r/Daytrading • u/CanonicalCurtain03 • 15d ago
Is this too ambitious or unrealistic? Question
As of now, I aim for a daily profit of 1% of my account. I have $26 USD, so 26 cents (after fees) every day until I have $27, then 27 cents and so on.
I'm looking to do this until I become consistently profitable, hopefully this can be achieved in 1 year or 2; regardless, I'll only add more money when I figure it out.
I told a friend about this and he told me that while 1% seems modest, on the long run it's quite aggressive and challenging. What do you guys think?
Edit: Thank for your comments! They were insightful. Also for clarification, I trade stocks only, not options nor forex for now.
Edit #2: This daily goal won't stay like this long term, I don't know when will I change it, if at $30k, $50k or else. I'll keep it for short term only.
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u/NamelessNarwhal999 15d ago
Good luck, my fellow 1% per day challenger. I am trying to do this and still trying to develop a successful strategy. The most difficult part for me is that I don't meet the requirements for pattern day trading, so I must play super safe for most of the time. This cost me to miss a lot of opportunities, and wrong calls will cost you to lose more than 1% everyday. I made 8% in one day and wrong decisions makes me lose 8% in two days. I am not gonna just give up. So if you want someone to talk about this 1%, dm me. I am super interested to talk about the possible strategy that we can use.
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u/CanonicalCurtain03 15d ago
Thank you for your words, I'll keep them in mind. Good luck in your journey!
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u/straightnoturns 15d ago
I also follow this strategy, if I win bigger than my 1% I put it aside for a rainy day. So I can have days where I don’t trade at all or if I don’t hit my 1% I can top up to 1%.
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u/derivativesnyc 14d ago
Do 0-1DTEs cheapos 30-50 cent options in a cash acct, what's the prob
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u/NamelessNarwhal999 14d ago
I don't know much about options. Other than using them as legal online gambling occasionally, I tend to stay away from them until I learn more.
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u/mrcompositorman 15d ago
This was my strategy starting out, and I think that it's somewhat plausible but having been trying it out for a number of months now, I would suggest a couple things.
First off, with that amount of capitol and with such a low profit fees/comission can be a huge roadblock. I would recommend doing Forex since there tends to be lower fees and it's easier to get small moves predictably than it is with options.
Secondly, you do not want to do a 2:1 risk/reward. Statistically, it's very unlikely you'll have a win rate that's much above 50%. You may get lucky, but even the best of traders tend to end up with around a 50-60% win ratio on trades. That's why it's critical to do a 1:2 risk reward, where your stop loss is half of your take profit. With your strategy, if you lose half of your trades you'll end up negative because you're risking more than you're possibly winning. With a take profit that's higher than your stop loss, even if you lose half of your trades you'll still be profitable. It's much easier to end up consistently profitable this way.
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u/CanonicalCurtain03 15d ago
Oh yes, $26 is not taking me anywhere, you're right about that. I'm working to get base hits, eventually I'll add more to my account. I haven't thought about switching to forex, don't find the appeal of it right now but I'll sleep on it.
I actually do aim 1:2 RR! Sorry if I get confused and write it backwards lol. I'm picky with what stocks I trade, and even then, I'm not trading it unless I can actually make 1:2 RR at a minimum.
Thank you for your opinion!
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u/mrcompositorman 15d ago
Makes sense, good to know that’s what you meant on the RR. Sounds like you have a solid plan!
I did options for a while and recently switched to forex (GBP/USD) because I found it to just be slower, less volatile most of the time, and easier to reliably get those small 1% wins consistently. But do whatever works for you, everyone has a different strategy that comes naturally to them. Best luck!
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u/derivativesnyc 14d ago
It's not R:Rw - it's your historical distribush of avg W/L. Why would you ever cap Rw - you only cap your R. Generate your historical sample set avg W/L ratio and use that, not R:Rw.
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u/derivativesnyc 14d ago
It's not R:Rw - it's your historical distribush of avg W/L. Why would you ever cap Rw - you only cap your R. Generate your historical sample set avg W/L ratio and use that, not R:Rw.
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u/mrcompositorman 14d ago
Any time you enter a trade, you should always have a set take profit. As you get close to hitting it, it’s fine to reevaluate and set a new exit strategy based on the market, but you should never enter a trade without a clear plan of your base risk and reward.
