from stock forums and learn the negatives of what you are trading first. Find out how most lose their money. Once you get a handle on that you can dip your toe in. Tons of articles on what to look for on penny stocks and forex, less of these on options. You can find these risk/reward style article at "the penny stock blog", some at go or ezine, Just stay away from the HYPE sites. (didn't want to link spam). The heavily hyped posted boards all get SEC involvement a couple times a year. So beware of what your getting into, you'll find a lot of "friends" on those hype sites....
We all know the goal is to make millions but they hype it for a reason.....
Sorry to be long winded.
I trade futures after years of trading stocks and options.
I prefer to trade forex futures but also dabble in cocoa and oil. It's been a nice volatile year in cocoa with all the unrest in the Ivory Coast. My main bread and butter is the Euro.
The #1 most important thing I have learned is DON'T OVERTRADE!
I do quite well when I'm disciplined enough to limit myself to only a few high percentage trades. It's addicting as hell. I always want to have position on, and that gets me in trouble.
Yeah TOS sucks, but its free and there are some great traders in the chat rooms that you can learn from. The charting is good, but you can't trust the data in real-time. Every single time they update the software, they fuck it up and it ends up losing people money. Stay away when they do an update. Nothing worse that being in a trade and having TOS datafeed stop for 10 minutes. TOS is mainly geared toward option traders.
Chart and chat on TOS, trade on something reliable and cheap.
The best thing to do is pick one future/commodity that you like to trade and stick with it and master it. They all trade completely differently and have their own quirks. Stay far away from the low volume ones, and avoid most of the softs as they will rip your face off. I would also recommend staying away from crude and especially nat gas.
Also, don't expect that your results will mirror your previous results in paper trading, it's a completely different ballgame. Paper trading is good for learning the platform and testing new systems and indicators/studies, but there is no simulation for the emotional factor.
I prefer to trade forex futures but also dabble in cocoa and oil. It's been a nice volatile year in cocoa with all the unrest in the Ivory Coast. My main bread and butter is the Euro.
The #1 most important thing I have learned is DON'T OVERTRADE!
I do quite well when I'm disciplined enough to limit myself to only a few high percentage trades. It's addicting as hell. I always want to have position on, and that gets me in trouble.
Yeah TOS sucks, but its free and there are some great traders in the chat rooms that you can learn from. The charting is good, but you can't trust the data in real-time. Every single time they update the software, they fuck it up and it ends up losing people money. Stay away when they do an update. Nothing worse that being in a trade and having TOS datafeed stop for 10 minutes. TOS is mainly geared toward option traders.
Chart and chat on TOS, trade on something reliable and cheap.
The best thing to do is pick one future/commodity that you like to trade and stick with it and master it. They all trade completely differently and have their own quirks. Stay far away from the low volume ones, and avoid most of the softs as they will rip your face off. I would also recommend staying away from crude and especially nat gas.
Also, don't expect that your results will mirror your previous results in paper trading, it's a completely different ballgame. Paper trading is good for learning the platform and testing new systems and indicators/studies, but there is no simulation for the emotional factor.