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                                               the Simulator for papertrading your IB account

    To follow  the path:
    look to  the master,
    follow  the master,
    walk with the master,
    see through the master,
    become the master.

Welcome

I would like to take the opportunity to welcome all of you to the Futures-Trader newsgroup.
Most of you already know Futures-Trader, some even use it for trading their real account. Futures Trader is a professional product used by traders for trading. Trading is no game, but for some a very stressful and dangerous endaveour. In Futures there are only winners and loosers, there can't be a win-win situation, like in trading shares. It might be, that some big players don't mind a loss, if their Futurestrade was a hedge for the delivery of real commodities, but nevertheless if the position goes against them, its a loss also for the big player. 

Especially, when you start this profession, you'r in a pond full of sharks, all looking to get your money. And be sure, you will all have to pay your admission fees. Still, its only you who decides how much you will need to pay until you get profitable and consistent. Even if 95% don't make it, it is possible to become a professional earning a living from Futures trading. 

But you need to start it from scratch as a business. Never ever think, its a game.

This spike got cancelled later by the exchange, still trades from 845 to 860 where upheld, and I know some good traders who got burned badly by this "cancelled" spike.

You need preparation and mentoring.
Read books, not only concerning Tradesystems, but concerning the psycological side of Trading. Because a tradingsystem with a 50%-50% win-loss rate can be a very profitable one, if managed correctly. And with 50%-50% your system could mean also the throw of a quarter. You would be surprised how profitable you could be, if you always took the position counter to your trade.

So for a start I would recommend:

Edwin Lefèvre:                  Reminiscences of a Stock Operator
Marc Douglas:                   Trading in the Zone
Van K. Tharp, 
Brian June:                         Financial Freedom Through Electronic Daytrading
George Kleinman:             Commodity Futures and Options
Brett N. Steenbarger:       The Psychology of Trading
Richard D. McCall:            The Way of the Warrior-Trader
John J. Murphy:                Technical Analysis of the Finacial Markets
Alan S. Farley:                    The Master Swing Trader

There are other books in my library, but for a start this would be sufficient.

The cost side is also extremly important. You will be out of business soon, if you daytrade Futures and need to pay too much per Roundtrip. One of the least expensive brokers for trading worldwide markets is Interactive Brokers (www.interactivebrokers.com). But, even if I couldn't complain about their support yet, some had bad experiences, when trying to get telephone support. So you need to decide, what you need most, low commissions or higher commissions, but better support. Just think about the following: By changing brokers I was able to cut my commissions by 50%. And it needs to be a real bad trade to cost me this sum of money saved. Be aware, that you always can hedge your open position, if you have a second account available for trading.
For charts, I can recommend Sierra Charts as being good and inexpensive, even if I myself don't use them. I stick with Ensign, which has a great Playback feature, to replay the market day. 

For mentoring, there are quite a lot sites out there, trying to get your money for education. I paid some of them and was fortunate to get good education from at least two of them. But the best support and education I got for free from Woodie, whom you can meet now in the <EMini> group in Hotcomm. Download and install www.hotcomm.com/ftppub/hlsetupx.com and join us in the <emini> group. I've never been part of such a businesslike and professional group of great traders helping others for free. 

You need trading software. Be aware, that the sharks in the pond have the latest software with the best indicators available to them. So, to level the playground, you also need the software best suited to your needs to trade. This might be Futures-Trader, this might be J-Trader or any other software solution available to trade futures. 
Take your look, try it and decide what you need for your trading. Just be aware, that Futures trading can be an extremly fast business. Instantaneous action is sometimes demanded, so don't want think about your software when placing the trade. The software should fit your trading style like a pair of shoes. If it doesn't do what you demand, ask the developer to add the function needed or look somewhere else.

Some Tradingsoftware is free, Futures-Trader is not, if you want to use it for trading your own account. That's because, I don't think everything on the internet needs to be free. It takes time to develop and support a program. So, if you decide Futures-Trader fits your style of trading, earn the small fee of 2 ES points on your first day of trading the ES for real.

Until then, use Futures Trader as your free Trading Simulator. There are some Simulators on the market to papertrade Futures trading. But most of these are developed for simulated trading and are not intended to be used in real trading. Futures-Trader was developed as Tradedesk used for real trading. The Simulation was added and integrated in the Tradedesk later on. During the trading day there are quite a few moments, where you get a signal, but you think, no I don't like the lock of this signal, you don't take it and miss the big run of the day. With Futures-Trader, your account will miss the run also, because you will click on the DEMO button. But you will participate on paper, because after you pressed <Demo> you took the trade. The lesson to always take the signals your system gives you, has been reinforced again, even if your account missed this one. 

But, there will be always better trades down the road.

I hope this group will further the development of Futures-Trader. So it will become the best Tradingdesk available. Developed from professional traders for professional traders only.

Croc

(continue)