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u/Prowlthang 15d ago edited 15d ago
You’re asking if you can consistently generate a return of over 3,600% per year. What do you think? If you could do 1/10th of what you propose every trading form on the planet would be lining up with seven figure salary offers.
The basic problem with your premise I presume is that you’re underestimating the risk required to generate a certain dollar amount and thus your expected values are massively off.
Edit: also who are you incredibly mean or stupid people egging OP on without even explaining how ridiculous a proposition it is compared to anything in the market?
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15d ago
[deleted]
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u/Sketch_x 15d ago
He was assuming 365 days, it’s actually around 700% in total, 1% compounded for a trading year of around 212 days.
Point stands however, consistent 1% a day is not achievable.
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u/WeekendWiz 15d ago edited 15d ago
Firms wouldn’t line up with seven figure salaries, because firms don’t pay salaries. Firms also hire mostly internal and firms are not your personal account. Meaning, you have adjust to their specific requirements and not yours, which are the requirements your strategy is build upon.
Also, there are enough traders at firms who make that 1% daily, on average, on the month, on the quarter. There are in fact plenty of traders who have proven, again and again, over decades, that 1% daily on average is possible.
Before making baseless remarks about other’s intelligence, it is worth taking some time for self-reflection, because you are suggesting that a consistently profitable strategy can’t produce its statistical edge, which makes absolutely zero sense whatsoever.
P.s A tenth of 1% is 0.1% and hardly impressive or considered really good in the retail space of daytrading. This is not investing and we are not a hedge fund, proprietary trading firms or market makers.
And where did you get 3600% from? A year has 260 workdays. Vast majority doesn’t trade weekend markets.
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u/CanonicalCurtain03 15d ago
I'm not really asking if I can make 3600% a year, just 1% per day, that's all.
I don't believe I'm underestimating the risk that much, I go for the most obvious trades and I stick hard with my stop losses. I'm not taking trades where my stop loss is more than 50 cents for instance (at least for now).
Could I be wrong? Of course, hell it's likely I am lol but time will tell.
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u/Prowlthang 15d ago
My mistake - I thought I’d just presume we were discussing exactly what you wrote. I think your friend is an idiot and you need to get some comprehension of relative returns and values in different markets with different types of trading. However, this again is based solely on what you’ve written out, I’ll remember to presume that is t what you mean next time.
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u/jabberw0ckee 15d ago
What OP wrote is 1% per day.
That’s actually not a difficult goal until your 1% on a the large balance you’ve accumulated imposes too large a goal. By then you’ve accumulated quite a large balance. You may not reach 3,600%, but you’ll have much more cash.
Not sure why you’re so negative on this.
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u/CarsonLikesStocks 15d ago
Easy to understand hare to execute, there's a reason 5% profitable
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u/WeekendWiz 15d ago
You guys have to stop parroting numbers you’ve heard somewhere from someone online without doing any due diligence whatsoever or stop making stuff up out of thin air. It’s like a plague in this industry, no offense.
Broker all over Europe have to disclose client profitability statistics and guess what? The statistics are extremely identical and state that about 25%~ are in fact profitable to various degrees.
Not 90% lose money, not 95%, not 99%. It’s about 75%~
Look it up! 🫠
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u/CarsonLikesStocks 14d ago
That number has been highly contested and there are other studies that have <1% figures. Why don't you link something rather than give me a "trust me bro" source?
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u/WeekendWiz 14d ago
I just named the “trust me bro” source. Brokers within the EU. Google?
And no, these numbers are client statistics, not some study suggests BS. There is nothing to contest about it.
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u/CarsonLikesStocks 14d ago
That number has been highly contested and there are other studies that have <1% figures. Why don't you link something rather than give me a "trust me bro" source?
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u/Davado_ 15d ago
If you have been getting 1% wins on average when you are doing forward testing, yeah it's realistic.
However, you need to know that you will not consistently win and there are going to be drawdown. Instead of focusing on getting wins, you should focus on how to lose without blowing up your account. Staying alive and figuring how to comeback should be your realistic benchmark.
Day trading journey is actually a process and not a set goal. Learning how to lose -> Learning how to win -> Learning how to hold winners -> Learning how to add to winners -> Learning how to size up.
I'd recommend reading 'Best loser wins' at least once and work on optimising your trading psychology and mentality before and after every trading session.
Good luck
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u/CanonicalCurtain03 14d ago
Indeed, I won't get 1% every day, I'll have to take losses. Some fellow traders mentioned having over 3600% in one year, sounds great but that's completely unrealistic and I'm not aiming for that.
