How to know when youre not cut out for this?

J

janko

Ok here is my dillema, i have been trading for one year, trading various instruments, and have had some success and some failures. Overall i have been up 25% on my small act and then gave some back and am slightly up. i have learned to sit on my hands when i dont see a good set up, and once i do find that set up i have been waiting for i still just sit there and watch it goooo. It is very frustrating to wait and sit infront of the tape, spend hours of just watching numbers go by and then miss it. Not wanting to chase it i miss the entire move, then i start analyzing what happened and why i didnt go for it! Then i step back and say what the hell am i doing here, i know successful trading doesnt happen overnight but is this part of the entire learning process, or is there a bigger problem at hand - where i just simply should give this up and do something different w my life. The reason why i keep coming back is that i realy love the market, i dream charts and set ups, sometimes when traveling i get releived when i catch cnbc or cnnfn on airport tvs to know what the mkt is doing, in a whacky way it calms me down, whether its up or down.- doesnt matter. So i guess i wanted to get some input on this. Is this normal or is it a sign of just accepting the fact that not everyone is cut out for this???
 
just quit. if you haven't made it by now, you're never gonna make it..

Just joking. If you really want something, NEVER EVER EVER EVER give up. Change your methods, your thinking - do whatever needs to be done, but don't quit.


 
Not everyone IS cut out for this. You seem to have the desire. That is only one part. A trader needs to be able to translate desire and knowledge into money. The street is littered with people who KNOW where the market or a particular stock is going, but they can't pull the trigger or capitalize on their idea. The only way to find out if this is for you is to try every avenue prior to giving it up. Take a predetermined amount of risk and go for it. Push the darn button, click the mouse and find out once and for all if you have the risk taking, probability making skills necessary to make this a business.
 
janko..

hang in there buddy.. we all go through the frustration.. personally, my learning curve took longer than a year.. i dont think anyone is really "cut out" to be a trader.. but we can all become traders if we really want it and are willing to make the changes necessary..

-qwik
 
if you are still in the game after a year - and still have the desire and the interest - why should you stop or think you can't make it?
 
In the Market Wizards interviews, imo the predominant theme of the interviews with successful traders was their perserverance. I got into this for the money (just after the bubble popped). Only when I gave up on ever getting rich did I ever start to do well. I eventually realized that even if I never made a dime, I would still be here. That was the turning point for me, fwiw. I can't handle the real world, and there is nothing else I want to do with my life.

Find a mentor. Do what they do. Most people get what they really want out of life whether they realize it or not. If you want it badly enough for long enough, it will happen.
 
If, after a year, you haven't made the type of consistent income that you can live comfortably off of, you have to step back and take a reality check. Let's face it, this is a brutal market and it's tough to make a good living. The market will always be there and once the bear market is finally over, the buy and hold investors will make better money than the in and out daytraders. Look for a career that pays well and put your savings into shares of good companies that will appreciate in the next bull market.
 
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