Of course they can't trade. My father is one. The thing is, truth be known, they can't invest either. All they can do is control risk to guarantee that they get average returns... They design strategies based on the moderate, consistent returns and cut winners and losers equally. I don't agree with this. They also avoid good funds and good investors with high performing funds because they don't acknowledge that the Market is fat tailed. So they are the quintessential "Average" trader / investor. Some of them have great ideas but they crave the boring middle class lifestyle because of it's predictable and easily understood concepts and generic appeal. That would seem like an unrelated comment, but as Ed Seykota says, "Win or lose, everybody gets what they want out of the market. Some people seem to like to lose, so they win by losing money. " The Engineer wants to prove that everything is predictable and trades / invests as such.
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Engineer looking to make a career change into trading
- Thread starter sneakoner
- Start date
Of course they can't trade. My father is one. The thing is, truth be known, they can't invest either. All they can do is control risk to guarantee that they get average returns... They design strategies based on the moderate, consistent returns and cut winners and losers equally. I don't agree with this. They also avoid good funds and good investors with high performing funds because they don't acknowledge that the Market is fat tailed. So they are the quintessential "Average" trader / investor. Some of them have great ideas but they crave the boring middle class lifestyle because of it's predictable and easily understood concepts and generic appeal. That would seem like an unrelated comment, but as Ed Seykota says, "Win or lose, everybody gets what they want out of the market. Some people seem to like to lose, so they win by losing money. " The Engineer wants to prove that everything is predictable and trades / invests as such.
Here's a couple of scenarios you should answer first before quitting a paying job.
Scenario 1:
I'll give you 10,000 to make a trade. The trade has a guaranteed 90% failure rate. If you make money on the trade, you keep it all. If you lose the 10,000 then you pay me back 20,000
Scenario 2:
I'll give you 100,000 to make a trade. The trade has a 20% success rate. You make money, you give me 50% of the profit and keep the balance. You lose the money, you pay me back 200,000.
Which offer would you take?
Scenario 1:
I'll give you 10,000 to make a trade. The trade has a guaranteed 90% failure rate. If you make money on the trade, you keep it all. If you lose the 10,000 then you pay me back 20,000
Scenario 2:
I'll give you 100,000 to make a trade. The trade has a 20% success rate. You make money, you give me 50% of the profit and keep the balance. You lose the money, you pay me back 200,000.
Which offer would you take?
Quote from MWycliff:
Here's a couple of scenarios you should answer first before quitting a paying job.
Scenario 1:
I'll give you 10,000 to make a trade. The trade has a guaranteed 90% failure rate. If you make money on the trade, you keep it all. If you lose the 10,000 then you pay me back 20,000
Scenario 2:
I'll give you 100,000 to make a trade. The trade has a 20% success rate. You make money, you give me 50% of the profit and keep the balance. You lose the money, you pay me back 200,000.
Which offer would you take?
I'd pick Scenario 2 - there is an 80% chance of failure with Scenario 2 vs 90% chance of failure with Scenario 1, regardless of the amount of money you give me to trade.
Quote from sneakoner:
do most traders pick a few stocks and etf's and stick with those? one trader told me he scans all of the stocks in each letter of the alphabet ... he'll go through the A's one day, the B's the next, etc... to look for setups, breakouts, etc.
I don't know about "most" or "not most". This is a big world and there are all kinds of traders. Pick your cup of tea.
Some would scan scan scan the market every day, every hour, every few minutes of a trading day looking for things that move. Some (like me) would just stick to a few. The risk with scanning and play a new one every few minutes: you really never know how the move would develop after your scan/alert. Maybe it is the beginning of a move (you hope). Maybe it is the end of a move. Beginners (from my experience as a sheep)... typically get suckered into the end of a move and feed the experienced ones.
So think about it and decide for yourself. Would you like to go on a dating site and find a new girl (or a few girls) to go out everyday? Or would you like to stick to a few girl friends day-in/day-out and you know everything about their moods any given day. There is no right/wrong answers. It's all about what fits you.