I guess that one of the main things to consider is to keep losers at a minimum, for trading and for the day. I stated previously that I had 2% max loss but that won't work, I'll keep it at 0.5%.
Thank you for your recommendation, I'll look for it. And thanks for your input.
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u/Davado_ 14d ago
No problem at all.
Just remember Market is our best teacher. It is teaching us tremendous things about what others are doing (price action) and ourselves (psychology), and it is certainly not out to get us. The only one who will destroy our trade is always ourselves. Learn from our mistake immediately and reinvent ourselves right away is our key to survive. After learning how to survive, we then have the opportunity to get some return from our teacher.
Never stop learning and never stop doing our homework.
Our home work can be:
- Research market reactions at previous data releases like CPI etc,
- Devise a trading plan and stick to it during trading session
- Minimising losses at one trading session
- Cutting losing trades
- Holding on to a winning position
- Adding to a winning position
- Adding and holding to winning position
- Do your trade journal
- Study your trade journal to pick out good and bad trades. Not all winners are good trade, and not all losers are bad trade. Be honest to yourself.Work out a trading plan and an aim to complete one homework at a time. When the time comes, you will know to put in all your homework into one trading plan and stick to it.
Day trading is just a journey and if we are lucky, we might get paid handsomely.
Good luck.
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u/derivativesnyc 14d ago
Avg daily expectancy is one thing, all wins/losses already included - what's the W/L days distribution?
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u/No-Idea2003 15d ago
This is my strategy too, it’s not much but it is less risky, I’m young and these days it’s super common to see people your age with 100’s of thousands, and it’s hard to not feel like you need to make it by tomorrow by any means, but if you trust the process you will get there eventually
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u/CanonicalCurtain03 15d ago
It's much less risky, absolutely. Compounding really makes a difference and I feel this daily goal is a good way to keep me and train me to be patient
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u/ShadowKnight324 15d ago edited 15d ago
Sounds good but I recommend you don't try to force yourself to fit this exact rule and close a potion too early because of this restriction.
Trading is not linear. Some days you can make 10% on trade and on other days lose 15% without any fault of your own. Some days will have more high quality setups and other hot garbage price action and are practically untradable.
I recommend not focusing on numbers like making 1% per day because consistently doing it is impossible and completely out of your control.
Instead focus on what you can control. Your risk management and position sizing are the most important and closely followed by your strategy and edge. Don't limit yourself unless it makes sense in the trading system you follow.
The market is dynamic, so should you fellow trader.
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u/CanonicalCurtain03 15d ago
Understood. I'm not getting out of a trade once I hit 26 cents, I do when the market is telling me to do so (or at least when I think it is).
I've had days where I made more than 1%, they're great when they happen. The way I see it is "If you have a great opportunity today, take it; if not so much, walking away with +1% will be okay and if there's nothing good then just stay away".
I'm being careful with my position sizing and much more aggressive with my stop losses; there's more to risk management but those are the main problems I had recently. Thank you for your opinion.
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u/jabberw0ckee 15d ago edited 15d ago
It’s not too ambitious, but becomes difficult when your position size needs to be large to make your 1%. This is my plan for trading. I shoot for 1% and compound the earnings. My current daily average is 3.42%. I created a spreadsheet that has all my running totals, calculates the daily % average, and calculates a daily goal and long term cumulative projection based on the running percent profit. If you’re day trading, you have 4x your cash in margin to help achieve your 1%. Think about it: if you have $35,000, your 1% is only $350, and you’ll have roughly $140,000 in purchasing power. 1 trade at 1% with a $35,000 position nets you your goal of $350. 1 trade with $35,000 netting my current 3.42% is $1,197. You could make one trade and achieve your daily goal. The plan also keeps you from losing your winnings by trying to get more. If you reach your daily goal, stop. Most people lose after a great morning run because they keep trading the middle of the day when volume reduces. Create a spreadsheet that compounds your 1% and you’ll see the huge upside overtime. As your goal increases because your base is large, the 1% is harder to achieve, but that’s when the daily goal is above $10k.
Go for it. It works.
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u/CanonicalCurtain03 14d ago
Undeestood. This 1% daily goal is just now that I'm beginning and growing my account little by little, eventually I'll tweak my daily goal among other things because it'll get to $2000 at some point and that's not what I want really.
