Basic SetUp of Trading Futures - Getting into Prop firm

Eurex

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Hi Guys,

When I started I was only aware of Forex and spent a lot of time trading it. Then I got introduced to Futures and I think retail should stick with what the professionals in prop firms are trading.

I would say any 3 day to 1 week course is a complete waste of time. Instead spend that money in trading real money which is the best experience you can get by that amount. Trading is not learned overnight and sometimes someone can get lucky but there are lot many who lost a lot because they didn’t did it the proper way.

3 day or 1 week courses are a complete waste. You need at least a month of training which completes one month of economic indicators.

Ill outline a simple as easy possible for a new trader to learn and reach a level where some prop firm can hire them and they go to next stage by associating with Professional Traders in the firm.

All the Best (y)

1. Select your market.

Ill recommend following products -

In Time zone
GMT - FESX and FGBM
CDT – ES – E-Mini S&P 500

You can trade FDAX, FTSE, FGBL but you should have deep pockets since they move fast and chances of losses are many.

2. Get some free trading Trials and do trading on DOM only.Ill recommend CTS T4 for starters since cost is less. Watch the Bid/Ask day in out from GMT 0700(Market Opens)-1630(Cash Indices close in Europe).

3. Learn the DOM and watch it daily in and out. No escape from it. This is how prop firms operate and works for them. There are no indicators which will make you overnight rich. If you had such indicator would you sell it for $100? Never if it works all the time. So watch the ladder and have 10 Support Resistance levels written somewhere. Watching DOM will give you feeling of touch with the market and you will start to see the changes in the Volume at Bid /Ask when it’s going to breakout when is the momentum catching up etc. This is the only way you will move faster than other guys watching only the charts and acting on support resistance only. No indicator which suggests that it will reconstruct the tape for you can help here.

4. Register on some Squawk. Ill recommend RanSquwak. Check there pricing on website. It’s a wonderful squawk. You need to get into habit of listening to squawk and acting before others on breaking news or rumors.

5. Understand the Contract you are trading.In and out what happens at what time of the day and observer if any news is on Ransqwak and start to build on your experience. In GMT time zone Eurex Market starts from 0700 and is good till 1630 when the Cash closes. I’m talking about Eurex Futures contracts which lots of Prop firms in London trades

6. Note down the reason for your trades daily and analyze them at the end of the day. – This is very important. You will forget what you did a week ago and will be keep doing the same mistakes and will be in a loop. Write down what’s right wrong your thoughts whatever with the trade.

Just because you are on SIM you shouldn’t become relaxed and trade big size because you get a big amount in your Demo account. Treat it as a real account and your progress will be manifold. Also when you show your trades to a prop firm then they are not interested in what you got by taking a lot of risk so trade 1 lot and record why you took the trade, your risk parameters and P/L. Initially when you go to prop firm they wil only allow you to trade 1 lot and if you fail they will throw you out.

7. Keep learning. Read Economic Indicators.Subscribe to news sources for weekend learning.

Does above steps sound a lot of work. Right! read some books on psychology to remove bad habits by programming your mind in an auto pilot mode. Its harder than it sounds.
Here's an excellent book from Dr Steve Peters. The Chimp paradox.
Break the above steps into small chunks of time and get into the habit of what works best.

Trading is a full time job. Someone can trade an hour and go home because they have lot of muscle in their account. So don’t compare yourself with someone who has $1M account size and you have 10k. I’ve seen some video of someone on you tube making 19k in 1 mins on a Million Dollar Account. Unless you have $1M or big account dont trade big size and risk too much of your account.

Million Dollar Trader is not realistic. It allows person to trade a much bigger account 1 Million account. Big account means you can take a lot of pain before the trade turns in your favor.

Here's the comparison

$10000 Account == 1000 Tick loss before account becomes zero
$1Million == You can take in theory 100000 Tick loss before your account becomes zero.

Heres the final step -

VERY IMP - After doing your demo build your Trading History and apply to Prop firms in UK. They might ask for your demo account lo-gin so don't try to fool them by removing the wrong trades and showing only the good ones. Thats why i said come as a genuine person and write trades and reason and dont take too much risk with the demo account.
Talking BS can take you to the top but you wont last longer there.

Just do the hard work and money will follow. Looking to get paid before you do your job doesn't work. If you want to get out of your situation of normal job with no sight of making it big then you need to do the hard work and plan.

Planning is the most imp thing which you will ever do to help your trading career. Write smaller goals and achieve then then move onto next one.

If you are in touch with market and have trading history then you will have an edge over others in interview and get your next stage in a prop firm.

I hope my above article help somebody.

Cheers

Please Note - Im outlining above steps to help a new guy reach some level. Im not promoting the products ive recommended. If you feel something else is right for you or disagree with above advice then please ignore above advice.The above steps are by no means the only way but are in the right direction.
 
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Eurex,
With all due respect, some of your advise is wrong, which is telling me that you are not an experienced and successful trader, but a follower of mass misinformation. Believe me, please, I have +35 years around markets and I'm still here.
Just an example of wrong advise:
1. Select your market:
You recommend
CDT-ES E-mini S & P 500.

E-mini S & P 500 is a highly traded market because of algorithmic trading by large financial institutions and is a range-bound market, generally doesn't have large trading ranges.
A beginner should never start in such a market with a $12.50 tick value, but in a market with a small tick value like YM and NQ, both $5 a tick and trade 2 contracts - one with a profit target (which is having a higher percentage of success) and one as a runner.
Trading only one contract is not the way to become a successful trader.

An experienced trader will trade 6E, Cl, GC, TF...markets moving fast and having a good trading range.

Same about other points, questionable, even #7 is wrong, the news are already in the market by the time you read them.
 
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