Quote from Butterball:
To an extent I agree with the above. A good trader needs to detach themselves from the fluctuations of the current account value.
The less making money is on ones mind (to pay recurring and everyday expenses) and the more one can focus on executing the trading plan perfectly and as a result the better the performance should be over time.
IMO anybody who hopes to barely accumulate enough capital so he can grind out a bare living will have a hard time, since one will be tempted to abandon their plan in order to make ends meet more often than not.
To the OP: take your minimal required capital to quit your job and then multiply that by 3-5. That will yield a more realistic number that will allow for inevitable drawdowns and unplanned personal expenses.
When you start trading real money, be sure to reread the "Market Wizard" books and "Reminiscences" about once a year, for 5+ years. As your experience grows you will keep on finding new gems in the interviews that you previously overlooked.
Very few people give out money-making advice just for fun... especially to potential competitors. I highly doubt you'll find someone here willing (or perhaps even able) to do so.Quote from sneakoner:
So you're saying most of the people here on ET aren't even making a profit?
How do I know who's profitable and who to listen to?
I don't have a mentor so this place is the second best thing I could think of.
Quote from ammo:
download or open an acct at Thinkorswim and learn to use the platform,spend the next 6 months charting djtransports,spx,30 yr treasuries..eur/usd,watching the uvol/dvol comparison graph,....learn how to hand chart the ES on a 30 minute time frame ,go back a few weeks and pull up the data on a 30 minute chart,transfer it by hand to graph paper and continue for the next 3 or 4 months...these exercises should get you familiar to the point where everything looks the same ,mundane ,when you are able to recognize that,you should be able to recognize when they are not,you should notice that the uvol dvol chart only has about 4 patterns,you should notice that when one instrument is reaching a supp or res that a like one slows down or stalls or is still going strong......the charting will give you a few different ways that an instrument approaches goes thru or turns early when nearing a trend line,the market profile will show you how the market gyrates around a daily value area,the several mrkts you watch should show you how they affect each other..these are simple accurate ways to look at the market,don't waste your time with indicators yet if at all,become familiar with the markets first so you will know what you are looking at...ignore all the talk about losing..you need all the steam you can get..
Quote from heech:
So, for the sake of argument, let's say you are one of "the best" at this... now figure out whether 20%-40% of your risk capital (minus 39% in marginal tax payments) is really worth your effort, or whether there are more (financially) productive ways to spend your time.
Quote from sneakoner:
Your post was like reality slapping me in the face.
I'm gonna do my best and see how I fare in swing trading (while keeping my day job). If after a few years I fail...well I'll go back to being miserable.
Reality is always a good thing, for anyone. I'm not making *any* predictions about your ability to succeed or fail... just trying to lay the facts out there.Quote from sneakoner:
Your post was like reality slapping me in the face.
I'm gonna do my best and see how I fare in swing trading (while keeping my day job). If after a few years I fail...well I'll go back to being miserable.
Quote from sneakoner:
So you're saying most of the people here on ET aren't even making a profit?
How do I know who's profitable and who to listen to?
I don't have a mentor so this place is the second best thing I could think of.
do the work mentioned on page 4 and listen to yourself and the market...thats the shortcut..going thru several vendors and gleaning 6 or 7 useful tidbits out of 20 or 30 books is the slow boat to chinaQuote from sneakoner:
So you're saying most of the people here on ET aren't even making a profit?
How do I know who's profitable and who to listen to?
I don't have a mentor so this place is the second best thing I could think of.
Quote from uesr33:
You have basically stated that the reason you want to "try out" trading is because you don't like your engineering job. Well, that's perhaps as bad as those who chose trading because they want to "make a lot of money", both are very wrong reasons, and will lead to certain failure.
If you then discovered you have better, the "true" reasons to want to become a successful trader, then you may make it, but with your current mindset, there is ZERO chance you will make it.
Not trying to scare or to discourage you, but my opinion is based on my personal experience with my Wall Street careers and my personal trading experience, combined they are over 20 years. I don't want to say more about them, but it would be suffice to say that I was not a mediocre performer in my Wall Street careers. Trading is not for the most people, especially not for those who don't have a valid reason to want to be a trader.
Keeping a day job while trying to become a professional trader, is like living in a big city and trying to become a professional cowboy by weekend cowboy schooling, he would never become one.