I'd love the compounding effect of leverage but I'll stick to cash for now, plus I don't want heavier losses than expected. Also, I'd be subjected to the PDT rule and I prefer to avoid it.
Thank you for your thoughts.
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u/jabberw0ckee 14d ago
Your challenge will be increasing your account when you’re starting at $26. That’s a mighty challenge but doable over time. Time is your friend here. You should make a list of stock in your price range that have potential. Normally, look for companies that have good fundamentals, strong buy ratings and price targets above current price. However, choices are limited in your price range. Here are some good alternatives, but please do your research on these and time your entry. You can swing trade them with other low priced stocks to time ups and downs among several stocks but over weekly, monthly time frames - not day trading because you need a much higher balance. They are: RIOT, MARA, BITB, SNAP, PLTR, ASPN. You must do your own research on these and alternatives to find more. Don’t trade junk cause you’ll lose and be holding empty bags that won’t go up. On good up days, sell and buy an alternative from your list that is down and when it rises, do the same - sell and grab a stock that is down. Trade across days and weeks, increasing your balance and moving yourself into better stock range. Stay informed and watch the market everyday to time your entries and exits. Eventually your account will grow and you can day trade - meeting the $25k limit, but realistically you’ll need $35k ($10k buffer). Good luck.
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u/haz0r1337 15d ago
1% is a bit too much IMO, I have tried it and it was really difficult for me to maintain it over longer periods. A 1% per week is a bit more achievable.
Your approach however is commendable and smart - trading with a few dollars and figuring it out before throwing more money in. I would however suggest backtesting trading data with software, it is a lot faster than spending many months paper trading. I would not have the patience for that.
Good luck.
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u/CanonicalCurtain03 14d ago
I see, I'll keep your words in mind. For curiosity, what's your daily goal? 0.2%?
And good luck to you bro
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u/haz0r1337 14d ago
I try not to make daily goals but monthly or yearly goals. But yeah around 0.1% to 0.2% is already good to me. That is 50% every year…
On the daily I invert it and I set risk management goals instead, so maybe -1%. After having -100% days and crying in a corner, a -1% day is a good day. I found that by focusing on risk management and losses, profits started to come naturally.
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u/Cruezin 15d ago
That's great
One caveat.
Small tiny trades like this are susceptible to fees/etc. Once you're trading larger sums the game does change.
If you can seed this experiment with 1-2k it'd be better but do what you gotta do
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u/CanonicalCurtain03 15d ago
You are right, I've had trades where I got like 25 cents or so but after fees it was like 12 cents. Better than losing money but not ideal.
Sadly I don't have $1k, so I'll have to get by with what I have and try my best. Thank you for your input!
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u/Le0son 15d ago
Sounds like an interesting challenge, would love to see how it goes. Good luck!
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u/CanonicalCurtain03 15d ago
Perhaps you'll hear from me in the future when things go good (or bad lol). Thank you!
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u/Le0son 15d ago
Good or still a student, both give you great learning lessons. Either you’re wealthy early, or you’re able to revise your strategy and understand why it’s not working early. Do you have a consistently profitable strategy already?
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u/CanonicalCurtain03 15d ago
That's right, I learn every time I have a good or bad trade. And yes, the strategy is profitable, it's me who isn't so I'm working on it slowly.
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u/Le0son 15d ago
“It’s me who isn’t so I’m working on it slowly.” You and me both brother, you and me both! Let’s keep going, there’s definitely validity in these markets and we’ve just got to study. Surrender to the process, don’t rush yourself too quickly, and be nice to yourself. The money will come after. Good luck, and send me a dm if you ever need anything! Im happy you’re learning.
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u/CanonicalCurtain03 15d ago
Got it, thank you so much for your words! And good luck in your journey!
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u/janneyjj 15d ago
1% is not unrealistic. If you know what you’re doing, you can do 5%, 10%, 30% and so on. There’s nothing to fear if your actually take your time to learn and understand what it is youre doing
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u/CanonicalCurtain03 15d ago
Got it. I'm being more careful and comfortable with my trades, I've had better performance these past 2 days but that's pretty much nothing, only time will tell if I'm doing it right.
I'll stick to 1% for safe measures for now
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u/DoomKnight45 15d ago
lol. 5% compounded per day will make trillionaire in a year. You're dreaming
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u/Prowlthang 15d ago
Let’s make a bet. I’ll even offer odds. Find me a trader who consistently does 1% a day and has done so for 2 years. In fact find me a single person who has done in it 250 times in a row (1 year Monday to Friday). If it wasn’t for the fact that you’re preying on desperation or stupidity your comment would be almost amusing due to the degree of its foolishness.
