Does this count as trading?

[Simples]

You know the answer to this. Very simple, really. Stop fooling yourself!

When regular income >= (MUCH MUCH larger) than your regular income, you may consider scaling down / quitting your job. Having saved up, doesn't count as income!

Otherwise, you're relying on hope, that you'll figure out how to get a steady paycheck from something inherently insecure (supply & demand in markets).

By the time you're ready, it'll mostly just happen by itself. In the meanwhile, I'd focus on automating so that this isn't yet another job. That you have to ask, is sign sure enough that you're not ready by a long shot.

 

[volpri]

Reduce the frequency and increase the amount, this is the basic fundamental to go ahead.

Precisely wrong.

 

[ironchef]

Once upon a time, when I was a young I worked on dailys...

played very hard and fast...

I thought I was playing the patterns. It was fun and nice. I started with 10 grand, almost like Larry... I did not make a million, but made money like crazy.

Knowledge was of course - 0, but I had very high opinions about my abilities.... I could open a position and go to the meeting... came back from the meeting, close the position, making a few grand... then open another one after the break and make a couple of grands more.

Access to a computer was not always available, so I called my wife, she was doing orders. Wife used to call me at work when I was busy and I by the memory, remembering the chart of Microsoft (for example), told her to put short order. She did... after 2 hours calling me back saying it fell - I would tell her where to reverse a position... she would make a profit again...

My boss was ready to release me from work and let me only trade (mine and his money).

I traded almost daily: only stocks. I remember trading for a while one Templeton Russian closed-end fund (TRF).. made a lot of money on it, about 50 grand in a month.

There were of course losses, big losses, but oddly enough for some reason I was not pissed or afraid... I should have...

In short, after about a year I have had an account in the region of 300K - I thought I was God, and others thought so too about me.

I told the boss to go f@ck himself, quit the job. Became a daytrader and only then I realized that I am not God... the others realized that about me too and quite soon...

After that began the education of the speculator.

Only the paranoid survive.

 

[ironchef]

ok and i'm back. still working an office job but gradually itching more and more to get out of this to do something else, not necessarily trading only.

anyway, i've got "disposable income" and a spouse that works and enjoys working that makes enough to support the family at its current life style. is $50k of my own funds enough to get started? my strategy...i don't know what it would be. it would be rather conservative to start - maybe scalping with low loss thresholds? i'd give myself up to $7k to lose before calling it quits and going back to looking for work. does this sound like a legitimate plan?

the swing trading recently hasn't been working as much as i'd like...i actually have found myself during the past few months buying but selling too quickly - within the same day or within a couple of days, then watching the ETFs go up another 5% resulting in me leaving thousands in gains on the table. i missed some golden opportunities when the market was very volatile earlier this year.

anyway is using IB that much better in terms of speed vs a merrill edge or scottrade? Would a 25 mps speed through fios be sufficient?

For my first trades, how do i choose what to trade?

I am with qxr, if you have to ask.

I kind of knew when I was ready and I suspect the criteria are very different for different people.

 

[Opteronion]

I'll try not to sound too negative. I know that feeling of wanting to make that "transition" to successful- "control of one's destiny"- independent trader! It's a very STRONG urge! With that being said, I'm pretty sure you'll go for it...you just can't help yourself. You must be ready to learn not only the "logical" aspects of trading, but more importantly the intuitive/art aspects of trading...this part entails a long learning curve with probable pain and losses. The key is to trade small during this phase. This will be a problem because you'll want to trade larger than you should...you want to make that "living" don't you? And of course, show the wife you'll continue being a provider or impress her with much success and be the hero! Again, trading small is the key...how will you do this? Are you ready for thousands of hours practice? It's possible you'll be the exception and succeed immediately, but highly unlikely. This is how it all started for me back in 1994. I'm also wondering if you're success in the past was a result of a strong bull market...were you mostly trading long positions? Anyways, GOOD LUCK TO YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Bonecrusher knows what up. I have blown up my accounts more times than i can remember b4 i found any consistency . this sums things up a bit

 

[Handle123]

Bonecrusher knows what up. I have blown up my accounts more times than i can remember b4 i found any consistency . this sums things up a bit

yea, I was like that first three years after turning the corner for scalping, always thinking it was a fluke, now 24 years later, am just numb to all of it, it is a job but I still like everything cept the actual manual trading. But even when you have automation, you have to keep manually trading or you lose the nuances or the touch. Yes, have written all down and taken video's but to program, I need that continue interaction with the markets. Plus being older, keeps my brain, what's left of it, functioning better I believe.

I often think if others keep at it to find ultimate methods, higher degree of challenges.?