Is active trading a viable job for an individual?

southall said:
I don't recommend trading unless you are a masochist!
masochist - a person who enjoys an activity that appears to be painful or tedious.

You should be naturally and passionately attracted to it. Love at first sight! As a career choice nothing else should even come close.
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@southall, you exaggerate!! LOL Trading is NOT painful. It is annoying and frustrating at times, but NOT painful. LOL :D If you would define trading as painful, you have very interesting perception of what is pain. :p.

I LOVE trading!! It's not just about money but this incredible sense of freedom and independence when the trading is going well is just unparalleled!
 
BYoung said:
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I think you misread my post. I never said I was in MENSA or even tried to be. In fact the point was the opposite - that I'm not a genius.
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Yes, I understood your post. I was intimating that one doesn't have to be a "genius" to be able to trade successfully. I CAN say that you are on the right track. A lot of trading-savvy posters have responded to you here. (And there have been MANY.) You even have the two most vocal sponsors here on ET responding in your thread. Heed the typing of all. I sense you will eventually do well. You seem a good egg.

Here, the latest example from JSOP...

...I LOVE trading!! It's not just about money but this incredible sense of freedom and independence when the trading is going well is just unparalleled!...
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You can just tell JSOP is trading naked (and making income) at home. What other job allows you that liberty? LOL!
 
JSOP said:
@southall, you exaggerate!! LOL Trading is NOT painful. It is annoying and frustrating at times, but NOT painful. LOL :D If you would define trading as painful, you have very interesting perception of what is pain. :p.

I LOVE trading!! It's not just about money but this incredible sense of freedom and independence when the trading is going well is just unparalleled!
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Trading is easy. Like how Calculus is really easy but only because some Old dude invented it and decided to share it. Trading however won't be that easy. No one shares their Holy Grail.

So IOW trading is only easy after the learning curve. I doubt anyone will be able to survive the learning curve without being some type of genius. But hey just to remind everyone. Hehe.

 
wrbtrader said:
Exactly...many people don't realize they have many options to test the waters sort'uv speak.

1) Keep their job and trade before/after work.

2) Keep their job and trade on vacations.

3) Keep their job and take a leave of absence.

4) Keep their job...change their schedule so that they work on the weekends and trade on their day off from work (two weekdays per week)

wrbtrader
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If your trading takes more than 15 minutes a day, you’re doing something wrong.
 
Overnight said:
You can just tell JSOP is trading naked (and making income) at home. What other job allows you that liberty? LOL!
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To be fair though, I did NOT start my trading career just making money. I went through several years of losses while I was learning about the market and trading and everything including myself. So I absolutely agree with what @Robert Morse said, it is extremely helpful to have a second source of income while you are just starting out. Without the 2nd source of income that I had when I was trading in the beginning, I wouldn't have made it until now. I would've quit long time ago because I would've been too apprehensive in even executing my trading plan let alone making losses. And one last thing, you WILL make losses in your trading career, sometimes big ones. That is a GIVEN. Anybody who tells you that your trading profit would be growing at 45 degree angle is either 1) running a Ponzi scheme or 2) trying to sell you trading courses or 3) haven't been trading for very long.

Just to to read this thread where traders talked about the largest losses that they have ever made. I felt that's one of the best thread ever posted on ET; it justreally put things in perspective. https://www.elitetrader.com/et/thre...ut-their-best-ones.318990/page-2#post-4620855
 
SteveH said:
Yet another bubble marker:

When an IT guy making risk-free fat coin wants to chuck it all for day trading.
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Trading not necessarily day trading. And working in IT is not risk-free; you can God forbid, get laid off but you can NEVER get laid off in trading. And when you program, you always work for others, getting only fraction of the revenue. When you trade, you work completely for yourself, gobbling up ALL the profit. :sneaky:
 
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jinxu said:
Trading is easy. Like how Calculus is really easy but only because some Old dude invented it and decided to share it. Trading however won't be that easy. No one shares their Holy Grail.

So IOW trading is only easy after the learning curve. I doubt anyone will be able to survive the learning curve without being some type of genius. But hey just to remind everyone. Hehe.

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You do NOT have to be a genius to be making money in trading. LOL Warren Buffet, George Soros, Jesse Livermore, all successful traders but I do not consider them geniuses. Steve Hawkins, John Nash, these are geniuses but they don't trade. So it just shows that you have to be in a different framework of mind when it comes to trading. That's all.
 
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