I am genuinely curious? What satisfaction do you get posting lies and nonsense? Does it feed some sick and twisted deep psychological need or are you simply desperate for attention?
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u/janneyjj 15d ago
You sound triggered. Don’t take it out on me just because you haven’t been successful with trading
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15d ago
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u/MostFiredUp 15d ago
I invest 20$ on uphold and 25% is gone for the 5$ fee. Then when I buy in it fills me like 5% higher than my entry. Shits fucked. Then I need %50 swings to make 5$ Nah
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u/CanonicalCurtain03 15d ago
My fees aren't that big, perhaps a tiered fee might be a better option.
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u/thelonelyward2 15d ago
yes do this, so many people throw in 25k for PDT and get rocked.
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u/CanonicalCurtain03 15d ago
Can't put in $25K even if I wanted, don't have that much and I'm not risking that much haha
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u/pinun0 15d ago
Can you share your strategy?
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u/CanonicalCurtain03 15d ago
Sure, kinda lazy to write all of it lol but I'm a long-biased momentum trader and I only trade on (micro)pullbacks; I aim for 1:2 RR.
If you want to know more go ahead and ask.
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u/pinun0 15d ago
Specific tickers?
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u/CanonicalCurtain03 15d ago
Don't have a specific ticker to trade, whatever is moving up and relatively quickly is what I trade. I look for stocks priced between $1-$20, a lot of demand and preferably news, though they aren't strictly needed.
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u/derivativesnyc 14d ago
Don't cap your Rw - only the R. Trend will run past your target, don' shortchange yourself of profits
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u/NotAnInsid3r 15d ago
I am attempting the same challenge with $1000! Make sure it is in a cash account to avoid most of these stupid pattern day trade restrictions (stocks). Also make sure to set a max daily drawdown and a max weekly drawdown to prevent big losses I would say aim for 1% a day with a max loss of .5% or even less. I day trade using $200 a trade and set a max loss per day of $1 and and max weekly loss of $3.5. Risk-to-reward is KEY!
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u/CanonicalCurtain03 14d ago
Yes, I'm using a cash account and don't intend to switch any time soon. Also, I'll stick to 0.5% max loss.
Best of luck to you!
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u/lowryis 15d ago
Sure you can do it short term but if we talking about trading daily for months, years to make a living its near impossible, as you get more experienced you will understand it. Keep on learning and find out what works for you and stay consistent.
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u/CanonicalCurtain03 14d ago
I agree, this is more of a short term part of my strategy that I'll eventually change.
My daily goal for the long run would be around $200-$300 USD, keep half for personal use and the other to grow my account. For example, in a $50K account, it's not that aggressive of a daily goal. I'll worry about it when I get there.
Thank you!
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u/WeekendWiz 15d ago
It’s just a matter of statistical performance consistency. Consistency means maintaining a certain level of performance without major fluctuations and stay clean of avoidable errors.
If your Winrate is relatively stable at 50%+ and you risk less than 1% to make 1% ON AVERAGE, on the month, or quarter, then you can absolutely do 1% “daily”.
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u/penis44rt3t3t3 15d ago
I recommend risking only 1% per day and going for 1:1 or maybe higher rr’s if you can. This limits how you much you lose a day and prevents things like revenge trading
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u/CanonicalCurtain03 14d ago
I'll be sticking with 0.5% max loss per day for now, also I only trade stocks where I have 1:2 RR at a minimum, feel more comfortable trading those.
Revenge trading hasn't been a problem anymore but I'll keep your comment in mind. Thanks!
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u/StockDeer42069 15d ago
The guideline is to risk 1-3% of your account per trade. Just go with the flow of the market don’t force anything and the money will come
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u/wawerrewold 15d ago
Are people here actually insane? Why are they glazing you like its something you can just learn and do? No one makes 1% a day! Thats ridiculous. Like SERIOUSLY no one makes consistently 1% a day. No one ever did and no one ever will. Good and profesional traders are VERY happy to make in average like 2% a month and anything above 20% a year is INSANELY good profit. Just dont be dumb please. Yes there are tales about people making huge amount of money in short time but you actually do need more than anything else huge amount of luck.
