Any "accidental" career traders out there?

That was a graet story - THANKS!!

I have recently begun the journey myself. Just about 3 months in after A LOT of homework first.

I earned a few things -

First - I can learn from others. THis education is cheap, yet priceless. The losing that happens so often has the same few reasons behind it.

Second - I CANNOT predict the market. It cannot be done, no way, no how. Certain price patterns emerge and point to probabilities, but that is it. Preparation and readiness to act on signals is all you can do - and even then, 75% (less?) of them do not pan out

Third - patience is an extreme virtue.

Fourth - cut your losses as soon as the obvious appears (technicals tell the story)

Last - Ride the wave. Don't imagine anything. Just get on what is there.


I am in the black, but I am not playing hard yet. Incremental market insertion seems to be psychologocally best for me!

Oh - and I love shorts. The correction has been berry, berry good!


I trade stocks, Futires and options as a cheap way to own stocks.

Life is good.

I hope to quit my job someday - trading beats the heck out of working!
 
Quote from luckydogg:
I was just wondering here if anyone became a career trader more by accident than by plan? The reason I am asking is that I have been trading for about 6 years.... I started out as the result of a very bad mistake, now I would like to do it full time as a career. Here's my story for what it's worth etc
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Well what a good bedtime story. Multiply many times the money you first lost and, by the same multiple, multiply the money you made since. Right. Now sell the film rights to your story for a real killing.
:)
 
Quote from luckydogg:

...And I hate my current profession, which is a consultant in the tech field. The only thing that is preventing me at this point is fear...
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Don't overlook the possibility that your job, regardless if you hate it or not, gives you a psychological edge in that losses don't have as much impact on your trading in comparison to those that trade fulltime and don't have a second source of income that ensures the bills are payed while they trade.

Simple solution to your other job situation...

Take either a leave of absence or get another job that you do like (part-time or different hours in comparion to your trading yours) in that it doesn't get in the way of your fulltime trading when you test the waters of fulltime trading.

I've met a few traders that had exceptional trading performances for many years while their jobs gave them psychological support and then they fell apart (consistent losses) soon after quitting their jobs.

I'm not saying this will happen to you.

I'm just saying you have options (leave of absence or a different job).

Also, regardless to your current trading performance...

I don't recommend anyone jumping into fulltime trading until they've saved up a minimum of 1 year of income that's separate from their trading capital to support themselves and pay the bills.

In addition, stay in close contact (networking) with those in your former job just in case things don't go as planned.

Good luck and wish you continued success.

Mark
 
I guess I fall into this category. I started trading about six months ago. We sold our house in Florida and moved to the Seattle area. I got a job pretty quickly, but I didn't feel confident enough about the job to buy a house, so we rented and I had a lot of money in cash. Anxious about how home prices would likely increase faster than my CD's, I decided to put half of my cash into stock, i.e. invest. Actually I did quite well as a position trader and made about 12% up until early this month when I got fired.

I thought having time to watch the screen all day instead of stealing a moment or two to check my stocks while at work would have helped. There were a number of times when I should have bailed out of a position when the stock started to fall, but I missed the turn because I was working, often for less money per day than the money I lost by not watching the market. When the market started to get choppy, on an impulse I closed all of my positions, which turned out to be smarter than I thought it was at the time.

Since losing my job, I have tried to make the transition to a swing trader. Losing my job affected my psychology because now I am more fearful than I was when I had a good income. In the past couple of weeks, I made a few really bad mistakes, trying to call the bottom or top of a few stocks instead of waiting to see what would happen. I got in and out of positions too quickly, often too early or too late, spent a fortune on commissions and lost about 2% of my risk capital. I feel bad about that, but I imagine people with a lot more experience than I have lost a lot more during the past couple of weeks. Plus, I'm still up 10%, which is four times as much as I would have made in a money market account, so I'm trying not to beat myself up too badly.

My biggest mistakes were:
-- trying to call the bottom
-- gambling instead of speculating, being addicted to the action
-- feeling like if I wasn't in the market, I was not "working"

I have resolved not to be as impulsive about getting into positions just to be in the market. I'm looking for another job, but I've dreamed of being a full-time trader for years. I never had enough cash since it was all tied up in my house, so it's going to come down to what happens first, getting another job or learning how to be a successful trader.

Chuck
 
Quote from NihabaAshi:
Take either a leave of absence or get another job that you do like (part-time or different hours in comparion to your trading yours) in that it doesn't get in the way of your fulltime trading when you test the waters of fulltime trading. [/B]
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This is good advice, and believe it or not, I decided over the weekend this is what I am going to do (request a leave of absense). I don't think I will have any problem getting it either.

I understand what you are saying about the psychological support a full time job brings. However at the same time I think because I work in the tech industry the constant threat of outsourcing and layoffs over the last four years has taken away much of the psychological security that I think some people feel with a steady paycheck. Basically I have always been trading with the threat that at any minute the rug may be pulled out from under my feet and I could lose my house my car, etc. So, the circumstances under which I have learned to trade haven't allowed for much of a psychological cushion. Anyway I am hoping a leave of absense will be a good test. Not only will I not have any income for that time, but since the market has not been good recently this will be a good test for me trading in this enviornment. Guess we'll see how it goes.....
 
I went back about 3 or 4 months and pulled a handful of stocks I made money on, with their returns. These are just summaries, I have too many transactions to pull every trade and post all shares traded with entry and exit prices:

CHNR 2.75%
CLZR 13.64%
DVW 5.62%
IIP 95.15%
MBAY 36.90%
POCC 39.13%
QTWW 10.91%
VASO 76.00%

These tended to be smaller cap/micro cap stocks, but for the first part of this year alot of money was going to those...
 
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