The E-Mini Pit
If you currently trade, or are interested in learning to trade, the CME E-Minis, this thread is for you. As opposed to just another market direction discussion thread, our focus here will be on providing a traders resource of specific information on the E-Minis, including discussions of brokers, trading platforms, order types, trading methodologies, money management techniques, futures-specific tax issues, etc. In addition, please post your trades, but please include your reasoning, so we can all learn. Links to charts, articles, seminars, and other message boards dealing with E-Minis or futures trading are encouraged. Also, please check this original post from time to time to see any new links we post here and to check out The Post of the Day, which will be selected from daily contributions to the board.
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A Few Thread Guidelines:
This is a moderated thread, so please respect these few posting guidelines:
1. Please stay on topic. If you want to discuss corn, beans, or stocks, there are lots of other threads for those.
2. Please no bashing, profanity, or boasting. Show respect for the folks who wish to post here. Help out the new folks who want to learn.
3. If posting trades or market predictions, please tell us why you are taking that position.
4. Have fun, and help us make this board a valuable resource to Futures Traders.
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POST OF THE DAY:
Message #568 from UnBelievable at Feb 14, 2002 5:58 PM
Stress, Pain, and Frustration - My Life as a Futures Trader
While making a little money helps a bit, the stress, pain and frustration inherent in trading futures is significant.
The fact is the market is dominated by the commercials. They have invested significant time and money researching how to let the traders take as little as possible. Part of that strategy is designed to create frustration and excess confusion.
In addition, since we must trade in the context of uncertainty, the quality of a trade is dependent on its statistical expected value, not the actual return realized. We however do have the ability to judge the trade, in the certainty of hindsight, primarily based on how much money was made.
In hindsight, just about every trade is bad. Either it is a loser, or even if you made money, probably, a fair amount was left on the table.
And if that were not enough, the technology infrastructure that we depend on is not very robust.
While I have found that it is very important to have very good systems running on properly sized equipment and bandwidth, shit seems to happen every once in a while none the less. I have found that it is very easy for a technical problem to take me out of the zone, and very difficult to find it once lost.
I was watching a show about the 10 greatest natural wonders on the earth. One of them was Mt. Everest. They showed some clips of climbers. To me it was ridiculous. Freezing, not enough oxygen, crevasses everywhere, ice on all the paths, and then there were the dangerous parts. All I could think was why would anyone do that.
I guess for the same reason that people trade futures.
Managing the stress, pain, and frustrations are probably one of the most important skills for the trader to acquire. If I ever do, Ill be sure to post how it is done. <gg>
As much as I dislike the Banksters and MMs (Market Manipulators) I have come to understand that they dont cause me to loose money, I do.
While I think there are good reasons to trade, I dont think that making money is one of them. There can be no doubt that there are much easier ways to make a living.
But if you like to be challenged, stay with it.
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Key Links for E-Mini Traders:
E-Mini Contract Specifications:
cme.com
E-Mini FAQ: cme.com
Register for Free E-Mini Real-Time Quotes:
realtime.barchart.com
E-Mini Charts (Delayed): futuresource.com
Information on Futures Brokers: elitetrader.com
Futures Trading Free Seminars: zapfutures.com
NFA Home Page: nfa.futures.org
Louis Lambrecht's Pivot Lines Spreadsheet: lvlamb.itgo.com
Tax Site for Investors and Traders: board.fairmark.com
CME 2002 Holiday Calendar: cme.com |