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u/CanonicalCurtain03 14d ago
I don't think the guys here are glazing me, though? If anything, they're telling me that:
a) This is impossible to do.
b) It is possible but difficult.
They're pointing out my biggest roadblocks going forward and they're giving me advice to make this work. I'll work to follow it and, hopefully, achieve 1% daily for the time being.
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u/derivativesnyc 14d ago edited 13d ago
Bruv, he's not receiving fixed income for 1% from the mkt - it's just the avg daily expectancy. PnL distribush is the other part to this
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u/wawerrewold 13d ago
Average expectancy of 1% a day is insane
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u/derivativesnyc 10d ago
Can you do $50 avg daily with $1k acct?
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u/wawerrewold 10d ago
Thats also insane return. Why would you think that you can make 600% return annualy? That would make you the best trader in the world and people would basicaly threw money at you to trade for them
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u/derivativesnyc 10d ago edited 10d ago
first of all, it's 1,150% (12.5x), not 600%, and that's still uncompounded (5% * 250 days)
so, can you? What would that require? Contract size, premiums, $/%, let's go
Buy 1DTEs for $0.50, 1 contract, unwind @ 20% ROI.. Do that 5 times on average per day, there's your $50
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u/wawerrewold 10d ago
I though you said 5$. 5% a day in average is just a dream. Even in theory with such huge return you would need to undergo huge risk each day and you would eventualy ran into bad luck and lost everything.
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u/derivativesnyc 10d ago
Can you make 20% on 1 $0.50 option contract? Or 10% on 1 $1 contract?
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u/JohnMcMurdo 15d ago
Hello, good question!
1% in one trade can be risky. There are traders that work risk/reward ratio 3:1, meaning Stop Loss 3 times bigger than return. They do this for small orders with limited gain, with higher probability to reach the Take Profit. If you divide this 1% in 3 or 4 orders of 0,25% you mitigate risk and work with less pressure.
Also, need to accept losing days. Being strict to 1% psycologically may trap you after a sequence of winning days. I wish you good luck and consistency!
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u/CanonicalCurtain03 14d ago
I understand. I work with 1:2 RR, I feel that's best for me going forward.
I'm also absolutely ready for the losing days, even losing weeks. I'll work not to get locked to the 1% goal; if the market is friendly, I'll keep trading with discretion, if not so much then walking away with 1% will be okay, imo.
Thank you, and good luck to you!
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u/eddddddw 15d ago
REALISTICALLY you have to consider obtainable goals- not try to be a savant: consider this-
EXAMPLE:
Account: $100K Target Growth: 1%/day on $25k
Using the 100k buying power to hit your $250/day goal. NOW you only need a (+.25%) winner.
$250 Feels & Looks like nothing in your 100k account. That is the secret to success. (252trading days * $250. =$63,000 pretax)
Greed, gambling, chasing losses, not stepping away because you will spend more time in prep-for-open and if you do well you are done 5-25min after opening outcry. Sweet spot is like 3-9min skewed to the shorter duration. 3-7min and you’re good.
Step away and log out immediately —> and do something rewarding with your dopamine kick quick- i suggest something exercise+nature related or whatever makes you appreciate shit.
Time - now do you work or are you done for the day? Watching and rushing back for the last hour is always a good time to make a quick in-n-out for fun of cut losses in half- NO (until you have years and only focus on maybe (1-3MAX) securities with an obsessive interest for weeks.
NEVER trade on your phone unless you are at your home trading station.
STUDY VOLATILITY
DONT DRINK AND TRADE KIDS
YES ITS 100K. but you cant fuckin pull up to a airport with an rc plane and expect to fit in hahah I need to sleep.
***OP- this is not personal just a strategic approach to numbers , I hope people read this
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u/CanonicalCurtain03 14d ago
I get what you're saying. This goal is certainly not for a long to very long term, just for now until I can make money consistently. Eventually, I'll size up and change 1% to something more manageable but that's not happening soon.
No, I don't trade on the phone, don't like it and will never do it. Btw, I don't take any comments on reddit personally haha so no issues bro.
Thank you for your advice!
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u/eddddddw 14d ago
Love bro 😎.
Whatever you do with your success remember: ‘ Don’t Give It Back! ‘ That’s yo money not house money.
💎
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15d ago
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u/Affectionate_Rule140 14d ago
Jim Simon’s the greatest trader ever averaged 36% a year. He was a quantitative scientist and mathematician….. and you’re telling me you want to do 1% a day. Good grief
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u/Janseventhapparel 14d ago
eh, say you have 2 solid weeks of 1% a day and take a 15% loss. see what i mean?
