FUTR: S&P contracts, 1 vs 10, any differece?

[Troy Kelley <tkelley@xxxxxxx>]

traders,

I have been trading 1 or 2 S&P contracts using LeoWeb software and I have been fairly 
successful.  Mainly because of all the help I have gotten from this list, especially 
from Pete E and Bob R. (Hey Bob, you should really think about trading the e-mini 
instead of those OEX options, then you don't have to worry about time decay and all the 
other problems with option prices that put the buyer in a bad position)

Anyway, the only way I can make more money on the S&P is by either trading more often, 
or trading more contracts once my accounts gets larger.

The question I have though is whether I have to worry about speed of exectution when 
trading larger numbers of S&P contracts. Is it harder to trade say, 5 contracts as 
opposed to 1 or 2, in terms of execution speed for at-the-market trades? At what point 
do I start really running into trouble with exectutions, 10, 20 contracts? I have had a 
few 2 contract trades come back with 1 tick differences in the fills, but one tick 
usually doesn't bother me too much.

Also, has anyone heard about stops on the Mini S&P? I am guessing now I can position 
trade the e-Mini, and still sleep at night if I have a stop in place? I suppose it could 
still move limit up/down however?

BTW, my advice to new day traders is to sit and watch the market for a long time without 
making trades, or maybe just making paper trades.  If you do paper trade, you have to be 
extremely strict with yourself, and not cut yourself any slack. You need good estimates 
about your fills and exectution speeds. I found it helpful. I actually lost money paper 
trading. Many people say that no one ever looses money paper trading and I could see how 
that might happen, but if you are disiplined and strict with yourself, paper trading can 
have some benefits.  However when real money hits the trade, your stomach can tell the 
difference.  Anyway, watching the market really helps.  I mean sit and watch every tick, 
and don't do anything else for a few hours at a time. I sit and watch every tick using 1 
min and 5 min bars, and only when I spent the time watching the market move through the 
day, and developing an intuitive sence about the market, did my trading improve.  This 
took a long time, but it really helped.

Troy