Daily Profit Goal and Margin

[Paul L 0]

I've heard people say a realistic goal for daily profit is 0.5% to 1% of capital.  Does this goal assume you are investing with only your capital or using margin?

 

[KurtLoeblich 101]

Hey Paul!

So, when we discuss daily goals and things like that, we do tend to talk in either percentage of account or in terms of R:R ratio (reward to risk ratio).

Typically, when talking about the percentage, we do not include the buying power that comes from having margin.  So, if your account is a 50K account, a 1% goal would mean 500 dollars, not 2K (assuming 4:1 margin which would put total buying power at 200K).

That being said, depending on how new you are to day trading, I wouldn't stress daily goals and trying to achieve them. I usually use daily goals as a "stopping point" if I've hit it, but I don't go out of my way to force trades in order to get there. 

 

Hope that helps!

 

-Kurt