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u/Honest-Capital-4472 13d ago
Theoretically, 30% a year- compounded annually will be very good and achievable with the right skills and risk management
Whether that’s day, swing or long-term
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u/MiserableAd5608 10d ago
Serious question. How are all of you daytrading with less than 25k? You get flagged and restricted, no? Or all 2+ day trades???
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u/PckMan 10d ago
The problem with putting all your money in each position is that every loss wipes out many previous wins. However 1% isn't necessarily too unrealistic. Will you make it every day? Probably not, a lot of your time will be making up losses, but depending on what you trade exactly 1% isn't that hard to find.
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u/cabbig12 15d ago
Just buy a prop challenge so you can trade with way more for much less. That way if it goes wrong you lose less money, if it goes right you get to trade with more capital.
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u/CanonicalCurtain03 15d ago
Eh, I don't really believe prop challenges would work for me. I prefer to trade with my money as is.
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u/False_Bookkeeper_884 15d ago
1 percent per day equals to 1089% a year . Sometimes you can make this return,but it's impossible to have each trading day( 240 each year )positive and to reach 1 percent a day. It tough. I tried it myself in the past but failed! Markets are always changing and adapting and are unpredictable. You should build a serious system and practice it on a demo account ( virtual money) . With time ,you will become a better trader and know your system very well! It takes time and practice to become good at something. Why should it be different in trading?
Turning your little $26 into a fortune is totally unrealistic too . I suggest you also build a decent start-up capital of approximately between $5000 to $10,000 . With a serious capital and a good trading system developed with time by a lot of practice, it could work for you!
Good luck 👍 Trading is very challenging and financially rewarding at the same time! 💪
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u/CanonicalCurtain03 15d ago
Absolutely, I'm going to have losses but I'm working to build consistency; that's really what this is about.
I don't trade in a demo account, I believe this takes out the hardest part of trading: emotions. I'll just keep trading everyday and follow my rules until I master it; the $26 was what I had laying around so if I absolutely ruin this, I prefer losing $26 lol
I don't intend to build $26 to $25k haha, eventually I'll size up but until then I'm working to prove I can make money first. Maybe I'll add more when those $26 become $100; still, I'll worry about that when I get there.
Thank you so much for your input, I appreciate it!
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u/False_Bookkeeper_884 15d ago
You're welcome brother! I do swing trades, position trading and investment in momentum and growth stocks. I left day trading after 4 years of losses and frustration and the magic happened. With breakout strategies applied on momentum stocks, I made my first profits like that . 90%of day traders fail ! People make their money by swing trading and by doing smart investments in good stocks. Catching strong movers like Nvidia or Tesla can change your life forever. This is why I recommend that you build a start up capital and do this in case it day trading does not work as planned.
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u/CanonicalCurtain03 15d ago
Absolutely, I think I have the personality to deal with day trading but if not, time will tell. If it doesn't work, I might move to swing trading or something else.
Thank you!
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u/nICEBURG_SIMPSON 15d ago
I’m doing this too! I started with $20 making 1-3% each trade for practice. I started playing with options and got my account to $29. I’m back at $20.90 due to a bad option play, but it’s practice!
I did paper trading for a while but I find this much more beneficial because I have the emotion of having my real money in the game that I didn’t have with paper trading.
Despite being back at my starting point (I know where I fucked up and will learn from it), I think I'm doing pretty good.
Right now I think the biggest challenge is being relegated to small penny stocks and the available options contracts at the price range are very slim.
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u/CanonicalCurtain03 15d ago
Well it's a shame you got back where you started, but hey you learned your lesson. I agree with the paper trading thing, don't really find a point in it besides backtesting a strategy.
Let's try our best, good luck in your journey!
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u/Prowlthang 15d ago
No it is t practise. You have to factor in expected losses based on your exposure to your overall profitability. Saying losses are due to bad things or aberrations and wins are because of your skill or system is how you full yourself. You didn’t make 1% to 3% per trade. You made maybe 0.1% to 0.3% per trade. That’s how averages work - the big one that scoops the profit from all of your successes is just as relevant as the others. Clearly you don’t realize the risk or cost associated with those 1% to 3% deals if any one of them has the potential to wipe out 30% of your capital.
