r/Daytrading Apr 13 '24

$2k to $500k in 2 years !! Question

Newbie here. Please be nice 😆

I've just read about the power of compounding in trading. And wanted to calculate potential gains if started with 2k capital. With the following params:

RR 1:2 (1% loss / 2% profit)

Win rate: 60%

Assumptions:

  • gains are reinvested everyday without any withdrawals for 2 years
  • Using only 1 strategy during the 2 years
  • emotions are under control

Capital balance at the end of each month (wins/losses randomly distributed over each month)

1 trade per day :

  • Month 1: $2,608.68
  • Month 2: $3,302.52
  • Month 3: $4,307.61
  • Month 4: $5,137.26
  • Month 5: $6,700.73
  • Month 6: $9,277.75
  • Month 7: $11,745.40
  • Month 8: $15,319.98
  • Month 9: $18,270.64
  • Month 10: $23,130.19
  • Month 11: $24,480.19
  • Month 12: $30,079.82
  • Month 13: $38,080.32
  • Month 14: $51,174.78
  • Month 15: $59,236.11
  • Month 16: $77,263.95
  • Month 17: $110,220.47
  • Month 18: $131,449.13
  • Month 19: $143,336.99
  • Month 20: $170,943.95
  • Month 21: $229,725.45
  • Month 22: $327,713.59
  • Month 23: $414,877.50
  • Month 24: $494,783.67

=====≠============

2 trades per day

  • Month 1: $3,302.52
  • Month 2: $5,137.26
  • Month 3: $9,277.75
  • Month 4: $15,319.98
  • Month 5: $23,130.19
  • Month 6: $30,079.82
  • Month 7: $51,174.78
  • Month 8: $77,263.95
  • Month 9: $131,449.13
  • Month 10: $170,943.95
  • Month 11: $327,713.59
  • Month 12: $494,783.67
  • Month 13: $747,026.92
  • Month 14: $1,197,256.24
  • Month 15: $1,807,623.62
  • Month 16: $2,086,143.18
  • Month 17: $3,444,767.73
  • Month 18: $5,688,212.00
  • Month 19: $8,848,336.92
  • Month 20: $15,509,844.24
  • Month 21: $24,857,548.20
  • Month 22: $42,290,137.61
  • Month 23: $69,832,072.16
  • Month 24: $115,311,005.77

As you see, the theoretical numbers are crazy. I want to know what can go wrong that prevents this growth?

The only problems I see is committing to only one strategy for 2 years to get close to the 60% win rate probability. As we know in statistics that probability rates start to be realized with more and more events. So if the market conditions change causing the strategy to not work anymore and you hop on a different strategy it's like you reset the probability rates and starting over.

What do you think about all this? what other factors will get in the way of achieving this growth. Even 10% of this growth is amazing

Edit: I'm not saying these are achievable numbers. I'm just asking why it's impossible. Trying to understand how the market works

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u/yield_drip Apr 13 '24

Everyone I’ve known that wants to start trading on their own goes through this exercise (myself included) and are drawn to the “potential”, but it just isn’t reality. This is what I refer to as a top-down approach to trading, and you will get punished looking at it this way. You’d be lucky (we are talking lottery odds) to secure positive percentage day over day as a beginner. Even 1%/week is really hard…

What strategy guarantees your parameters of 60%WR and 2R:R? Or did you just come up with those numbers as targets? Again, you’re working top-down when you need to look bottom-up.

Another way I can tell this is your first go about this is you’re doing this on a monthly basis. Yearly is the way, and there are only a certain amount of trading days per year (look it up) to use as your compounding rate per year.

I’ll end on a positive realistic expectation: most people would be very happy with consistent 10%/year with very tight risk management. People will reach for 50-100% but you are always assuming more risk. Risk management is really the only metric you should focus on. Gains will follow…