Poor Man’s Futures Trading (by 007 Dad)

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I’ve seen many ask the question how to get started in futures trading and make money. Heck, how can I earn a living at day trading? Most, including myself earlier this year, thought it must be home run after home run to get there. After watching many of the pros here on Slope as well as studying charts, other traders, and history, I have adopted a similar game plan I saw someone mention a while back.

Start with a $5,000 trading account for futures. The goal is to just make 4 ticks per day on average. That’s right, $50 in ES per day. How would that play out in a 5 year plan? We will take a look…And if you are really wanting to be aggressive, shoot for 8 ticks per day, or $100 profit. Yeah, yeah…I hear the nay-sayers already! It may be simple and not uber aggressive, and we aren’t counting commissions, but check out the chart below and adjust per your trading plan!

Trading account with $5,000

Day one earn 4 ticks or $50
Week one earn 20 ticks or $250
Month one earn $1,000
Year one earn $12,000
End of Year one $5,000 + $12,000 = $17,000

Year Two Start with $17,000 trading two contracts now, same goal of 4 ticks per day.
Week one earn $500
Month one earn $2,000
Year two earn $24,000
End of Year two $17,000 + $24,000 = $41,000

Year Three Start with $41,000 trading three contracts, goal of 4 ticks each per day
Week one earn $750
Month one earn $3,000
Year three earn $36,000
End of Year three $41,000 + $36,000 = $77,000

Year Four Start with $77,000 trading four contracts, goal of 4 ticks each per day
Week one earn $1,000
Month one earn $ 4,000
Year four earn $48,000
End of Year four $77,000 + $48,000 = $125,000

Year Five Start with $125,000 trading five contracts, goal of 4 ticks per day
Week one earn $1,250
Month one earn $5,000
Year five earn $60,000
End of year five $125,000 + $60,000 = $185,000

If you decide to shoot for just 8 ticks per day, the results would be much faster of course:

Day one $100
Week one $500
Month one $2,000
Year one $24,000
EOY total $5,000 + $24,000 = $29,000

Year two (adding one more contract per year as above)
$48,000 profit
EOY total $29,000 + $48,000 = $77,000

Year three
$72,000 profit
EOY total $77,000 + $72,000 = $149,000

Year four
$96,000 profit
EOY total $149,000 + $96,000 = $245,000

Year five
$120,000 profit
EOT total $245,000 + $120,000 = $365,000

Not a bad five year plan for a beginner with $5k to start. Perfect world scenario, but I would say simple game plan with small expectations. Why aren’t others doing this? What’s easy to do, is easy not to do. You gotta start somewhere! Blessings trading on 2016 guys n gals!