What type of a trader am I ??

Hi Guys,

I have been trading on the FTSE 100 futures for the last month now. I had been preparing for the last year or so and finally took the plunge last month. After trying out a few strategies I have settled for one that gave me profit while I was paper trading. The indicators I use are MACD, B-Band & SMA. The timeframes I use are 30min,15min,5 min and 1min. I stay in a trade for about 5-10 mins. I set a target before the trade and once I have achieved that, I tighten my Stop Loss (SL) and let it run until it triggers my SL. Here are some of my performance stats -
Total number of trades in a 30 day period - 54
Profitable trades - 31
Average earning per profitable trade -90.67
Average loss per non profitable trade - 70.23

Using this strategy I have managed to double my outlay in my first month itself (£1000 initial outlay). Now my questions are -
1) What category of a trader do I fall under ?
2) Is it just by luck that I have a 100% return in my first month ?
3) what is it that I am doing right or wrong here in your opinion.

All your comments will be welcome and I will try to reply to as many as I can. Thanks.

If you have £1000 and your average loss is £70, then you're risking 7% or more per trade. Is this correct? That's a huge amount to risk per trade and it increases the chances that you'll blow up your account.

You haven't given enough info about what you do to answer any of the other questions.

You tighten your stop loss and let it run until its hit?
I hope either you mean you use a trailing stop or by s/l you mean a limit order?

Dan

Shakone said:

If you have £1000 and your average loss is £70, then you're risking 7% or more per trade. Is this correct? That's a huge amount to risk per trade and it increases the chances that you'll blow up your account.

You haven't given enough info about what you do to answer any of the other questions.

Click to expand...

Hi shakone, yes I was risking about 5%-10% of my total outlay.

dan1986ccfc said:

You tighten your stop loss and let it run until its hit?
I hope either you mean you use a trailing stop or by s/l you mean a limit order?

Dan

Click to expand...

hi Dan,

It is a trailing stop.

Shakone said:

If you have £1000 and your average loss is £70, then you're risking 7% or more per trade. Is this correct? That's a huge amount to risk per trade and it increases the chances that you'll blow up your account.

You haven't given enough info about what you do to answer any of the other questions.

Click to expand...

Hi shakone,
what more info would you like ?

I risk 3% - 5% of my account per trade, however an average winning trade for me nets 10%+ sometimes 20 or even 25%.

I wait for the MACD on the 15, 5 and 1 mins charts to be in the same direction and then I go long or short depending on which direction they are going. I use the SMA & B-Bands for confirmation as well.

abs2011 said:

What category of a trader do I fall under ?

Click to expand...

You put this question first in the list and also used the question as a subject of the thread. It must be a very important question. Why?

6am said:

You put this question first in the list and also used the question as a subject of the thread. It must be a very important question. Why?

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Hi 6am,

Yes its important because I get very confused when I develop or even for ideas to develop a strategy. If I have to confirm something I do, then I find it hard to find forums and blogs on the internet that would relate to my trading style. Hence the question. Thanks.

look for ideas*