Anyone else hit the burnout point with trading?

[Overnight]

I've been at it 17 years fulltime and I do well enough to pay for kids educations, the house , etc, but the last couple years I am hitting a wall of feeling sick and tired of doing this day in and day out....If anyone has any thoughts how they got past the burnout I'd love to hear it. Heck if you just want to write something abusive go for it, I'll live.
Peace, Bob

Something definitely cool you could do most likely, and I highly recommend, is to take a hot-air balloon ride. In fact, take many of them.

I took one last year in New England at the crack of dawn when the winds were nil. It was incredible. An unforgettable experience.

The whole routine of letting up the small helium balloon to see where the winds are going so they can find their launch site, while it is barely light out, then travelling there, then the set-up and having to help inflate the thing, getting in, riding it, and then the landing. You also have to help take the balloon down when you land in the homeowner's backyard. The lore, the stories. Was just all quite awesome.

 

[R1234]

I've been at this more than a couple of decades now and the trading is more busy than ever (after those darn brokers went zero commission!). It starts at 7:30 am (EST) and ends at 4pm. Then there is an additional 3 hrs of work from 10pm to 1am after the data downloads come in. I've developed coping mechanisms to avoid burnout. I like to break up the work day by going for a jog at lunch time. And I don't eat until 5pm - only black coffee or black tea until then. This keeps my energy levels up and focus sharp. Obviously, you need to tailor your trading so that its on auto-pilot during that hour.

I have thought about what it would feel like to go back to the corporate world, with the interaction, not having to run lean etc. But I think my chances of getting hired are practically zero being in my late 40's + the tanked economy. But something tells me even if I got a job, the trading would be calling at me like an addiction.

 

[gaussian]

Work with a church or food bank.

Bad idea. Within a week I'd have opened up an OTC option market on beans and water. I should really figure out how to apply the BSM to cigarettes as currency.

 

[Laissez Faire]

Well, I always joke around to my girlfriend and closest friend saying that I burned out years ago and am way beyond that point by now. I've quit a few times, but the markets always seems to call me back.

I have been exposed to the markets on/off since 2006. Some of these periods have been full-time and very intense, but with a few (longer) breaks in between. I even got a higher degree in this period and a corporate job in engineering, but ditched that as soon as I had a decent stake to go out on my own again.

I remember how fascinating I found the markets when I first started. I was like a child again. So much opportunity. So much excitement. So much to learn. Much of that is gone now and killed after endless hours of study, hundreds of books read, trading model development and back-testing. Particularly since there's been a huge alternative cost too, i.e., little to no leizure time, dropping parties, dropping friends, etc. There's been sacrifices for sure.

Right now, I'm doing well with my trading and am more consistent than ever. And I definitely want to continue pursuing it as long as I can make money and I still find it interesting. I don't really see what else I would do right now.

But at the same time I have that lingering feeling that maybe there's something else I should be doing with my life. We'll see.

I've been at it 17 years fulltime and I do well enough...

Do you mind me asking how well you actually do? Put bluntly - are you rich? Or are you still grinding it out?

I'm getting the feeling that trading may be a business which only makes sense if you're doing really, really well.

I don't want to trade for a living for sure. I want to trade to build a fortune. That's my goal and that's what motivates me right now.

I have pretty much become a hermit with this job. To be honest I'm not sure that bothers me tremendously, but at the same time I doubt it's a healthy way to live.

I hear you there. I'm basically a hermit, too. Pre-covid I would be in the gym a lot daily and that helped.

On the other hand - the socializing I had in my former job wasn't great either. Basically cubicle work and socializing with colleagues I tolerated and didn't really have anything in common with. But, of course, there's something to be said about actually leaving the house and having been a day at the office there's no place like home.

Long term, if I succed in this, I think I would want to set up an office. There are co-shared solutions where you basically have a lot of different types of people all running independent businesses. You might even find traders to share offices with.

If you have a good track record. Is there any chance you could be able to get a job in the industry or manage some outside capital?

I think these steps could potentially help you a lot.

 

[Laissez Faire]

I think you should ask yourself if you are willing to give up the freedom you have right now.

You can work whenever you want, if you want to take a day of you just do so, no boss watching your every move, complaining about everything you do, getting mad if you are 5 minutes late, ...

I get bored myself when trading, but i prefer bored at home while trading over bored at work without the option to call it a day whenever i want.

Maybe you should just remind yourself of the advantages and the freedom you have now? Take any temporary job you can find, do it for a few weeks. Still feel like you want to quit trading and go back to a day job then go ahead and do so, but maybe that helps you to appreciate the advantages of trading from home/office on your own terms again.

