Percentage-wise...what kind of daily gain/loss is that in relation to your overall trading acct ? Dollar amount is kind of meaningless, to me. -- I think of trading or things by percentages; seeing the greater picture of things. That's a fantastic return if you have a small account, but if your acct is much larger...then that's just ehh
I don't actually agree with this. I think it all depends on the instrument. Consider the ES today which barely had a 7 point move from the high to the low. Assume a couple of trades, maybe for 3-4 points each, which is extremely generous, so a total of 10 points lets say, and this would mean trading about 15 contracts to reach 7k profit. (but once again, this assumes making 10 points on a day like today which isn't realistic) If you consider this to be via stocks, you're moving quite a few shares. If you consider a gain of $1-2, for a stock that is several hundred dollars, this means you're trading 3k, 4k or 5k shares, and certainly I'm sure the gain is much less than $1-$2, so you're talking even more shares to once again reach 7k in profits. Both of these scenarios require moving quite a bit of "stuff" no matter how you cut it. Having 1 million or 100k in your account doesn't change the fact that your exposure on moving size is significant. Heck, if you have 10 million in your account, it doesn't mean that he could have make 70k today instead of 7k because the liquidity I doubt would support it. A very large account can only handle swing trading, not day trading in my opinion. Dollar amount in my opinion is far more important than a percentage when talking about day trading. When someone mentions a percentage, the next question always is if its scale-able, and the answer is usually no. I've seen reports of guys posting 100% gains trading options, well big fucking deal, the SPY option went from $1 to $2 and they made 100 bucks.
I agree. Dollar amount is meaningless because on a small account, you could be taking an inordinately stupid amount of risk through excessive levels of leverage to get a large return. Greed kills, leverage kills. What would be far more meaningful rather than just posting an account balance would be to post P&L statement for an extended period, warts 'n' all ! Traders who consistently make money *WHILST* consistently displaying sensible risk management is the only thing anyone should care about. Anything else is just a willy-waving exercise ... the ones making the most noise are probably the ones who'll become another statistic having burnt out their account !
ah.. the ole "dollars are meaningless / percent returns are everything" debate. which ends with folks like SIV not posting their PnLs for years. alternative directions this could go: (1) SIV states large account value, your response "meh" (2) SIV posts small value, your response, "too risky" so at what account level is the porridge "just right?"
As I said, its not about account level, its about risk. I couldn't care less if your managing a thousand, million or billion dollar account. Its all about risk, not only leverage, but other aspects of risk too. For another example, see http://brontecapital.blogspot.com/2017/01/a-puzzle-for-risk-manager.html