I'm out
- Thread starter PennySnatch
- Start date
but he died poor, penniless.
Hey thanks everyone for answering my little self pity post. Anyway I had a reverse aha moment yesterday after listening to a live Linda Raschke webinar where she stated that old trading axiom that: "Out of all the retail brokerage accounts only 3% of them actually make a decent living from trading."
I'm a big fan of Linda's and I highly recommend her books Street Smarts and Trading Sardines. But I guess that painful reality check coming from someone I follow and respect slammed down on my psyche like a 20 pound hammer and I felt the panic of "What the hell I'm I doing wasting all this time which I can not get back chasing such a low probability of success?" I am a talented self deceiver, cheering myself on that eventually I will become part of the 3%, but at this point, three long years in, I have to accept the truth: I'm not even close. Maybe I do need to back off a while. Get outside, listen to some good music and stop looking at charts.
I'm a big fan of Linda's and I highly recommend her books Street Smarts and Trading Sardines. But I guess that painful reality check coming from someone I follow and respect slammed down on my psyche like a 20 pound hammer and I felt the panic of "What the hell I'm I doing wasting all this time which I can not get back chasing such a low probability of success?" I am a talented self deceiver, cheering myself on that eventually I will become part of the 3%, but at this point, three long years in, I have to accept the truth: I'm not even close. Maybe I do need to back off a while. Get outside, listen to some good music and stop looking at charts.
Everyone on this journey have had their fair share of self-pity and dark thoughts. Some of us have given up more than once. I can't think of any harder endeavour than this since you're basically ALONE and have to wade through a jungle without any help from anyone. In fact, you're more likely to be taken advantage of by vendors selling shovels OR other would-be traders who pretend they know something.
If you're not even close after 3 years - it might be a mature and smart decision. Our time on this earth is short and there are other ways to make money than trading. It's not only the money we're risking trading, but it's all the time spent studying this which could have been spent on other things and even selling our time for money (i.e., working a job).
Everyone succeeding with this have made huge sacrifices. But what about all those who don't succeed and have made the same sacrifices?
I wish you luck whatever you decide to do from here on, but at least you seem realistic about your chances. If only 3% succeed in trading it's no different from becoming a top athlete or a movie star in Hollywood. Most of us don't think we'll become the next NBA superstar, but quite a lot of us seem to think we have what it takes to become a top 3 % trader.
Best of luck.
If you're not even close after 3 years - it might be a mature and smart decision. Our time on this earth is short and there are other ways to make money than trading. It's not only the money we're risking trading, but it's all the time spent studying this which could have been spent on other things and even selling our time for money (i.e., working a job).
Everyone succeeding with this have made huge sacrifices. But what about all those who don't succeed and have made the same sacrifices?
I wish you luck whatever you decide to do from here on, but at least you seem realistic about your chances. If only 3% succeed in trading it's no different from becoming a top athlete or a movie star in Hollywood. Most of us don't think we'll become the next NBA superstar, but quite a lot of us seem to think we have what it takes to become a top 3 % trader.
Best of luck.
The one defining characteristic of successful traders is their refusal to quit in the face of adversity
Yes.
But, refusing to quit if you're consistently losing and not making any real progress ain't very smart either.
Most people won't succeed with this. Persistence is necessary, but persistence without smarts and a fair bit of luck won't get you there. IMO at least.
Hi PennySnatch,
For some reason, you got me emotionally invested in what's happening to you.
You have been trading around 3 years?
Would you mind letting us know what kind of trading have you have been doing (stocks...options...futures?),
and what method were you using to determine when your trade vehicle was a buy or sell (charts....math....fundamentals.....earnings?),
and lastly what time frames were you working with (scalping...day trader, swing trader...etc?)
The above is true while at the same time not true. With the above logic a 4-3” man would be playing in the NBA if he never quit. Lol
Bingo. Regrets numero uno on your death bed. Not so much those regrets of not traveling enoug blah blah but more so the ones where you should have done the right thing and didn’t.