How did you start your trading journey?

[toli]

Hi! I'm new to this forum and the trading world in general. My name's Toli. My original background is in computer science and law. Now trying out trading.

What I'm looking for is freedom from a 9-5 job. There are areas of life that are just as important as economic activity. Health, relationships, fitness, hobby. Sometimes, things other than economic activity need to come into focus for people to just be healthy, sane and happy. Sometimes, 30 days vacation per year is not enough to do everything – to spend quality time with my parents, to travel to the countries I dreamt travelling to.

Hence trading. I figured, if money is the main problem on the way to freedom, I'd better study how they work. Money is markets, and markets is trading. Knowledge is power: you know how money works – you don't need to let a bank or a consultant dictate how much money you will retire with.

But I'm new and don't know where to start, and need guidance. There are so many strategies and ways to trade around, there are so many markets and instruments to trade.

What was it like for you? Why did you start trading to begin with? Is my vision of gaining financial freedom through understanding of markets – realistic? How did you get started?

 

[Overnight]

...Sometimes, 30 days vacation per year is not enough to do everything – to spend quality time with my parents, to travel to the countries I dreamt travelling to...

30 vacation days per year? You have a cush job. Your 9-5 is worth it. Don't leave it. Just put money into an index fund and watch your investment grow.

30 Vacation days per year. Bombastic. You leave that and switch to trading full-time with no knowledge of it, and you will regret leaving a job that allows a full MONTH of vacation days.

Unbelievable, these silver-spoon peeps.

 

[toli]

30 vacation days per year? You have a cush job. Your 9-5 is worth it. Don't leave it. Just put money into an index fund and watch your investment grow.

30 Vacation days per year. Bombastic. You leave that and switch to trading full-time with no knowledge of it, and you will regret leaving a job that allows a full MONTH of vacation days.

Unbelievable, these silver-spoon peeps.

Well, not good enough for me Switzerland is a good country to live in. Takes care of you, great climate, great work-life balance. A vacation of 30 days and a salary that comes like clockwork on a given day is taken for granted. But incredibly boring.

I want to travel the world without counting my vacation days and my fixed salary money. I want to try living in different countries for an extended period of time, as I don't feel like I click with Switzerland too well - and that I cannot do at all on vacation only. Whenever I meet someone who tells me of their experiences living in a couple of countries abroad, I feel jealous. Clockwork vacation, clockwork salary - those are great things. But you feel yourself a passenger, not a driver of your life.

I agree though that living a job for trading with zero experience and knowledge would be foolish. That's why I'm here I'm looking for the best way to get my toes wet, see for myself how the trading is really like and how I can achieve my dream with it.

 

[Overnight]

...I'm looking for the best way to get my toes wet, see for myself how the trading is really like and how I can achieve my dream with it.

I suppose that depends on how much money you have to put in a trading account. If it is anything over like 5 million, it seems you could get away with your dream by investing in 2Y US T-Notes which is paying out over 4% risk-free.

 

[toli]

I suppose that depends on how much money you have to put in a trading account. If it is anything over like 5 million, it seems you could get away with your dream by investing in 2Y US T-Notes which is paying out over 4% risk-free.

If I had 5 mils, I'd probably not be sitting here asking those questions, but rather hiring a wealth manager to do smart decisions for me

I'm looking to start small. 100-1000$ range, but after 1-2 months of a simulated trade account. I know it's easy to get a simulated account these days. But with whom, and which markets should I try? And what are some standard steps a newbie usually takes in those markets?

 

[Overnight]

...

I'm looking to start small. 100-1000$ range, but after 1-2 months of a simulated trade account. I know it's easy to get a simulated account these days. But with whom, and which markets should I try? And what are some standard steps a newbie usually takes in those markets?

That wholly depends on your personality and the kind of trader you will find out you are. There are day-traders of stocks, options, futures and FOREX, there are swing traders of stocks, bonds, futures and FOREX, etc etc.

You have brought up an intriguing question...The basic idea you are suggesting is, "How do I try them all at once" I guess.

From a very standard flat position, being completely new, I don't think you could figure it out in just 1-2 months of sim. It would take you much longer to settle upon a preferred instrument, trading platform, and trading style.

With 100 to 1000, I would guess micro lots of FOREX or CME e-micro futures.

