Es trading system

Hi Collective,

Im trading ES futures for several years right now and putting together a system. Regarding the system I have a few questions.

  • How much cash do you want to have ready for trading 1 ES contract ?
  • what drawdown percentage is acceptable ?

Thanks!

Kind regards

Hi @VinceV, welcome to C2!

If your questions are directed at the investor community then the lowest drawdown would be best that your system is capable of handling without having to change the rules. As for how much cash, I think its probably expected that at least 15k to 25k should be sufficient to handle your system’s drawdowns. But if you want to appeal to the smaller accounts you could go for 10k…lol

Another thing you should be aware of is that it would be best for new and unproven systems to offer coupons or lower subscription rates for greater appeal otherwise you will be open to criticisms.

Hope this helps!

do you subs a favor and put in a hard stop on all trades. just look at all the current Es systems on c2. most blew up this week. some think 17-50% draw downs are acceptable because they say their system is back tested 10 years and will do well long term. The reality is most people are not here for 10 years and most systems don’t make it past 1 year. Keep draw downs under 10% don’t martingale. Good luck.

Thanks for you feedback AlgoSystems!

Hi TT3, I will, always stops! Not here to gamble with other peoples hard earned cash.

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Thats good @VinceV, I think at this time a lot of investors have lost some serious cash due to some bad systems that had high leverage or systems that just tried to prop up their systems win/loss stats using martingale money management and got wiped out.

I think everyone will welcome a stable and conservative system that does not risk too much per trade.

Good luck!

About the cash needed, you should plan to have around $15K for each ES contract . So if you are going to trade 2 ES contracts, have the acct size be atleast 30k. Don’t charge more than $50 in the beginning. And always have a stop loss. Also, it would be best if you don’t hold positions over the weekend.

This is easy:
Cash Required = Margin Required per contract + Max DD per contract + ~500$

This is to prevent subs from margin call.

Hello @VinceV

Welcome. I have a $50,000 account and the max contracts I have taken in equity futures was 4. Once I took a 5 lot in 2 year bonds but that requires less margin.

I’d say at least $10,000 to $15,000 per ES contract minimum.

Most people here use Interactive Brokers. IB charges $8000 per ES contract. Some also use AMP. AMP charges $400 per ES contract. Huge difference.

Good day

Thanks for all the feedback! I will post my system in the next few months.

Agreed - about $10k per contract IMO.