Professionals Manage Risk, Amateurs Manage Money
For some reason, this quote has always appealed to me. Often times, it helps keep me on track... remembering not to chase the profits but to manage my trading account with the appropriate 1% risk tolerance.
While my posts have become less frequent, a byproduct of being occupied, my trading development has not ceased. In fact, August has been a rather good month for me. By taking less trades this month and skipping out on less clean setups, I've come to the realization that I can be insanely profitable if I stick to this. Here's a rundown on the FX and futures trading fronts.
FX
As previously stated, I've done quite this month by holding out on some setups that I didn't feel comfortable with. While they might've worked out, I'm glad I didn't stress myself by keeping a close eye on the trades.
I've also been focusing quite heavily on market review videos. Specifically, I've gone through 2ndSkiesForex's trade review playlists. While I don't agree with all the setups presented, I cannot deny that their video series was tremendously helpful. I highly encourage everyone who struggles with trading to watch their series. It really helped put me in the mindset of optimizing my entires but also my exits.
I'll be making a follow-up post that will consist more of a trade review in the coming days.
Futures
Unfortunately, futures trading via the TopstepTrader Combine has not gone well. In fact, I've actually stopped and switched over to the Swing Trading Micros Combine. I've made a conscious decision that intraday trading futures simply aren't a good fit for me given my current situation.
- I just don't have the time or concentration to juggle an intraday trading account while working full time. I don't do two things at once so my market exposure time is limited. As a result, the monthly subscription I'm paying simply isn't producing the benefits I had hoped.
- The Daily Loss Limit (DLL) is way too tight to allow me to handle a string of losses. As a result, I think I would need to build up a proper $50K cash account to trade the eminis rather than do it through Topstep. The $1K risk limit means that I don't have the luxury to run at least 50 consecutive losses. I can see why some people think that this program is a cash grab as it requires you to have an insanely high win rate.
- I've done well in FX since my holding period is longer. I tend to focus on broader market structures, which have worked in my favor. As a result, it only makes sense for me to switch to the Swing Trading Micros Combine and bypass the holding period restrictions. This way, I can really capitalize on structural movements with the indices.