Good post, but, I'll say that the freedom you mentioned is only available if you're actually rich from trading and don't have to trade or actually have a trading style where you can work whenever you want.

I currently feel like a slave to my trading operations, especially since I day trade and still am not rich enough to choose to not trade.

I have thought about what it would feel like to go back to the corporate world, with the interaction, not having to run lean etc. But I think my chances of getting hired are practically zero being in my late 40's + the tanked economy. But something tells me even if I got a job, the trading would be calling at me like an addiction.

Have you considered getting an office out of the house?

No offense, but I can't imagine anyone longing back to the corporate world. Must be a moment of insanity. But there are jobs outside the corporate world which might be interesting.

I do think the markets would be calling at you for sure.

 

[themickey]

A shared office environment close by home would be fun, then you have company, I was doing that years ago but half trading, half working for the boss.
These days I operate from home but have a routine each morning of driving to a cafe and reading newspaper as the market opens. Missing the market open is not an issue due to my trading style.
At home I have a workshop as well as a garden, frequently I'll go outside or into the workshop while the market is open, I've structured my trading method that it can go unattended for lengthy periods.

 

[wrbtrader]

Burnout isn't as easy to solve as taking vacations unfortunately. I've hit extreme periods of burnout programming.

The only thing that really solved it for me was finding the reason and then fixing the reason. Taking time off just made things worse as the existential dread of going back to work approached.

That's why I stated a bunch of solutions and one of them is to seek professional help because most can not determine a reason on their own nor be able to fix it on their own after determining a reason. Another issue I mention...many people get burnout confused with depression...only a professional will determine which is really occurring.

Everybody is different, for some, vacationing with their loved ones does the trick to break up a routine. It specifically did the trick for me along with spending more time with my hobbies...both design to get away from trading / markets.

Regardless, the OP left out some critical info after mentioning his kids, didn't mention his wife, didn't mention its a Pandemic and many other things that a professional will obvious ask about the home environment.

Reality, its a Pandemic, something else the OP did not mention. Mental illness (e.g. depression) is soaring so far during this Pandemic. I wouldn't be surprise if some individuals think they're just going thru a "burnout".

Also, due to the Pandemic, a lot of people aren't able to do their normal activities that they have been able to do that has helped prevent being burnt out as a trader.

Simply, I would not be surprise if more traders during this Pandemic think they're just burnout or the Pandemic accelerated something that had been occurring the months prior to the Pandemic.

That's what Pandemics, its a side effect...it brings to surface other issues to a boil that had just been dormant...waiting for a reason to be released.

Also, there's many more solutions to a burnout but I don't have time to mention such as relationships that trader has with others or someone specific. Another issue could be just natural...mid-life crisis @ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Midlife_crisis

As stated, the OP didn't mention a lot of details which is why some will reply with a bunch of solutions.

wrbtrader

 

[Turveyd]

You've used it as a good income then for 17years I presume, I'd say it's End game time!!

Rather than making an income it's time to go HARD or literally get a job, or go HARD and if it blows up get a job, yeah that 1, basically look to Scale up make enough in the next year or 2 that you can literally retire and never work / trade again and have a good life style.

Either way, no more trading.

 

[d08]

I burn out quite often, long drawdowns are debilitating for me. Even during better periods, the pointlessness of watching things go up most of the day appear meaningless about half the time.

My advice is to travel. I don't mean a nice boring hotel in a pretty-good hotel and beach but somewhere you can discover about yourself, hiking mountains or visiting more extreme locations that take you out of your comfort zone.

Alternatively learn to program or learn to program better. It will keep you busy and you'll learn something. In the process it's likely you'll create something that is helpful and might expand your trading.

 

[d08]

I think you should ask yourself if you are willing to give up the freedom you have right now.

You can work whenever you want, if you want to take a day of you just do so, no boss watching your every move, complaining about everything you do, getting mad if you are 5 minutes late, ...

I get bored myself when trading, but i prefer bored at home while trading over bored at work without the option to call it a day whenever i want.

Maybe you should just remind yourself of the advantages and the freedom you have now? Take any temporary job you can find, do it for a few weeks. Still feel like you want to quit trading and go back to a day job then go ahead and do so, but maybe that helps you to appreciate the advantages of trading from home/office on your own terms again.

We forget the advantages and inconveniences. Like you said, being late 15 minutes is a problem, staying late 15 minutes - no-one cares. For me, I hated the distractions in the office, someone talking on the phone or meetings in the background.

That said, it could be that for @tango29, trading is as good as a job with a lot of work every day. The excitement is typically long gone after 15 years of constantly watching markets.