Any advice for a soon to be full-time trader?

[Howard]

I just check the market and my systems at the end of the day. I never planned to do anything except very short holding periods. Stuff like 30 seconds to 10 minutes. A swing trade for me and my system would be like 90 minutes.

I built a system that predicts the price action so that I can basically 'cheat' and see if the big money is selling the rally or whatever. But I can't do it on a mobil device or hours outside of RTH.

So, yea I'm just saving cash and making sure my system is still working at the end of each day.

Here's an example of it. It leads price most of the time.

So, your system is basically an indicator reading? If so - couldn't you automate it?

If you never traded it live, you might be surprised when you finally go live...

 

[Real Money]

The indicator shows how much the futures are affecting the S&P when you compare it to the price action. Also, it is showing what is happening in the bond market (rate futures). There are a lot of moving parts involved so automation is not the first thing I will do....

 

[ironchef]

Can I take positions with options and trade directionally just like I would a futures contract?

For my style the short answer is yes. I started with trading the underlying, then migrated to trading options of the same underlying instead.

If you can master the direction, option trading can work well.

 

[Howard]

2 ES points per day, net. $5000 in margin per contract. 15K account. Profits are re-invested and compounded.

 

[bone]

In reality it never works out like that, and if you’re taking money out of your account for living expenses it really really won’t work out like that.

I wish you good fortune!

2 ES points per day, net. $5000 in margin per contract. 15K account. Profits are re-invested and compounded.

View attachment 214846

 

[imjohn]

2 ES points per day, net.

Netting avg 2 pts/day is doable. You left the 9-5 in November, right? RTH range has been pretty anemic Since mid October. Lot more opportunity around this time last year, but it will come back at some point.

From what I recall you have 6 months living expenses set aside and your real starting point will be whatever level you scale your 15k up to at the 6 month marker. Keep us posted.

 

[Howard]

In reality it never works out like that, and if you’re taking money out of your account for living expenses it really really won’t work out like that.

I wish you good fortune!

True. Hence why I call it a model account.

Yet, it shows what's possible if you're consistent and compound your profits instead of withdrawing them.

Thank you!

Netting avg 2 pts/day is doable. You left the 9-5 in November, right? RTH range has been pretty anemic Since mid October. Lot more opportunity around this time last year, but it will come back at some point.

From what I recall you have 6 months living expenses set aside and your real starting point will be whatever level you scale your 15k up to at the 6 month marker. Keep us posted.

Hello, John,

My old company made me an offer which in the grand scheme of things was too good to pass upon. Basically, they almost doubled my salary if I would work for the rest of the year and help finish a project. I was a bit worried volatility would spike again this December, but it seems like I'm not missing too much at this point, although the markets certainly offer good opportunities still.

So, for now, I'm just following/studying the markets and working as much as I can in order to have a nice pile at the end of the year to sustain myself. I should not need to take any money out of the account until August next year or so.

Hope your trading is going well.

Howard

 

[trader888i]

Why quit your job?

take one week off from work and daytrade and trade,,,now during that 1 week, if you lose money..why quit your job? are you stupid?
or just take one day off and daytrade..now in daytrading or one week see if you make money. if you lose why quit your job. obvioiusly you don't have a profitable trader
don't beleive that crap about having 6 months living expense ready. 6 months of trading and no money coming in? are you stupid it's not really a business ...it's like gambling if you are trading your own capital. also if you lose money trading other people's money you won't have any clients soon. or fired from your trading job.

 

[Fonz]

You probably heard "trade with money you can afford to lose.." Whatever your capital and savings, this is a very bad quote. Investing or trading with that in mind, will give you what you expect and probably more.
It seems that if you need a job (like some of us), quitting this job should put you in en even worst situation, with no money that you can afford to lose.
Speaking of quotes, I think this one is appropriate: (from 1967 classic book The Money Game) “If you don’t know who you are, the stock market is an expensive place to find out.”

 

[bone]

If one of my own clients told me that he was quitting his job to start trading his stake of $15K
I would definitely try my hardest to talk him out of it - unless he also had 18 months of living expense money set off to the side. And that includes health care premiums, rent, software, Internet, etc..

I personally started with $10K - but I also didn’t quit my full time Engineering job for a couple of years.