Return expected from PDT 25k IB account

[Blackbc 3]

Hi All

I am based in the UK and about a month in from sim on DAS and I am starting to understand risk, levels and partialing, some strategies and the technology. I am having some green days  but I am still heavily overtrading (like a bazillion trades a day)  - mainly to get as much practice as possible with live market conditions. So what I do is put a nominal stake in the ground and say "if this was real I would stop here", mark the time and then carry on practicing where I would invariably blow the profit with the multiple subsequent trades.

I am concentrating on 1min 5min ORBS, HOD (John on the chat is very useful for this - thank you!), and long trend trades. For stocks in play I am using the suggestions in the daily chat (thank you Norm, Carlos, John, Andrew, Brian, Thor).

So my nominal amount is $250 either in the green or the red - would this be a reasonable daily amount to aim for on a 25k PDT account? i.e. Andrew regularly posts daily profits of 10k  (and sometimes a 38k loss!) on his ORBs which is very cool to see, but I am assuming his account is multiple times larger than the 25k minimum.

Yours humbly

Chris

[Bryan W 50]

Don't compare yourself to Andrew, it might make you set your goals too high. The primary thing to focus on is trading well; trade well and money will follow. You have to remember that Andrew has been trading for over 7 years and has a lot of experience. I don't like the idea of focusing on a fixed amount of profit or percentage of your account or something like that. As Andrew says, if you can consistently make $1 a day, you can also make $100 a day. I like the idea of having a set amount of max loss with a live account though. If you don't force yourself to stop, the psychology just goes tumbling down from there and you tend to revenge trade or go HULK. Since you're new and learning all about this stuff, I don't think it's issue that you make a lot of trades, as long as you continue to remember that you will have to rectify that before you go live, especially if only 10% of your trades are positive. Andrew is in a different league; most of us would probably like to make $1,000 but for now, focus on being consistent. Also, study study study... Find your niche and what works for you; be an independent trader.

Edited October 18, 2020 by Bryan Walquist

[Blackbc 3]

Thank you Bryan. Sensible advice and very welcome. From my limited experience trading seems a psychological  minefield - and I guess the "edge" consists predominantly of training oneself to counter the inherent biases, impulse and superstitions  ...It is a frustratingly steep learning curve.

Edited October 17, 2020 by CHRISTOPHER BLACKBURN

[Jesse 8]

I would stick to the max loss of 1% in the red a day and ditch the profit target. I do this by risking 1/3 of 1% account per trade. If I get -3R I'm done for the day. So for you it would be $83 per trade. I have tried the profit target per day but didn't like it. Reason being it would make me force trades if I'm not at my profit target for the day, resulting in trading bad setups and ultimately losing money instead of gaining it. Just take what the market gives you for the day with your setups. Some days it may be + 1R and some it may be +5R , but don't force things. Just remember this is a long term game, so daily compounding of positive R days are huge in the big picture, even if they are small. Here is something I found that really hit this point home in my mind:

"If you start trading with $50k and can make on average 0.2% per day, reinvesting daily for 52 weeks a year. It'll be worth;

in year 6 $1million

in year 11 $10million

in year 15 $100 million

in year 20, welcome to the Billionaire club."

I know that is every day compounding, but it is still 0.2%!

[Blackbc 3]

Thank you Peterb and Jesse - sage advice - forget the number and go for any green but bail at red before 1% ...

[dodgedak 5]

Definitely don't  use Andrew as a comparison. Andrew is a master trader.

If you are starting out, use a fixed risk  per trade, even low risk like $10 , $25, $50 per trade.  Once you get the process right, you can risk more

[KHarp83 8]

Been trading now for a little over two years and I am just now at a place where I am comfortable risking 1% to try and make 2%. Most of the time, though, I'm only making between 1-1.5%. The biggest thing for me was overcoming my tendency to overtrade if I wasn't reaching my profit target. Many times I'd be up and give it all back because I hadn't yet reached my target. I've now limited myself to one trade max per day. I know that's probably not preferable to you (and most) but I've found that it really helps me to be much more selective with the trades I take. I also only trade 1-5min ORB's and nothing else. If I don't see a trade 10-15min after the open, I shut everything down and walk away. But it has taken me two years to get to this point of knowing myself (i.e., what works and what doesn't in terms of my personal trading psychology). So you just have to put your time in and try to find your niche. Try not to get overwhelmed by all the info, strategies, ect. out there. Just focus on one thing at a time.