Half way through life and not close to being consistent

gamblingman said:
Good question ;) In hindsight I'd have done better buying S&P futures when it hit 666 and selling them later @ 1900.

On a more serious note, I'm short cause my trading strategies are all mean reverting, they do well in sideway markets and the last 24 month have been terrible. I do have to say one of my largest short position the last three years have been bonds and that worked out eventually, just took a long time to resolve itself. I'm hoping eventually we'll see the same with the broader market but who knows ...
More...

Ya hindsight is the best :)

I wasn't trying to be a dick but the equity trend has been so robust and with the Fed telegraphing their intentions it seems like the worst market to try to short. Eventually it will revert but how do you time it when all past experiences are now off the table with a market that's being so strongly influenced by the CB's.
 
Does your wife work? How have you done prior to the last couple of year?

I'm near your age with a stay at home mom for a wife and 3 kids. I have a career to pay the bills. I'm profitable but would need at least 3-4 times what I currently have in capital to try to support my family on just trading.
 
Good traders are adaptable.

When the trend is up, they're long.

When the trend is down, they're short.

They only go mean-reversion when the market is reverting to the mean.

If you don't know how to trade trends, then learn to stop trading when the market is trending. This is basic stuff. If you can't learn how to read the markets, the markets will take you to the cleaners.
 
clacy said:
Does your wife work? How have you done prior to the last couple of year?

I'm near your age with a stay at home mom for a wife and 3 kids. I have a career to pay the bills. I'm profitable but would need at least 3-4 times what I currently have in capital to try to support my family on just trading.
More...

No she doesn't work, she stays at home as well.
If you don't have portfolio margin you'll get your boost once you reach that. Life is much easier if you can use leverage although it obviously goes both ways.
 
From the way you described your health,40 is not half way through life I am afraid, more like 2/3.

Remember the average lifespan is just that, an average.
 
your fired if you trade like for a trading desk!



gamblingman said:
I hit the magic 40 a couple of month ago and things are not where I thought I'd be at that time. Married with kids (at least that's working as far as I know), broke 190 pounds for the first time in my life and after having a terrible trading year last year this year isn't looking much better.

I'm starting this journal as a motivational tool and hope that over the next 7 month I'm 20 pounds lighter, in better shape and have collected 80k via my trading.

The last eight trading days have been brutal to my P&L and you don't have to be a rocket scientist to figure out that my main position is short the market. I typically trade a lot of options but with low volatility I reduce my size so right now we're in single digit contract territory.

Good luck to you all, it's rough out there !!
More...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top