How many people here actually make a living?
- Thread starter Crimson
- Start date
Quote from college_trad3r:
LOL
believe that bolimomo, just believe it, makes it easier forthe rest of us
A lot of money can be made in choppy markets.
Even in after hours you can make good money. Some of my easiest trades have been with the ES during european hours
I think your math is a little off. 1000 USD a trading day, is let's say 200,000 USD a year based on the previously mentioned 200 trading days a year. Even taking away 50% for taxes, you would still have a net 100,000 USD a year. Maybe things have changed since I went to college, but I can't believe that "somebody who just went to regular college" nets 100,000 USD a year. Impossible.
You should expect a brick-and-morter business to have better margins because the barriers to entry are higher than for daytrading. Any idiot, can put together 25k and get into the "trading business". This means the competition in trading is intense, and most competitors in the trading business have to accept low profits (for trading, "low" means negative) as a result of that intense competition. I own a brick-and-morter business. (Technically my office doesn't have any bricks though). We had to create innovative products, invest much more than 25k, manage employees, provide a building for those employees to work in, invest in IT infrastructure, and make payroll every month. There are maybe a dozen businesses in the same exact market as us, with maybe 4 or 5 making good money....much less competitive than trading.
It's a pretty good living for my partner and myself, but if I was confident that I could even make half of what I take-home now from trading (while still growing my account), I'd be tempted to give it all up, just so as not to have to deal with business partners, employees, and customers. Heck if I could make a quarter of my income, from completely passive investments, no trading, just collecting dividends/rents/interest, I'd be tempted still.
I agree. It depends on if your single,or not too, and if your wife also works. 50k is more than enough for me.
I am in the process of developing myself as a trader as many of you. I have struggled and searched endlessly for answers but as Redneck trader said SUCCESSFUL TRADING IS IN THE MIND! Therefore I now believe that if we conquer the battle of the mind we increase are chances for success as a trader exponetially. I'll try to explain.
First it is imparitive to research Jack Hershey's article/diagram in the thread TRADING IS HARD, VERY HARD, DAM HARD. To me Jack's diagram represnets a horse track so to speak. Now let's imagine for a moment that this track has two types of traders racing around the track for profits at the finish line. An experienced one with a history of making profits and a newbie with no ligitimate track record of profits. If you had to pick a trader to bet on winning which one would you pick and why?
I think we would all agree that we would pick the experienced trader as we know without question that, that trader has a track record for making profits. What does this trader do differently than the inexperienced trader? Pyscologically speaking this trader has conditioned his mind to win. How did this trader accomplish this?
Starting out early in his/her career we probably all experience losses unless perhaps some start with a great mentor to guide them.
I think the reason we experience these losses is that we are not equiped with number one the correct mindset and number two an logical plan for winning. So then assuming most of us started with losses what must we do that the that the experienced trader is already doing.
When my son was growing up I use to tell him "if you think you can you can". I even remind myself of this often. We need to condition our minds. It is fear that destroys the positive mental attitude required to be a successful trader. RN has said to me many times, TRUST YOURSELF, LOVE YOURSELF, RESPECT YOURSELF. I think I finally know what he means now.
The way we remove the fear is by concentrating and developing ourselves through positive mental reenforcement. We accomplish this by developing winning strategies and then sim trading those strategies over and over and over agian until we finally build confidence in ourselves to once again enter the markets. The difference now however is that we come to the market with the same positive mental attitude as the experienced trader destined to win.
Some of the ways we can gain advantage towards winning is like Bolimono said knowing when to sit on our hands. I think this is extremely important. I took a trial at Presitne's emini course. Interstingly enough they only traded specific patterns. I have heard that they do not even use indicators. PRICE ACTION only! The trial lasted two weeks.
Many days there were no trades called (soh ). One of those days in particular ym moved three pivot lines up and down three pivot lines with NO TRADES CALLED. Other days trades were called profits were booked. The traders paying for this service were happy because they walked away with net profits for each week. Why did they keep coming back to trade again? They kept coming back because they had confidence in Prestine's methodology but lacked the confidence to trade this system on their own. I rember Johno replying to me "go back to he basics and think of the big picture" paraphasing.
There are great mentors here at ET but we must adhere to their advice. They could give us a winning strategy but without a proper mindset we would probably lose because we do not have the confidence in ourselves to win.
Good Traidng To All Of You!
metoo
IF YOU THINK YOU CAN YOU CAN!!!
First it is imparitive to research Jack Hershey's article/diagram in the thread TRADING IS HARD, VERY HARD, DAM HARD. To me Jack's diagram represnets a horse track so to speak. Now let's imagine for a moment that this track has two types of traders racing around the track for profits at the finish line. An experienced one with a history of making profits and a newbie with no ligitimate track record of profits. If you had to pick a trader to bet on winning which one would you pick and why?
I think we would all agree that we would pick the experienced trader as we know without question that, that trader has a track record for making profits. What does this trader do differently than the inexperienced trader? Pyscologically speaking this trader has conditioned his mind to win. How did this trader accomplish this?
Starting out early in his/her career we probably all experience losses unless perhaps some start with a great mentor to guide them.
I think the reason we experience these losses is that we are not equiped with number one the correct mindset and number two an logical plan for winning. So then assuming most of us started with losses what must we do that the that the experienced trader is already doing.
When my son was growing up I use to tell him "if you think you can you can". I even remind myself of this often. We need to condition our minds. It is fear that destroys the positive mental attitude required to be a successful trader. RN has said to me many times, TRUST YOURSELF, LOVE YOURSELF, RESPECT YOURSELF. I think I finally know what he means now.
The way we remove the fear is by concentrating and developing ourselves through positive mental reenforcement. We accomplish this by developing winning strategies and then sim trading those strategies over and over and over agian until we finally build confidence in ourselves to once again enter the markets. The difference now however is that we come to the market with the same positive mental attitude as the experienced trader destined to win.
Some of the ways we can gain advantage towards winning is like Bolimono said knowing when to sit on our hands. I think this is extremely important. I took a trial at Presitne's emini course. Interstingly enough they only traded specific patterns. I have heard that they do not even use indicators. PRICE ACTION only! The trial lasted two weeks.
Many days there were no trades called (soh ). One of those days in particular ym moved three pivot lines up and down three pivot lines with NO TRADES CALLED. Other days trades were called profits were booked. The traders paying for this service were happy because they walked away with net profits for each week. Why did they keep coming back to trade again? They kept coming back because they had confidence in Prestine's methodology but lacked the confidence to trade this system on their own. I rember Johno replying to me "go back to he basics and think of the big picture" paraphasing.
There are great mentors here at ET but we must adhere to their advice. They could give us a winning strategy but without a proper mindset we would probably lose because we do not have the confidence in ourselves to win.
Good Traidng To All Of You!
metoo
IF YOU THINK YOU CAN YOU CAN!!!
Metoo,
I also feel compelled to post this
You stated Step 1; âIf you think you can â you canâ
Step 2 - It doesnât matter what you think - only what you do (THIS IS AN ABSOLUTE FACT OF TRADING)
Sounds like Iâve contradicted myself â but I havenât Sirâ¦. It is vital you figure out the difference in those two statements
RN