One of the mistakes that we all consistently make in early trading days as a trader is to try to make too much money in relation to the trading capital.
So what is a reasonable objective for a day / futures trader?
it is a belief that if traders can regularly take small amounts of money out of the market, their knowledge, skills and confidence will grow and in time they will become bigger traders. What is critical about this approach is that traders do not grow in size until they have achieved consistent, regular success on a small scale; and we are talking small, I mean £25 or £50 in a day.
What can we learn from this low risk approach?
if we want to become consistently successful traders we need to take a different tack than if we are just out to make as much money as we can today.
if you can make an average of £100 a day you will double your money in 100 trading days i.e. 20 weeks or about 5 months. If you double you position size every time you double your money, your account will grow to £1,000,000 in 140 weeks, which is less than 3 years! Of course this does not take into account the impact of tax; but my point is that by taking a low risk, conservative approach to trading objectives, we give ourselves the chance to grow and develop into traders, while also availing ourselves of the possibility of a deceptively good return. Direct access trading effectively gives everyone and their uncle the same low costs, immediate trade execution and access as was exclusively enjoyed by the floor traders before the advent of the electronic market place.