 

[toli]

That wholly depends on your personality and the kind of trader you will find out you are. There are day-traders of stocks, options, futures and FOREX, there are swing traders of stocks, bonds, futures and FOREX, etc etc.

You have brought up an intriguing question...The basic idea you are suggesting is, "How do I try them all at once" I guess.

From a very standard flat position, being completely new, I don't think you could figure it out in just 1-2 months of sim. It would take you much longer to settle upon a preferred instrument, trading platform, and trading style.

With 100 to 1000, I would guess micro lots of FOREX or CME e-micro futures.

I'm interested in something that wouldn't require me to sit in front of the monitor for 8 hours a day. So that rules out day trading I guess.

What I enjoy doing a lot is analytics of various kinds. Learning something new, getting to the gist of a matter at hand. Part of the appeal of trading for me is the idea that the quality of your decisions can make you a fortune. At my current work as a software engineer, I think about various problems every day, and make decisions. But no matter how much I improve, how much better my decisions become, my salary - it won't scale. The maximum I can expect is to triple it by switching to another company. The allure of trading for me is that your income scales as you improve your decision-making, potentially without limit.

Another attractive point of trading is that it forces you to think of the real world. Programming, it is domain-dependent: you are great at programming but that's the only thing you know. Markets are ultimately about people, so you need to apply your analytical skills to the real world, real situation, real people. And that skill translates to other domains, so develops you as a person, and you don't feel like you wasted time doing the work.

So the perfect scenario for me is: I spend half a year researching something very deeply, then make a single decision that feeds me for the next ten years. Of course, I realize this is a very high level and will take years to arrive at. But I'd like to end up on the path to it so that I can see where it leads.

 

[Overnight]

...

Another attractive point of trading is that it forces you to think of the real world. Programming, it is domain-dependent: you are great at programming but that's the only thing you know. Markets are ultimately about people, so you need to apply your analytical skills to the real world, real situation, real people. And that skill translates to other domains, so develops you as a person, and you don't feel like you wasted time doing the work...

As an analytical thinker, based upon your programming skills and mindset, then you will very much appreciate this next thought. Take this deep into your countenance, because it is going to shock you...

Trading is the only profession on this planet that you pay to lose money in.

I want you to think about that for a moment. And I will repeat it.

Trading is the only profession on this planet that you pay to lose money in.

In order to lose money in trading, you have to put money in. (This is NOT the same as gambling).

In your current boring job, you make good money in the 9-5 grind.

Did you ever go to work at your 9-5 job and think, "Fuck, I might not make money today. Hell, I may lose money"?

No. Because you are being paid to do work.

But when you get into trading, your fate is in your hands. You could go to work in trading M-F and lose thousands, because you made bad trading decisions.

That simply does not happen with a 9-5 job. If you make bad decisions there, you still get paid. Not so with trading. The rewards of trading are great, but the penalties of failure are severe.

 

[toli]

As an analytical thinker, based upon your programming skills and mindset, then you will very much appreciate this next thought. Take this deep into your countenance, because it is going to shock you...

Trading is the only profession on this planet that you pay to lose money in.

I want you to think about that for a moment. And I will repeat it.

Trading is the only profession on this planet that you pay to lose money in.

In order to lose money in trading, you have to put money in. (This is NOT the same as gambling).

In your current boring job, you make good money in the 9-5 grind.

Did you ever go to work at your 9-5 job and think, "Fuck, I might not make money today. Hell, I may lose money"?

No. Because you are being paid to do work.

But when you get into trading, your fate is in your hands. You could go to work in trading M-F and lose thousands, because you made bad trading decisions.

That simply does not happen with a 9-5 job. If you make bad decisions there, you still get paid. Not so with trading. The rewards of trading are great, but the penalties of failure are severe.

Being at this forum yourself, I assume you have a deal of experience in the craft yourself... Why are you in the business then, if a 9-5 job is better for peace of mind? Personally, why did you choose the risky way?

 

[Overnight]

Being at this forum yourself, I assume you have a deal of experience in the craft yourself... Why are you in the business then, if a 9-5 job is better for peace of mind? Personally, why did you choose the risky way?

Because I lost my 9-5 job due to physical injury, and I "fell into" trading by osmosis of trying to find a work-from-home job.