ALSI Contracts

[magicactus]

To the experts out there. What would be the reccomended number of contracts to trade for this instrument. I have been using one contract for about a year now with a fair degree of success, thinking of going up to three, exiting two at target and letting the third run. Is this acceptable. Any thoughts would be appreciated. I only trade intraday.

[suki]

once u feel confident u can start adding by one, Simon i think is the 7 contract kind of guy. may Max is 5.

[kwagga]

Go to http://www.realchartist.com and join the live chat and forum group. They are all SA intraday (mostly ALSI, TOP40, Forex index futures) traders there. The last time I checked there where aroung 40 people most of which trade intraday full time. This is a typical question they will answer.

[magicactus]

Thanks will do so

[Rams]

if you thinking of 3 contracts, then your system would be fine...with stop loss at about 50 points, taking profit at 100,200, 300 points will be a good risk /reward ratio....or let the third run with stop at breakeven once profit taken at 100 points.

[#6]

I would not recommend you go to RealChartist website..unless you like losing money. Theres nothing there that you cant find out here.

Anyway it comes down to what your comfortable with and your account size, dont trade 5 contracts if you cant handle R 5000 loss.
What does your system say, most I know use 2 contracts, taking profit @ 1.5 times your stop loss (for instance).

Personally I feel comfortable at 10 contracts, but often Ive upped it to 20 when the charts look good.

[Rams]

thats a lot of contracts....with 10/20 contracts, do you trade at market?

[#8]

I often do when getting out, but I wait for the volumes to fill so that I can move in 1 click. Getting in I usually set my price.
The market is much more liquid than ppl think, I know someone who trades over 100 contracts a day.

You do have slippage but it really all comes down to your system. I HATE scalping so you wont find me trying to get 10/20 points here and there, thats very difficult with so many contracts.
So I changed my systems for the bigger moves, so that you have some leeway. Youll almost always get out with 20 points of your stop loss.

If you do this and you keep the 2% rule in mind then its not so bad, they key is still discipline and risk management.

[Rams]

for the not so well heeled, i think 5 contracts per trade is ok. profit at 100.200.300 and the last 2 running at breakeven...

[#10]

I will say though I will NEVER recommend more than 2 contracts though for people still learning. You need to have been profitable for a while to up it, and the fundamentals of trading need to be second nature.
If you havent traded the ALSI for more than a year (and your still alive to tell the tale) only then consider more.

[Rams]

and stay with the system during the draw-downs....

[magicactus]

Many thanks for the input, much appreciated.