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

[Bankmanagerkuwait]

Hi all,

I quit my full-time job earlier this year to focus on full time trading. October will be my last month in the work force. After that, I'm on my own as a full-time trader.

I'm just curious if anyone who's once been in a similar situation or am in one currently have any advice to share that can be valuable moving forward?

I'm not really seeking advice on trading methodology as I'm feeling fairly confident in what I have there and have my own stuff to focus on, but anything else would be of interest.


Some background information about me:

- I have an account size of just over $15K. I day trade US index futures.

- I have savings to cover living expenses for 6 months.

- I have a standing job offer with another firm and can also get my old job back if needed.

- No kids. Just a needy girlfriend who feels she sees too little of me.

- I've been full time trading twice earlier. The last time, I was severly undercapitalized and simply had to quit because I was broke. I didn't 'blow up', but slowly bled to death and had to eat.

- I've been exposed to the markets on/off for 12 years by now and have devoted long periods of time to serious market study and research. I have proprietary tools developed to aid my market analysis and research. So, I'm not new to the markets.

My initial plan was to trade part-time after work and slowly build my account, but it turned out to be much harder to do than I anticipated and I quickly felt burned out juggling these two on <= 5,0 hours sleep. Especially since my day time job is very demanding/stressful and I can't always leave on time either.

Because of this and since I feel I have options otherwise, I decided to quit my job and finally try full time trading with full focus once again.

One thing which will be different than earlier is that I will try to focus on consistency of returns instead of trying to hit home-runs every single day. This is something I can afford doing now since I'm not pressured to do so. Of course, in order to succeed, I need to make money, but I think slow and steady wins the race.

Thanks in advance for any advice on this exciting journey.

Best regards and thanks for reading.

Howard

First of all, don't be greedy. Secondly, I do not know what expenses you plan to make weekly, if not, with 15k deposit, if you are a fast scalper like me, you can comfortably make $100 daily with no stress, all it requires is patience before you enter the market .

And lastly stick to plan of your trades and be disciplined.

 

[Bankmanagerkuwait]

Hi all,

I quit my full-time job earlier this year to focus on full time trading. October will be my last month in the work force. After that, I'm on my own as a full-time trader.

I'm just curious if anyone who's once been in a similar situation or am in one currently have any advice to share that can be valuable moving forward?

I'm not really seeking advice on trading methodology as I'm feeling fairly confident in what I have there and have my own stuff to focus on, but anything else would be of interest.


Some background information about me:

- I have an account size of just over $15K. I day trade US index futures.

- I have savings to cover living expenses for 6 months.

- I have a standing job offer with another firm and can also get my old job back if needed.

- No kids. Just a needy girlfriend who feels she sees too little of me.

- I've been full time trading twice earlier. The last time, I was severly undercapitalized and simply had to quit because I was broke. I didn't 'blow up', but slowly bled to death and had to eat.

- I've been exposed to the markets on/off for 12 years by now and have devoted long periods of time to serious market study and research. I have proprietary tools developed to aid my market analysis and research. So, I'm not new to the markets.

My initial plan was to trade part-time after work and slowly build my account, but it turned out to be much harder to do than I anticipated and I quickly felt burned out juggling these two on <= 5,0 hours sleep. Especially since my day time job is very demanding/stressful and I can't always leave on time either.

Because of this and since I feel I have options otherwise, I decided to quit my job and finally try full time trading with full focus once again.

One thing which will be different than earlier is that I will try to focus on consistency of returns instead of trying to hit home-runs every single day. This is something I can afford doing now since I'm not pressured to do so. Of course, in order to succeed, I need to make money, but I think slow and steady wins the race.

Thanks in advance for any advice on this exciting journey.

Best regards and thanks for reading.

Howard

First of all, don't be greedy. Secondly, I do not know what expenses you plan to make weekly, if not, with 15k deposit, if you are a fast scalper like me, you can comfortably make $100 daily with no stress, all it requires is patience before you enter the market .

And lastly stick to plan of your trades and be disciplined.

 

[jl1575]

Congratulations! Tomorrow is your first day to pursue freedom in many aspects.

 

[Bankmanagerkuwait]

don't trade anything below the 15M timeframe. I learned that the hard way ... wasted tons of years on the 5M

Good advice too

 

[Bankmanagerkuwait]

Not saying this to be unkind, but - take the job offer. $15k is ridiculously small as an account size from which to make a living, and even the few problems that you've listed show that you're not a pro. The best professional traders average about 2%/month, or less than 30% annualized; on $15k, that's not enough for a year of decent breakfasts, much less a living.

Very wrong

 

[BlueWaterSailor]

Very wrong

I've seen smelly ragpickers come up to people on the New York subway, mutter some irrelevant shit, and then wander off on whatever their business is. Thanks for the memories.

 

[Bankmanagerkuwait]

I've seen smelly ragpickers come up to people on the New York subway, mutter some irrelevant shit, and then wander off on whatever their business is. Thanks for the memories.

What is your point? What you said I quotted was wrong, learn or get schooled, I'm two decades away in trading, we all keep learning everyday

 

[BlueWaterSailor]

What is your point? What you said I quotted was wrong, learn or get schooled, I'm two decades away in trading, we all keep learning everyday

Two decades, and still totally clueless? Unsurprising. If you don't know how to think, spell, or express anything beyond a caveman's grunt, learning from experience is going to be way beyond your abilities.

My point, since you missed it, was that your typing effort (poor lad; deciding which hand to spare - the one holding the crack pipe or the one spanking the monkey - must have been torture for you) wasn't worth all the rank sweat you dripped on the keyboard. If you wanted to actually communicate something - you know, like normal people do when they post? - then you failed.

But do come back and try again some time... preferably after you've completed a first-grade education. Then we can chat about schooling. Until then, into the "ignore" bucket you go.

[plonk]

 

[Bankmanagerkuwait]

Two decades, and still totally clueless? Unsurprising. If you don't know how to think, spell, or express anything beyond a caveman's grunt, learning from experience is going to be way beyond your abilities.


My point, since you missed it, was that your typing effort (poor lad; deciding which hand to spare - the one holding the crack pipe or the one spanking the monkey - must have been torture for you) wasn't worth all the rank sweat you dripped on the keyboard. If you wanted to actually communicate something - you know, like normal people do when they post? - then you failed.

But do come back and try again some time... preferably after you've completed a first-grade education. Then we can chat about schooling. Until then, into the "ignore" bucket you go.

[plonk]

Why are you so pained? If you can not deal with what i said, so be it.

 

[Howard]

Congratulations! Tomorrow is your first day to pursue freedom in many aspects.

Thank you! I really appreciate that.

Actually, I extended my leave by another two weeks as my company literally begged me to do so and were willing to pay me extra for it. That's more money in the bank for me, so why not, I figured. I'm just closing down the projects I'm working on before leaving.

The funny thing is that my boss makes yearly salary adjustments on what I feel is a communist/socialist way of rewarding employees. Regardless of effort, he believes that a 5 % increase in salary is the absolute maximum on a yearly basis, but preferrably around 3 %. However, after handing in my resignation, I've been netting 25 % more in income for the last 4 months of my extended resignation period. This seems to be true for a lot of companies. They're not willing to pay you until you actually leave.

This is a big part of why I decided to quit my job. Too stressful/demanding to combine with trading and too low salary/growth potential.

Anyway, I'm ranting here. In a few weeks I'll be out for sure.

Best,

Howard