career as a trader over before it began?

TM1 · Mar 10, 2007

Quote from ggoyal:

i had to accept the job because i dont have enough money to trade with for a living. i mean, i will be an energy trader. it's not thaaaaaaaaaaaat bad.ill be making around 70K. but i would rather work for myself. but i need to save cash to do so. my only concern was that whatever i have learnt till now might go waste and after i quit my job, i dont want to be at square one and start losing money.

Sounds like a great opportunity to me, you do know that electronic trading on the Nymex runs from 6pm Sunday through 5pm Friday right?

Scalper007 · Mar 10, 2007

Quote from millydog:

You can still trade and work a day job, there are other markets besides the US equity market.

You can swing trade stocks if you want. How about the Hang Seng? It opens at 9:30 ET, I traded that little beast for a little while. Much too volatile for me, but a few guys on the board seem to like it.

There is also the Dax, and of course the Global currency markets which trade continously.

You still have ways to get exposure to the markets.

Which broker allows you to trade the hang seng and the dax and any other foreign markets?

Thanks

Shreddog · Mar 10, 2007

Quote from ggoyal:

i graduate next year. but the thing is i already got a well paying job which i start on thursday. last night i realized, i wont be able to trade and watch the markets live.

i mean, this is the most critical time of my career as a trader and I am definitely becoming better at it. there is no way i will be able to follow the market at work. All of a sudden stopping now would bring me back to square one. the other thing is i will be able to save up money since im living with my parents to trade.

i hthought maybe i should not take the job. even once i start working, i will have to quit to trade and see how well i really do. i will get 10 days off during the year, but thats not enough to decide if im day trader material.

guys, i couldnt sleep till 2am just thinkin about this. i do not want to join the corporate world. i have seen my father working as an engineer and saving little by little do have enough. i do not want a life like his. Just the very thought of it makes me lose my hair.

anyway, guys, im counting on you for some serious advise on how i can still keep my skills sharp, and how, after i have actually saved money will i trade?

thanks

If I read between the lines in your post it would seem you don't make enough money trading to justify not taking this job.

Therefore I have to ask what skills you have that you are so worried about not losing? If you had the skills to make good money trading, you wouldn't have taken the job.

And I gather that you don't have the cash to live on while you develop your trading skills. If you had, you wouldn't have taken the job.

The solution is pretty obvious isn't it? Come back when you have the money. The markets aren't going anywhere.

ggoyal · Mar 10, 2007

exactly. i will start when i have atleast 30K. should have that saved up since i live with my parents. i can save quite a bit. plus im sure of the skills as an energy trader could be applied to the equity market.

one more question guys, is there any broker where u can day trade chinese or indian stocks. also, where could i get information about them like we do about the US markets?

Scalper007 · Mar 10, 2007

Quote from ggoyal:

exactly. i will start when i have atleast 30K. should have that saved up since i live with my parents. i can save quite a bit. plus im sure of the skills as an energy trader could be applied to the equity market.

one more question guys, is there any broker where u can day trade chinese or indian stocks. also, where could i get information about them like we do about the US markets?

What is energy trading?

MattF · Mar 11, 2007

do the job and finish school...you can always leave it in 2-3 years after saving up enough (and for that matter reducing or eliminating any debts you've accrued already from your education)

How do you know specifically that you can't at least check in on the markets...do they prohibit/restrict computer use? Do you even have one available or access to one...

Don't know what you trade, but there's enough markets out there that you can check on your off hours...you may just need to start looking at and studying another one instead.

ggoyal · Mar 11, 2007

thanks for the reply. im lucky i dont have any debts. my parents paid for my education, etc.

i saw their computers at work and it seems that it only has the stuff related to the job. i dont think they will let me trade. why would they? im there to trade energy, not equity.

but i dont feel as bad now because i have had time to think about how to work things out. i posted this message as soon as i thought about it. i panicked.

thanks for the replies guys

Shreddog · Mar 11, 2007

I don't understand what you think you're going to learn clicking on quotes at work.

Studying the day's action after work might get you somewhere. But if you aren't trading for real, you're just listening to noise during the day.

I think your first test of being a trader is going to be exercising some discipline. Can you do your job during the day and ignore the markets and just concentrate on the markets after work? If not, you likely will be a bad trader and a bad employee.

Also, I think you sell the corporate life a little short. It is what you make it. If you don't strap yourself down in debt and are a good performer then the tables have turned and you aren't their slave. Trust me, the single guy who gets the job done and doesn't "need" his job has a lot of leverage. Been on both sides of that relationship. Remember the main character in Office Space and how he got promoted when he showed some independence? It is truer than you could imagine.

PointOne · Mar 11, 2007

Quote from Shreddog:

Remember the main character in Office Space and how he got promoted when he showed some independence? It is truer than you could imagine.

LOL! That was a funny scene. "The thing is, Bob, it's not that I'm lazy, it's that I just don't care. "

To the OP:
build some more equity first. Treat your savings each month as return on equity (ROE) - when you think you can make more in the markets than from your salary then you can consider full time trading.

In the meantime there is nothing to stop you position trading stocks, doing the homework each night and placing the orders at the open or 10:30 when you know the stock in question is moving. Hold for 3-6 days and move on to the next stock.

It's healthy that the corporate world scares you, a lot of it is insane.

Wayne Gibbous · Mar 11, 2007

As a cubicle-dwelling techie, OS is one of my favorites and a very under-rated movie imho.

"That...that's my stapler...may I have it back please...it's mine..."