I was an engineer myself, and quit my job and have transitioned to full-time trader.
However, the way I went about it was rough. I quit my job and just started living and breathing markets all day everyday including weekends. 12-15 hours a day. I was completely green when I started. It took me 2.5-3 years of mostly breakeven trading before things came together. During that time I wasnt trading with a lot of leverage, so I never blew out any accounts. I really wast even trying to make a living. I was living off my savings.
I always thought I had the talent to become a great trader. I was a great chess player as a kid, and it wasnt because I worked hard at chess. And to some extent, I was correct. In my first month ever trading, I was up 25 grand on a 50 grand account. However, I thought it would go to the moon, and I ended taking about 5 grand for actual profit (in actuality the selloffs were corrective, but I got scared that I would take away nothing, so I took what I could, essentially at the bottom of the correction). And so began a cycle of solid analysis, but poor trading. The mental and emotional side were killing me. And to be honest I never really found a solution. But what happened over years was that I became so confident in what I was doing and the decisions I was making that emotions no longer ruled me. My system became simple and easy to execute. I just knew what I was doing.
I also think the fact that I chose to study the techniques of Wyckoff/Livermore was key---because the principles they describe allows one to ascertain whether the smart money is buying or selling, but it took years to learn to identify the patterns that represent the principles they talk about.
Overall, it was a long tough road, but it was worth it. I will never retire. I will trade until I die, because I love doing it!
However, the way I went about it was rough. I quit my job and just started living and breathing markets all day everyday including weekends. 12-15 hours a day. I was completely green when I started. It took me 2.5-3 years of mostly breakeven trading before things came together. During that time I wasnt trading with a lot of leverage, so I never blew out any accounts. I really wast even trying to make a living. I was living off my savings.
I always thought I had the talent to become a great trader. I was a great chess player as a kid, and it wasnt because I worked hard at chess. And to some extent, I was correct. In my first month ever trading, I was up 25 grand on a 50 grand account. However, I thought it would go to the moon, and I ended taking about 5 grand for actual profit (in actuality the selloffs were corrective, but I got scared that I would take away nothing, so I took what I could, essentially at the bottom of the correction). And so began a cycle of solid analysis, but poor trading. The mental and emotional side were killing me. And to be honest I never really found a solution. But what happened over years was that I became so confident in what I was doing and the decisions I was making that emotions no longer ruled me. My system became simple and easy to execute. I just knew what I was doing.
I also think the fact that I chose to study the techniques of Wyckoff/Livermore was key---because the principles they describe allows one to ascertain whether the smart money is buying or selling, but it took years to learn to identify the patterns that represent the principles they talk about.
Overall, it was a long tough road, but it was worth it. I will never retire. I will trade until I die, because I love doing it!