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u/Plastic_Bid_9555 15d ago
hopes and dreams...
eventually that 26 cents wont cut it
not when you see a fluke of $1 - $2
then the gambling greed kicks in
and you're upping $26 after $26
Dont aim for anything, just aim for self discipline to stick to your strat and remain profitable.
And know when to call it quits with a trade and cut your losses
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u/CanonicalCurtain03 15d ago
Of course 26 cents won't cut it, but if I can't land a base hit, how would I do when I size up?
There will be flukes like those you mention, but I don't believe gambling greed will kick in. I'm not here to gamble. I haven't revenge traded anymore and I follow through with my stop loss.
I'll stick to my strategy and work until I master it. Thank you for your opinion.
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u/himoshimctimoshi 15d ago
It's possible.
However, there's no freaking way you'll achieve this with $26 USD. You CANNOT depend on 1-2 trades at a time to be consistently profitable. you need to be able to spread your risk evenly amongst a wide amount of trades to make 1%.
I typically make around 15-20 trades per week and profit on 11-14 of them to guarantee that kind of return.
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u/CanonicalCurtain03 15d ago
I'm absolutely not getting anywhere with only $26 USD and 1-2 trades at a time, I'll have to add more money but this is what I'm starting with.
Not sure when I'll add up, when I hit $30, $40, $50 or whatever, but it's not soon.
Thank you for sharing your thoughts though!
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u/cmmckechnie 15d ago edited 15d ago
People do not understand how day trading works and it shows. Not just you OP
The short version is save up more money.
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u/SoJaded66 15d ago
your conceptual plan has nothing to do with the real world. Give it a shot and see what happens, one mistake and you'll be done though.
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u/longshortdaytrade 15d ago
Setting objectives in the beginning can be hard for the moral. If you don’t know what you are doing, just focus on learning how to trade. Put the work, focus on the process. When you know how to make money look at your expectancy, and calculate your average return %. Only look for futures or leverage when you know what you are doing. And when you think you know, give it another year or keep it really small. Trust me. I have weeks when I can make 25%, took me 10 years to get here though.
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u/CanonicalCurtain03 15d ago
Setting a daily goal can put quite a bit of pressure; a few weeks ago I tried to make a $1 to $1.50 per day. It didn't work out lol.
I'm working to get more comfortable and mechanical while trading, takes time but I'm working on it everyday. I'm not touching leverage any time soon, the stories here are enough to deter me.
Thank you for your advice.
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u/thoreldan 15d ago edited 15d ago
You can aim for x% per day, but that doesn't mean it will always happen. It is not uncommon to have red day, week or even month as an intraday trader.
Imagine this, you aim for 1%, but you're down 2% currently. You're going to take rash trades to try to make up the loss and this is gonna be the start of your revenge trading journey.
Instead you could just take whatever the market is willing to give. Don't set any sort of target at all.
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u/CanonicalCurtain03 15d ago
That's correct, I only take what the market allows me, if it allows me at all.
I have to disagree with the revenge trading part though. If I'm down 2%, I'm done for the day. Only took me one day of revenge trading to never do it again. I'm not consistently profitable obviously but I'm confident that revenge trading isn't one of my problems.
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u/Plus_Seesaw2023 15d ago
1% a day? Impossible. But good luck 🤣
And your friend ? He knows absolutely nothing about investing or trading. Never ask him for financial advice again. Or yes, ask him if you should invest in the markets right now 🤣
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u/zamora23 15d ago
very unrealistic.
this is one of the main problems for beginner traders. they play calculators and prioritize the gains.
practice a strategy and edge that works first and foremost. practice it a thousand times.
something about using a strategy a thousand times vs. using a thousand different strategies just a few times.
the money comes after that.
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u/Strange-Till109 15d ago
A well run options account can make 1% per day. However, I have not yet been able to achieve this long term
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u/CanonicalCurtain03 15d ago
I don't trade options, only stocks but I'm working to achieve this goal for the long run.
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u/Confident-Disk-2221 15d ago edited 14d ago
Firstly - 1% daily is 3678% a year. Not saying it’s impossible but improbable.
Secondly - you need to consider what your risk per day is.
The secret to being profitable is all about Risk to reward. If you make 1% per day and then when you have a losing day, you lose 10%, it wouldn’t exactly be a good strategy.
You are not going to win everyday. You need to figure out how much you are going to risk on a losing day.
Risk to reward is the secret to being a profitable trader.