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Answers - General Daytrading

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Answers - General Daytrading:

1)  What Size account balance do I need to follow the Daytrader’s Bulletin Signals?
We recently changed to trading the e-mini S&P contract, so account size requirements would be less than if you are trading the big contract. For the e-mini, most brokers will allow you to trade one or more contracts with an account size of $5,000 (or even less).

If you are trading the full S&P 500 contract, a $10,000 account minimum is usually required (by your broker) to trade one intraday contract. Brokers requirements vary, but you are better off with a larger account.

These are rough estimates and considerable variation exists among trading houses. Call your broker or futures commission merchant for their margin requirements.

For the e-mini S&P, you could trade contract sets of 3 with an account size of $10,000 or less (again, the larger account size is better psychologically).

For the large S&P, you would need a minimum $30,000 account, and then could trade our standard 3-contract set, although we recommend a $75,000 account due to our stop loss size.

2)  I’m a beginning trader.  Should I use the Daytrader’s Bulletin Signals?
Perhaps. If you have familiarized yourself with the different types of orders available, practiced the ordering process, and paper traded, you may be able to profitably use the Bulletin's services.

We advise everyone, however, to become very familiar with the Overnight Update and the Signals. The Signals should be viewed while monitoring the contract(s) price action in real time. This will give you a feel for our procedures and techniques. It is critical for everyone using our service to read these FAQs and The Guide.

3)  How much profit can I expect to make trading a 3-contract set?
It’s difficult to tell. If you gave ten traders an identical mechanical system, their results would vary considerably.  Some traders would lose money, most would break even, and some would have gains.

The psychological aspect of trading is so critical that we address this aspect of trading in depth in Tips, Tricks and Techniques. The Bulletin Signals are very timely and profitable, so, a relatively higher percentage of traders will make money, if they follow the Signals as recommended in the Bulletins.

4)  How will I know when to stay out of the market?
If no buy or sell signals are issued, you simply don’t enter the market. Occasionally, we will know earlier in the day whether it’s going to be a “no-win” trading day. We will advise you of these conditions using Special Updates.

5)  Why do you trade the S&P 500 so frequently and the other futures so infrequently?
We issue Signals for the e-mini S&P 500 almost every day because our systems indicate that we should do so. The intraday range, the persistency of the intraday trends, and the market internals we track suggest we trade the S&P 500. We do trade other futures on a less occasional basis when their price action and volume profiles became profitable.

6)  How many “good” trading opportunities are there, on average, in the S&P 500 every week?
Presently the S&P 500 gives us from 12 to 18 excellent trend periods every week.

7)  If too many people subscribe to the Daytrader’s Bulletin Signals, won’t that have a negative effect on getting reasonable fills at your buy and sell points?
The Daytrader’s Bulletin carefully monitors liquidity of the contracts it follows each day to assure that our subscribers can get reasonable fills in a timely manner. We monitor liquidity for five minutes after our Signals are issued. We know how many subscribers are using their passwords, we feel we know how the market will move, and from subscriber surveys we know approximately how many contracts will be traded on our Signals.

We compare this projected price movement to profiles we’ve developed and compare that range to the actual price and volume action. Our subscriber’s base aggregate equity is not sufficient to control market action one way or the other.

If the actual price and volume movement goes “out of bounds” a certain percentage of the time, we can assume our recommendations are affecting current liquidity. This hasn’t happened and because of the limitations on our number of subscribers, we are certain we can control this potential problem. 

8)  Why do you only offer a 4-day free trial?
Four trading days is a reasonable period of time for any potential subscriber to become familiar with the Overnight update and the Bulletin Signals. This time period also allows a subscriber an opportunity to follow the price action and the Signals in real-time. The Bulletin Signals will reward you handsomely -- but you must take the signals!

9)  I can't hear the sounds when a new Real-Time Signal is broadcast.
The sound files used for the Real-Time Signals are in the .au format. Most browsers contain built-in support to play standard sound files, but the latest Version 4.04 of Netscape Navigator gives users a choice of downloading the entire program, or only the components you want.

Unfortunately, one of the components you do not get unless you choose the full install is the sound file plug-in. If you find yourself in this situation, we have compiled detailed instructions to remedy the situation. We do not know of any similar problems with any other browsers.

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