Are you STILL excited/happy with being a daytrader as the day you first started?

Sandy,

Excellent & inspiring post. Unfortunately, as a lurker myself (and not quite yet a trader) - I've noticed a great amount of negative and pessimistic people on forums (not just here). I imagine it's because they don't generally have better things to do, and haven't found the discipline like yourself to be a successful trader.

I agree with your philosophy & discipline, getting out of/not allowing any losing trades - that forms a large part of my intended strategy. I hope to become one of the small % of winners. One thing I've noticed about the people who do well in trading: They all believe in themselves and their systems - following them exactly.

Wishing you all the best in your continued trading,

BP
 
This is a job and a profession.

I used to feel excitement in the evening, looking forward to the next day. Having done this for many years, the tenor of this feeling has changed to a mild curiosity. I am pretty sure of what I will see on any given day.

I take great pride in doing it with skill. I feel particularly good about it on weekends when I can reflect on it.

I expect to do this as long as my interest continues.

Steve
 
Quote from volkl23:



No

That feeling does dissapear, just like anything else that gets old with time. There is a big burnout factor in daytrading, which is smth you have to consider. There are also the mental & physiological effects, some handle them or feel them more than others. Either way, hours in front of a PC, combined with the pressure on the nervous system is not smth the human body was designed for.

Don't fool yourself, there are many other professions that have the same, if not better freedom than daytrading. Their potential is the same if not double or triple of daytrading, at least over the last 3 years. And being active in the market does not require 30-40 hours Mon-Fri.
 
Thats right. I cap my returns at 5% a month...this way I know when to quit and have done my Job...I have hit my 5% 17 days early this month...so I do not have any pressure, so I scalp a few...until next month starts.

This is a burn out, if you do not manage it....

Michael B.


Quote from Hydroblunt:

No

That feeling does dissapear, just like anything else that gets old with time. There is a big burnout factor in daytrading, which is smth you have to consider. There are also the mental & physiological effects, some handle them or feel them more than others. Either way, hours in front of a PC, combined with the pressure on the nervous system is not smth the human body was designed for.

Don't fool yourself, there are many other professions that have the same, if not better freedom than daytrading. Their potential is the same if not double or triple of daytrading, at least over the last 3 years. And being active in the market does not require 30-40 hours Mon-Fri.
 
It is true that floor traders can get burnt out. I was a floor trader for a time for a company where I became the chief executive.

I simply find the market a fun thing from which you can take a great deal of money and keep on accumulating more. This reflects an institutional approach. The fact is the amount of money you can take from the market depends on the size of shovel you arrive with each day.

Restrictions independent traders apply are things such as max number of trades per day, trading mornings only, taking no more than 5% per month and a whole array of other stuff. So what you will see here at ET are all sorts of self imposed fetishes, habits and restrictions to limit mentally and actually what you can take from the market.
:)
 
Quote from sandy1:

Kastro and coolweb,

You 2 have taken me from lurker status to a registered user!

You two are so negative that it kills me. I know A LOT of traders that make a good living trading. And most of them are sitting at home or in prop firms. As for me, I share a small office with 3 other traders. We share the expense of a t1 line, a dsl back up, and rent. Plus it gets us out of the house (we all have children). We have all been trader for over 5 years and each have made 6 figures every year. We use AOL AIM to talk to another 6 or 7 traders that we know to give each other ideas or any breaking news. They are very profitable as well.

I came to elitetrader to get some advice on a forex broker, but find the "career trader" forum very interesting. I have read numerous posts from traders claiming that "I can count the number of profitable traders on one hand." Well, that just proves you don't know a lot of traders!

People claim that you don't have an edge sitting at home on your computer. That you can't compete with the quants with their Phd's and supercomputers and zillions of dollars. But I'm here to tell you that you do have an edge. And its the one thing that every successful trader I have ever met has. And that edge is:

DISCIPLINE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

That is what separates the winners from the losers. The traders that make money every day versus the trader that has a career ending trade.

Trust me, no Phd can teach you discipline. There are a lot of those guys that will never make it as traders, even with a their brain power. Those guys are using computers to find the "holy grail" of trading. Good luck.

I trade about 1 million shares per month, about 50,000 per day. I trade mostly in 2500 share lots of NYSE stocks. I monitor about 150 stocks very closely using a pretty simple MACD system. I also use trade-ideas to give me ideas on other stocks (not a plug for trade-ideas, I just think its an amazing service). I keep NO positions overnight.

My key is that if a position doesn't workout right away I get out: Discipline!! I can always get back in.

"Live to play another day" is my motto.

Like I said, I find this forum very interesting and will do some follow ups. I welcome everyones comments.

Well, the question to this thread is "Are you still happy being a trader?" I can honestly say "yes"!!! I treat it as a job. Get up, get to the office, look at my charts and read briefing.com and IBD.

Anyway, enough for now. Thanks again for pulling me out of being a lurker!!

Sandy

Ohh please...Don't you and BlackPanther brand me as someone who does not the DISCIPLINE and drive to be a great trader simply because I am warning this kid - who borrows money from his mom to trade - about the dangers of trading. Give me a break! Not once did I say it's impossible to trade as a career! I do it!

Would you like me to say "All you need is DISCIPLINE and you can be great. Just treat it as a job, train hard and you should be fine" Well, anyone reading that will jump right into this game. Truth is, this racket is based on two variables in order for it to function. It needs people to make money and it needs people to fail.

I try not to single out people, because I hate when people single me out because of something they interpreted in a post.

Welcome to the board...If you want some info on FX brokers, PM me.

-Kastro
 
Quote from sandy1:


Trust me, no Phd can teach you discipline. There are a lot of those guys that will never make it as traders, even with a their brain power. Those guys are using computers to find the "holy grail" of trading. Good luck.

Tell that to Quant traders and hedge fund managers. Nothing like 300k starting.

-Kastro
 
Quote from volkl23:

This has been on my mind a lot recently. I am seriously considering taking the plunge and becoming a full-time daytrader. My gains have been modest, but atleast I'm still in the black. I am having difficulty understanding why I want to become a daytrader. The money can be nice and the action can be exciting at times (but can be rather boring when I follow my rules to the 't').

I'm sort of in a quadary. I graduated from a top-10 university and was planning to go to law school until I was bitten by the trading bug. I just hope if I pick trading as a career, it won't be short-lived for whatever reasons.

So fellow traders... what were your original motivations on becoming a daytrader. Has your drive waned since? Are you still happy with this "career"? How long have you been in it?

Thanks everyone!

maybe look into getting an MBA, you open a lot of doors that way too, also to trading related professions

you'll be one less year's tution in the whole that way too compared to law school
 
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