Anyone gave up trading for a living?

It's my dream to become a consistently profitable trader, but i can't escape the feeling that it's actually not possible in the long run (short of insider info!). Can't read the future from my charts, though I try!
I'll probably never completely give up, though!
 
The problem is: when should you give up?

It is a difficult and long road before you can trade for a good living. So it is normal that you need a lot of time and will have many setbacks before you will be successful. There will be moments that you will think it is better to stop. But you know never for sure what the best solution is, except sometimes in hindsight.
Successful traders will say that they made the correct decision to continue, and losers will say it was a lost of time and money. But you will only know this AFTERWARDS. So when to stop will always be a tricky decision.

A potential winner can become a loser by giving up to early. But he will never realize this. I had many ups and downs, but I was lucky (although it is not really about luck), I did not give up and it was the best decision of my life. But I created a problem for my best friend. He knows about my trading ( and he sees how I live) and started to trade too. His wife is not happy, he is not making a lot of progress and I feel uncomfortable about that. If he will become succesfull I will be his hero, but if he will not succeed I will be the one who "destroyed" his life.
 
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d08 said:
Perhaps you got interested in it for the wrong reasons. Don't get me wrong, money is also a motivator for me but that can only motivate you so much, the freedom to work from anywhere in the world was much more important. I also simply enjoyed the process of coming up with trading strategies and learning all the tools that came with the territory.
If I ever need to go back to being employed, I've at least learned programming and that's still a marketable skill.
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I took a break (can't say to give up as you never know :) ) from day trading and must say freedom is probably easier to achieve outside of it.

Not sure about corporate world, but in case of running your own business you definitely have more freedom in time, vacations etc. compared to trading, when every day you have to trade since time X to time Y. Yes, theoretically you are free, but practically you are not. I bet most day traders get what I mean. :)
 
For guys like RobertG and Cornix, what type of business are you running? A business that complements trading seems like a good way to diversify income streams and maybe get out of the office a bit.
 
cornix said:
I took a break (can't say to give up as you never know :) ) from day trading and must say freedom is probably easier to achieve outside of it.

Not sure about corporate world, but in case of running your own business you definitely have more freedom in time, vacations etc. compared to trading, when every day you have to trade since time X to time Y. Yes, theoretically you are free, but practically you are not. I bet most day traders get what I mean. :)
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I know what you mean but with automation the time spent in front of a screen is minimal. All of my recent holidays have involved trading, doesn't mean I'm at the screen for more than a few hours per day. It also means I can work on research when it suits me, not the other way around as it is with more traditional businesses.
Running a business is different, you can't really move to another country permanently as the employees will run it to the ground, therefore you're stuck to the location of the business as it requires physical presence for most of the year.
 
d08 said:
Perhaps you got interested in it for the wrong reasons. Don't get me wrong, money is also a motivator for me but that can only motivate you so much, the freedom to work from anywhere in the world was much more important. I also simply enjoyed the process of coming up with trading strategies and learning all the tools that came with the territory.
If I ever need to go back to being employed, I've at least learned programming and that's still a marketable skill.
More...

I've always wanted to work for myself and the freedom to work from anywhere in the world was very compatible with my desire to see more of the world. Of course, money was also a motivator, but not the biggest motivator.
 
jtrader33 said:
A potential winner can become a loser by giving up to early. But he will never realize this. I had many ups and downs, but I was lucky (although it is not really about luck), I did not give up and it was the best decision of my life.
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That's similar to the parable of the man who were digging for gold for a long time and finally gave up when he was a few feets away from a big ore of gold.

I felt the same way when I quit. I really felt I was starting to understand how the markets move intraday and usually read the day fairly well. Still, I didn't have the guts or money to continue for one more year. Who knows...

Like I said, I'm back in the markets now and will probably get another shot. Still not sure if I would want this to be my main vocation even if I were successful.
 
My question to those who quit daytrading . What do you do with any funds you have left over now? Give them to someone else to manage, diversified portfolio, buy and hold stocks or some other product, cash?

In other words what is your trade now?
 
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jtrader33 said:
For guys like RobertG and Cornix, what type of business are you running? A business that complements trading seems like a good way to diversify income streams and maybe get out of the office a bit.
More...

I design or improve interfaces to make usability better for the end user.
 
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