How do full-time traders handle awkward situations when they reveal they trade for a living?

I work 42 hr week day job, as does my spouse.
My trading exceeds day job the past 3 years.
I do not get in awkward positions.
Nobody asks.

When any trading related topic gets brought up, nobody listens to me. Nobody cares what I have to say. No intrigue, boy do I get that comment.

I had a day this year that I made more than yearly pay, kinda told a friend, my spouse later confirmed it with him, clarified the amount as more than we both make in a year. No further questions or anything.

We live in a self centered world, folks dont give a damn. They just ask to know where they stand in a societal hierarchical way in comparison to others, and they do not understand trading.
 
Hi nursebee,

Your consistent track record sounds like you are ready and able to do full-time trading. Ever considered it?

nursebee said:
I work 42 hr week day job, as does my spouse.
My trading exceeds day job the past 3 years.
I do not get in awkward positions.
Nobody asks.

When any trading related topic gets brought up, nobody listens to me. Nobody cares what I have to say. No intrigue, boy do I get that comment.

I had a day this year that I made more than yearly pay, kinda told a friend, my spouse later confirmed it with him, clarified the amount as more than we both make in a year. No further questions or anything.

We live in a self centered world, folks dont give a damn. They just ask to know where they stand in a societal hierarchical way in comparison to others, and they do not understand trading.
More...
 
helpme_please said:
Although there is nothing wrong with full-time trading, full-time traders still get some funny looks when they reveal they trade for a living. Some reasons can be;
- this person is still so young. Why doesn't he get a proper job? Socially useless activity making money from the buying and selling of others. (Not trolling, but this is true) This usually come from strangers or distant acquaintance.
- can you make it? Don't come borrowing money from me. This can come from friends.
- are you sure you can make it? I am worried for you. This come from well-meaning family and close friends.

It is socially embarrassing to reveal that one is trading for a living. How do elite traders here cope with this?
More...


I've been trading for 20+ years. Most people I have met are either very intrigued, some jealous, some impressed that I can handle the pressure/day to day roller coaster of being a trader.. I think the worst thing I have run onto is "oh...you gamble for a living".

Proper job? Like sitting in some cubicle watching the clock waiting until my 8 hour day of boredom is over? Having to deal with some corporate bs? Kissing some manager's ass so I can get a 1 % raise next year ? Come on.....

Socially useless? Really? That one I have never come across. Sure Doctors/Military types/Teachers are definitely adding much more to society. that I will never argue. But when a farmer/food company needs to go to the commodity market to hedge and needs to buy a significant amount of futures who do you think is taking the other side?

It's too bad you feel "socially embarrassed" by saying you are a trader, pretty sad actually.
 
When you tell someone you trade full time they generally think you're rich- especially if your dressed the part, drive a nice car, live in a nice house etc. Once upon a time i used to enjoy telling people, it was almost an ego boost.

These days I try to avoid it, i'm numb to it and couldn't care what a layman thinks. I also can't be bothered explaining to them exactly what I do, as people always have these misconceptions about "trading" and think you can offer them advice/ have some idea on "where the market is going". When the truth is I can't help them, and have no fucking clue where the market is going long term, no one does( aside from the positive gearing)
 
Trading is a bit of a achieves nothing, just moves money around, that's why I don't do it full time, morally kinda tricky, obviously if I have no work then ofcourse I will go full time.
 
My observation is that people only find trading for a living embarrassing when they aren't making money, or aren't making enough money.

For example there is a blogger I used to read when I started to learn about trading. He would occasionally comment that people didn't respect the fact that he traded for a living. One person supposedly told him to get a real job. He felt like people saw him as a bum, or were simply envious.

I happened to notice recently that the truth about him has emerged. Turns out he is not and never was making a living from trading, and has been described as delusional. He quit his job almost 10 yrs ago and has been trying (unsuccessfully) to trade for a living as an undercapitalized trader. His only source of income in that time has been from his occasional youtube videos and more recently a $25/month online education website. He also has a wife who works and is crazy enough to have stayed with him. But it is a meager existence.

In that light the negative judgements make more sense. That is why people don't respect his "profession". That is why he is not seen as a professional by anyone, and is instead put in the same category as someone leeching off foodstamps. Because he could easily improve he and his wife's standard of living by getting a normal job, but he refuses to. Instead he stays home all day screwing off pretending he's a pro trader.
 
That trade show last year, had some guy who quit a well paying job like years ago, addicted to it big time and years in still watching the chart move and frozen like a rabbit in car lights.

Markets kill most people, the chance of riches beyond belief seems so damn close all the time :(

Yep I'm an addict!
 
EPrado said:
It's too bad you feel "socially embarrassed" by saying you are a trader, pretty sad actually.
More...

There really is no shame in trading for a living. The problem is that some people will say "oh, I'm interested in that, can you teach me what you do?" and of course I'm not into revealing my methods to someone whom I just met.
Then there are the people who just don't understand what it is I'm doing and their questions can be tiring.

Some would argue that soldiers do much more bad in the world than good. What about advertising people? "Yeah, I'm designing another ad for Philip Morris that is targeted at 20 year olds and after than I'm doing one for Coca-Cola to sell kids addictive sugar water that will destroy their health". Yet these people are rarely ashamed of their profession.
I do respect most farmers, supermarket clerks, garbage collectors and janitors though as what they do is very much needed.
 
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