Quote from psytrade:
Of course they can't trade. My father is one. The thing is, truth be known, they can't invest either. All they can do is control risk to guarantee that they get average returns... They design strategies based on the moderate, consistent returns and cut winners and losers equally. I don't agree with this. They also avoid good funds and good investors with high performing funds because they don't acknowledge that the Market is fat tailed. So they are the quintessential "Average" trader / investor. Some of them have great ideas but they crave the boring middle class lifestyle because of it's predictable and easily understood concepts and generic appeal. That would seem like an unrelated comment, but as Ed Seykota says, "Win or lose, everybody gets what they want out of the market. Some people seem to like to lose, so they win by losing money. " The Engineer wants to prove that everything is predictable and trades / invests as such.
If I were to achieve an average rate of return as a successful trader, I would be quite content with that - considering more than 90% of traders fail.
Also, I'm not craving the boring middle class lifestyle I'm living it right now!!
If you know of any good funds/high performance funds, please let me know. I would be more than willing to invest in them.
One more thing: from one engineer to another...
As engineers, we like to have equations and exact solutions.
In trading, there just is no such thing as a "solution". There is only probability. No matter how high the probability, there is always the chance that the unlikely happens. This is like quantum physics. You can never know the exact. You can only think in probabilities.
Probability thinking, coupled with money management... that's the first key to survival in trading. To thrive you need to survive first...
As engineers, we like to have equations and exact solutions.
In trading, there just is no such thing as a "solution". There is only probability. No matter how high the probability, there is always the chance that the unlikely happens. This is like quantum physics. You can never know the exact. You can only think in probabilities.
Probability thinking, coupled with money management... that's the first key to survival in trading. To thrive you need to survive first...
Quote from Bolimomo:
One more thing: from one engineer to another...
As engineers, we like to have equations and exact solutions.
In trading, there just is no such thing as a "solution". There is only probability. No matter how high the probability, there is always the chance that the unlikely happens. This is like quantum physics. You can never know the exact. You can only think in probabilities.
Probability thinking, coupled with money management... that's the first key to survival in trading. To thrive you need to survive first...
From another engineer to another. Try swing trading first and don't quit your day job.
Quote from Smart Money:
From another engineer to another. Try swing trading first and don't quit your day job.
i'm more comfortable with trend following using EMA's right now...
but i will take swing trading into account later on
i think my time frame will be days and weeks
not hours and minutes like most of the day traders here
Quote from psytrade:
Of course they can't trade. My father is one. The thing is, truth be known, they can't invest either. All they can do is control risk to guarantee that they get average returns... They design strategies based on the moderate, consistent returns and cut winners and losers equally. I don't agree with this. They also avoid good funds and good investors with high performing funds because they don't acknowledge that the Market is fat tailed. So they are the quintessential "Average" trader / investor. Some of them have great ideas but they crave the boring middle class lifestyle because of it's predictable and easily understood concepts and generic appeal. That would seem like an unrelated comment, but as Ed Seykota says, "Win or lose, everybody gets what they want out of the market. Some people seem to like to lose, so they win by losing money. " The Engineer wants to prove that everything is predictable and trades / invests as such.
Jesus. What horsecrap. Nothing is predictable, when it comes to the stock market... any market. I am engineer... and I know this. You paint with such a broad brush.
That's why I get a kick out of everyone trying to apply some mathematical calculus to predicting patterns, buy signals... "Technical analysis" ... chart reading... and everything else.
Fools.
Also... your reach beyond that "middle class" average lifestyle... and hotshot trading... get ready for life in a cardboard box, under a bridge.
OR A VAN DOWN BY THE RIVER! (look it up)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MEGSiX0JA-s&feature=related#at=65
Stay humble in your pursuit of happiness.
Stay humble in your pursuit of happiness.