How long did it take you to become a **consistently** profitable trader?

[jk90029]

1.How many years/months did it take you to become a profitable trader?

In my guess, at least 5 or 10 years is necessary to say "I have profitable logic" for almost sure.
If you say, like Buffet, that over 45 years my profit was outperformed 12% over the index, then surely you are the winner.

Note that in the last 45 years the SnP500 index showed roughly 8%. Therfore 8+12=20% might be the best performance in the world, which compounded the initial seed to 4000 times, over the 45 years.
See the link at http://www.berkshirehathaway.com/letters/2014ltr.pdf

If there is better performance achieved than the 4000 times (roughly in one's life for 45 years), tell me now.

For a practical example, seed of 10K should be compounded to 4000*10K=40M (also initial 100K should go to 400M) for his entire life for 45 years.

 

[jk90029]

Furthermore, since most readers in this article did NOT spend 45 years in trading yet, tell me

1) In my first 5 years, my seed has been compounded to 1.2^5 =2.48832 = 2.5 times.
2) In 10 years, 1.2^10 = 6.191736 = 6.2 times.
3) in 20 years, 1.2^20 = 38.3376 = 38 times.
4) in 30 years, 1.2^30 = 237.3763 = 237 times.
5) in 40 years, 1.2^40 = 1469.772 = 1470 times.

Note that all the above 5 cases are same growth in compounding.
Also, if you are healthy enough to live 10 more years than your buddy with same annual 20% performance logic, then you have a chance to make 6.2 times of his/her fortune than your buddy.

 

[Iwilldoit]

-6 months
-while I was a wake, except weekends, I was learning.

Wow @rmorse, you are a very fast learner !

I've never heard of anyone becoming consistently profitable within 6 months on deciding on becoming a trader

 

[Iwilldoit]

Seven years of losing in day trading and $112,000 losses, 5 years in long term commodities and $105,000, I was lazy and too much smart and Ego and thereby dumb as I didn't want to learn how to program. Maxed out often times on credit cards and bank loans/used real estate as collateral, but I always believed in myself as I never failed in any other businesses of my life. I was lucky when I started in stocks late 70s, commissions very high, so you just stayed in longer. I was working full time jobs and school, and screen time at least 60 hours and more many weeks. I never worked in finance while I was learning but after I learned to trade, ventured into that side of business, and never could stand working for the public or for that matter other people. I do wish I never ventured into commodities at all and stayed with stocks long term only, you simple spend much less time doing long term, have a life outside of trading. I still put in many hours of back testing to stay on top of the game. And no, I never recommend anyone to learn how to day trend, it has gotten to become incredible tougher of "You against their program trading", you have to figure out how to tail coat "them" to pick up a consistent way of profiting.

@Handle123 Thats a heap of money to lose.

How about I trade in Sim until I have doubled my account? (Even if it takes me seven years)

That is why I have been backtesting (no real money trading) for the past year, until I have found a model that has an acceptable win ratio, drawdown etc.

How did that seven year losing streak psychologically and personally affect you? (ie. how did your wife/family react? how did you maintain your self esteem/ self confidence? ) I think most would be depressed if they ran a business that was losing seven years in a row.

Please remember, I ask these questions out of respect.

Thanks,

IWDI.

 

[Handle123]

@Handle123 Thats a heap of money to lose.

How about I trade in Sim until I have doubled my account? (Even if it takes me seven years)

That is why I have been backtesting (no real money trading) for the past year, until I have found a model that has an acceptable win ratio, drawdown etc.

How did that seven year losing streak psychologically and personally affect you? (ie. how did your wife/family react? how did you maintain your self esteem/ self confidence? ) I think most would be depressed if they ran a business that was losing seven years in a row.

Please remember, I ask these questions out of respect.

Thanks,

IWDI.

I think best is doing 1000% before you try real money and only do one lots, you have to be so ready coming out of the gate, you going to compete against the very best.

I wasn't married at the time and no kids, I was buying houses from near bankrupt builders for huge discounts, lived in them as I started finishing them few hours a day after I day traded 3-4 hours then go work for government nights. I kept so busy, didn't eat me up like others. I saw it differently than most, saw it as opportunities as a way not to do again. I was making money trading stocks, the leverage really messed me up.

 

[jinxu]

Hi everyone,so the age old question: How long does it take on average for an individual to become a consistently profitable trader?

I decided to create this thread as a study I am conducting in the ET community with the goal of gaining the following information:1.How many profitable traders there are on here2. more importantly how long it took them to become profitable 3. How many hours a week did they spend on trading/backtesting

In the interests of the entire community, we would appreciate honest answers and input (although I am sure there will be some dishonesty)

So here are the questions I would like profitable traders to answer:Have you been consistently profitable over the past year?

1.How many years/months did it take you to become a profitable trader?

2.During the first six months of your trading career, How many hours a week did you devote to your new business?

Thank You.

I'm kind of curious about this: Why didn't you post a poll in addition to your OP? Don't you think a poll would be relevant and beneficial?

 

[Iwilldoit]

I'm kind of curious about this: Why didn't you post a poll in addition to your OP? Don't you think a poll would be relevant and beneficial?

I did.

Take the poll .

 

[jinxu]

I did.

Take the poll .

I meant a poll like this:

 

[TraDaToR]

6 years after starting investing, 2 years after starting daytrading and taking it seriously.

 

[formica]

Its been nearly 2 years for me but still not a consistent result. I have a strategy but my problem is patience. As my account capital is not big one so I try to make large profit from small capital and boom, mostly get a margin call.