Start Here: Futures Trading and Reality
(We all have to start somewhere)
What This Site Is
Let's get this out of the way. This site isn't your hype get-rich-quick day trading site trying to sell you a perfect strategy that doesn't work IRL. This is my real trading experience. Be sure to read this DISCLAIMER before we move on. (disclaimers are on every footer of every page for future reference)
Read it? Good.
This site is my real trading experience, 20+ years of it.
This isn't some theory class at NYU that never had skin in the game. This is futures focused. Concepts can be applied to equities and other markets, but be forewarned this is futures-focused primarily and some concepts might not apply exactly in other markets, if at all.
Lastly, we focus on execution, risk management/mitigation, risk transfer, systems design, and deployment.
Who This Is For
This site is for those new to futures trading. Traders stuck in a sim/backtesting loop. Traders from other markets switching to futures. Traders who blew accounts and don't know why. Traders tired of fake hype content or those that got fooled by the prop funding arcade industry (there's a lot of you and those firms will not be named). Traders that want to further understand how markets and systems work. And professionals who have traded as long as I have and are looking for higher-level logs and insights beyond a lot of the nonsense seen in social media.
If any of the above applies to you at all, you've come to the right place.
Who This is NOT For
This site isn't for individuals looking for signals (even if I gave them the delay would render them useless). People looking for shortcuts or the easy way out, get-rich YOLO-to-the-moon kind of crowd, and absolutely not for those who disregard risk.
So if you get a kick out of delusions of grandeur you might as well alt+f4 now. Thanks.
Now if you're here to learn and improve your career as a trader, speculator, systems developer, let's keep going.
How To Use This Site
You shouldn't jump around randomly when using this site at the beginning, try and follow the site structure. One should start from the basics as a refresher even if you already know it.
This is structured progression.
- Start → Learning Pages → Logs
If you skip the early steps or beginner pages you can and likely will be confused in the logs.
There's no improvement from randomness, you only get entertainment, if that at all.
Learn what's being presented first before devouring as much content as you can and overwhelming yourself.
Follow the steps, keep complications minimal.
Learning Order
Read it. Don't skip steps.
Step 1 — What Is Futures Trading
First, you need to understand what you're actually trading.
You're not trading stocks, you're trading contracts on indices, energies, interest rates, currencies and whatever else are offered as markets on the exchange.
With that said, each contract has a notional value larger than its price. There is a multiplier specific to the contract traded, whatever that multiplier is * the futures prices is the notional value.
Step 2 — Margin & Leverage
Margin dictates if you can enter a position, hold it and maintain the position overnight.
Initial margin checks if you can enter, intraday margins are set by the FCM and are usually lower than initial margins, they're the bare minimum to hold a position open during the session, maintenance margin is a higher value you must post to hold the position overnight, into the next trading session.
Blatant disregard of margin requirements and monitoring them along with potential changes by your FCM ensures your swift exit from futures trading.
Step 3 — How Orders Actually Work
There are 3 basic orders: market orders, stop orders and limit orders.
Each behaves differently.
Market: fills your order instantaneously at the best prevailing price.
Stop: orders are held by your broker, when they are hit e.g. price <= stop price, they convert to market orders to be filled at best prevailing price.
Limit: These are in the central limit order book, you're passive liquidity, these are orders matched with other orders.
Market order = fast execution.
Stop order = becomes a market order once triggered, guaranteeing execution but not price.
Limit order = guarantees your price or better(rare) but not execution.
When a price hits a price level, your order type and how long it's been resting or in the market determines your execution time, if executed at all. Basically the sooner you're in line the higher the chance of a fill at that price (not guaranteed). Stops and market pay a price in slippage for not waiting, so those 2 cut in the execution line but are never guaranteed that price.
Knowing the above 3 is the most basic strategy if you don't learn anything else.
Step 4 — Strategy Reality
Strategies on paper fail in real life tests because simulations are past controlled environments.
A lot of simulations are sped up and there can be gaps in data, therefore there are aberrations in results especially when comparing it to real-time, live market results.
Overreliance on strategy testers can disregard bad fills and slippage which are prevalent in live market conditions.
Don't fall into the trap of curve fitting to feed delusions of grandeur.
Step 5 — Systematic vs Discretionary
Systematic and Discretionary trading are two opposite trading approaches.
Systematic is very rules based, technical, hands off and quantifiable.
Discretionary on the other hand can be rules based, but loosely followed and are subject to emotional lapses in judgment and poor execution overall.
Systematic = Repetitive and boring (like work)
Discretionary = Exciting and fun (like an arcade)
Step 6 — Risk Management
The management of risk is overlooked by many, even those who trade systematically.
No matter how you trade, via discretion or systems you must be aware of position sizing and margin requirements.
Knowing these basics, then you can integrate them into your strategies.
Survival is paramount.
With all that said
Once these foundations are clear, the Logs will make more sense.
That’s where the concepts move from definitions into real trading observations, system discussions, market commentary, and strategic deep dives.