Those two will help significantly, but in no way guarantee a trading edge, which is ultimately the problem. You'll just go broke slower, and probably end up back in the workforce, or doing odd jobs to build up/blow up another trading account.
Can you keep sanity day trading?
- Thread starter qlai
- Start date
Perhaps the money is too important to you? A winning day for me is when I follow my process without any over-rides, execute my trades correctly and don't make any mistakes. It is not whether I make $. If you have an edge, the best thing to do is follow your process and the $ will flow.
Exactly, you need a rock solid edge before anything else. Beginner traders should focus on finding their edge. You can have mediocre 'trading psychology' and still make decent returns with a good edge. To really break out, a great mindset and deep introspection is the next step.
Stress is a part of life and part of most jobs. Yet, if someone doesn't have to resources to know how to manage the stress related to the job...they will eventually be forced by the stress related health problems (mental/physical) to find another job.
Simply, there are traders out there that trading is not stressful and there are others that trading is stressful. Some the stress will manifest health problems very fast or it may take several years to begin showing health problems, social problems and other issues. Others...the stress will make them do strange sabotaging things in trading...that's one of the things that money does to people.
Money can be a killer...people kill for it and others die from it.
Worst, if money takes control of someone's life, family & friends may become collateral damage.
The human body & mind is different from person to person.
Its like those stories where the person that regularly drinks and smokes most their life and never have any health problems. I've met a few people as such. Yet, most people doing exactly the same may become alcoholic, develop cancer, develop asthma or breathing problems or worst.
If someone ask me if they should get involve in trading... I would tell them I can't answer that question because I'm not their doctor, not their fitness instructor, not their nutritionist and not their psychiatrist nor their psycho therapist.
Yet, if I personally know them well and know its a person that does not manage stress that well or already knee deep in stressful situations in their personal life...I would tell them to stay away from trading.
wrbtrader
Simply, there are traders out there that trading is not stressful and there are others that trading is stressful. Some the stress will manifest health problems very fast or it may take several years to begin showing health problems, social problems and other issues. Others...the stress will make them do strange sabotaging things in trading...that's one of the things that money does to people.
Money can be a killer...people kill for it and others die from it.
Worst, if money takes control of someone's life, family & friends may become collateral damage.
The human body & mind is different from person to person.
Its like those stories where the person that regularly drinks and smokes most their life and never have any health problems. I've met a few people as such. Yet, most people doing exactly the same may become alcoholic, develop cancer, develop asthma or breathing problems or worst.
If someone ask me if they should get involve in trading... I would tell them I can't answer that question because I'm not their doctor, not their fitness instructor, not their nutritionist and not their psychiatrist nor their psycho therapist.
Yet, if I personally know them well and know its a person that does not manage stress that well or already knee deep in stressful situations in their personal life...I would tell them to stay away from trading.
wrbtrader
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I both agree and disagree. Day trading does not have to be stressful.
It was for me at some point. Very stressful. My hands would get cold any my chest would be tight. Why? Because I had a need to make profits, was undercapitalized and didn't know what I was doing or the market I was trading.
The guy from that article seems to be a high frequency discretionary trader. Probably doesn't have a big edge and might be more lucky than he thinks. Of course that's stressful.
I do however agree that the price you have to pay to make it as a trader is huge and because of all the uncertainty, emotional cost and low chance of making it, I would not recommend it to anyone else. Then again, this could probably be said about most other pursuits outside the deferred life path or 9-5.
It was for me at some point. Very stressful. My hands would get cold any my chest would be tight. Why? Because I had a need to make profits, was undercapitalized and didn't know what I was doing or the market I was trading.
The guy from that article seems to be a high frequency discretionary trader. Probably doesn't have a big edge and might be more lucky than he thinks. Of course that's stressful.
I do however agree that the price you have to pay to make it as a trader is huge and because of all the uncertainty, emotional cost and low chance of making it, I would not recommend it to anyone else. Then again, this could probably be said about most other pursuits outside the deferred life path or 9-5.
The closest analog there is to trading for a living is starting a small business, odds are you will not make it and you will lose all your capital. The biggest difference between holding a day job and running your own small business/trading for a living is certainty. With a day job you have certainty of income, yes the job could be mundane and it might even be a dead end job but its regular income and that provides stability to a person's life, its incredibly damaging to your mental health to wake up everyday not knowing where your next meal is going to come from, or if you will be able to make rent this month.
This is why I've always said that the ones who are least likely to succeed are the ones who are undercapitalised i.e the ones who need to make x dollars every day/week/month from trading to survive. You have no business doing this (trading for a living) if you can't build your stack at your own pace.
This is why I've always said that the ones who are least likely to succeed are the ones who are undercapitalised i.e the ones who need to make x dollars every day/week/month from trading to survive. You have no business doing this (trading for a living) if you can't build your stack at your own pace.
It's ok to get stressed when you trade but can you still make sound decisions when stressed. The ones that can succeed and the ones that can't blow up.
Unfortunetly having a day job can be just as stressful as being a business owner and the day job may sometimes have more devasting results...
Gotta keep it all in perspective because it really depends upon the day job.
For example, I've seen people work 15 - 18 years at a job, nearing their retirement and the company start having serious financial problems and then go belly up (bankrupt) just prior to their retirement...no retirement...sudden change in plan about how they'll live the rest of their life.
The stress that last few years can be overwhelming. Then there's those on Wall Street with a white collar jobs, wonderful health/dental benefits, insurance to take care of their families and something horrible happens in the markets...people kill themselves as in commit suicide...anybody remember the financial crisis of 2008 - 2010 ???
Others carry on as if its just something that's part of the job or part of life...shit happens and they quickly move on to something else. Those people are able to manage the life and get on with living.
I've seen a friend that's a farmer in the U.S. lose his farm, file for bankruptcy, wife took the kids and left him because he didn't have a plan B & went into deep depression from being hounded by creditors. Now he's on the verge of losing his home...
All because of the current trade wars between the United States and other countries.
Another example, I remember growing up and people saying the only "safe/guarantee certainty from a job" is to get a government job...hearing those words while growing up in France, United States and later residing in Canada.
In Canada...even a government job wasn't safe and very stressful because of the pay problems with the flawed Pheonix System (computer system) that cost employees 615 million dollars of their pay checks and in some estimates over a billion dollars...very similar to going to work and knowing you won't be pay. It took several years for government employees to get financial relief from not getting pay but in those several years...some lost their homes, couldn't feed their families, quit their job and filed civil lawsuits.
In the United States...there's the stress from a government shut down and there's the Farmer strikes in France.
Simply, a day job does not guarantee certainty and you got to always be prepare with a plan B along with having resources to manage extreme stressful situations.Those that survive stressful situations with their day job...some will be more prepare with a plan B just in case it happens again.
It doesn't matter what day job someone has and it doesn't matter what type of a trader that someone is...some can handle the stressful situation while others can not when shit hits the fan.
Regardless to all of the above, retail traders are in more vulnerable income situations that raises the stress level to abnormal levels because most get involved in retail trading when they are not suitable to be a retail trader.
Yet, people dream the big life of money and independence while underestimating or not prepare for the stress that comes with it. It shouldn't be that way but it is...its life.
Today you're healthy...tomorrow you can come down with an illness (e.g. cancer) that kills you or you can get hit by a car or suddenly have a heart attack or have a major stroke or get murder even though you had a great day job or you were a top retail trader.
Trust me, life is unpredictable with tons of uncertainty.
wrbtrader
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