scalped about $300 ( E/S ) last two days....just can't seem to get into the rhythm...practice makes perfect I guess. edit: $400 now
Hey @OldFart - I've been looking at getting into some @ES futures trading. I have been working on a strategy, but I'm trying to full understand the margin requirements/how much a contract actually is? Say I have $30,000 in an account - How many contracts would I be able to buy? Are the contracts 50 units (I think I read that somewhere?) Thanks for any help!
@AverageJoesTrades Here's a page from the broker I use that spells out exactly how much you need in your account to trade , tick values, etc: https://tastyworks.desk.com/customer/en/portal/articles/2847616-available-futures-contracts Obviously, you need a margin account, unless you have enough to cover the actual cost. With $30k, you should have no problems at all trading 4 lots at a time. 30,000 / 6380 = 4.7 Trading one /ES, you can make or lose $12.50 for every $0.25 move on the S&P.
@IchiFutures is the master of futures, so we need him to chime in here...hopefully, he get's this message...hard to reach since he's probably living on his own island now...lol @AverageJoesTrades
The problem right here is "how many contracts can I buy?" Forget contract amounts. learn to make money entering 1 contract at a time. Very simple, defined entry points and exit points. I buy when I see price bullish. When I see it again, I buy again. I may have up to 7 contracts on at a time. When I see bearish, I take one contract off. If another bearish signal, then another contract. Anyway...I would never trade more than 2 contracts with 30,000 and I think most guys should be trading futures with 100k. When you're not really sure how good your strategy is, you are at extreme psychological risk and having a 30k in your account, you may bail good trades because your risk starts to make you feel uneasy. Futures are an easy way to lose a lot of money, quickly. trade small and don't hop in and out in and out. You should have a strategy where you can buy and hold for a few days and if you really know what you're doing you may hold and add onto your position through the contract month.
I needed the amount of margin to see what the total amount of contracts would be for the parameters in my algorithm. I have parameters for initial capital then needed initial margin + maintenance to ensure I won't wind up in a margin call situation. Thanks for the input and feedback.
@AverageJoesTrades - NY session margin may vary between brokers. Overnight requirement is $7,700 per contract. CME has maintenance listed at $29,000.
