Backing myself...

Hi All

I am looking to back myself (£10k) at a firm. I have traded in the past but it has been a few years. I am looking to scalp the Bund outright, initially at 2-4 lots at a time. Total costs about 1500 and 80eurocents/roundtrip. Before starting I hope to use the simulator for about a month.

My question is:

How sucessful have been people with previous background to me? and more difficulty, how would you rate my chances of success after 6 months?

Good luck.

RogueTrader888888

RT,

You need to make 15% per month to cover costs. Personally, I think 4 lots on £10,000 is too high - trade 2 lots max and build up slowly. Or maybe consider the less volatile bobl - good daily ranges and liquidity.

Six months good application and training should provide a reasonable basis to start trading but six months' costs also equals (almost) your trading capital. Many questions.

Grant.

why not trade from home, especially as you will be starting small, this will keep the costs down, ok you will not get the cheap comms like at an arcade but until you are doing more contracts it will financially be better overall until you do............you can get ninja trader for $50 a month and has a really good simulator with realistic fills and has all the bobl, bund, dax etc, and i pay $4.60 per round turn..........just as good as a sim in an arcade in my opinion, ok i pay over the odds for my comms but i don't have desk fee to worry about but i agree if and when your ready for upping size arcade will be best option.........im looking to do the same soon as im getting very consistent and considering my options.

RT,

Have you found somewhere which will let you trade on £10k with €0.80 round-trip?

Grant.

Thanks for the replies.

Have been fortunate to get a decent price on my roundtrips...and other fees arent too bad.

Yes, I will definetly need to get the lot sizes up to 5-10 within 3 months or so or the costs will kill me even if i break even after 8 months. I will try to keep costs down by taking my own laptop instead of using the firm's pc and monitor (saving about 200 a month) and also I will use the technical analysis from IG index which is free and pretty damn good.

I could trade from home but I think I still have some things to learn from others and it would be nice to get out of the house and get some rhythmn back in my life! Also, I think from home spillage is a major issue as the speed is not nearly as good. I tried spread betting from home and that was kind of a joke.

In case I bust, it would be nice to stay within the firm and try the 50 50 standard profit sharing model until I get my account in the green but thats no guarantee. I guess this is a good opportunity since I limit my losses to roughly 10k and 8-12 months of my life and my gains are unlimited.

well have you tried ninja trader with zen fire data feed?

im not talking sb'ing, im talking direct access and the zen fire feed keeps up with chicago in live real time and ive never had a problem scalping, infact no delays at all

ill take a look at it. thx.

if you use zen fire feed they actually are in the office right next to the exchange, the only delay you will get is from your isp

Finding zen-trader very useful and practice makes perfect. Trading oil is particularly fun as boy can that contract move!

Looking to start the real thing in about 1 month and will likely start trading Bunds.

Will keep u all updated with my progress.