Is it time to throw in the towel?

[ironchef]

Idk where to even start. I'm looking for advice, motivation, or similar stories. For a little context, I'm 25 years old turning 26 in November, I still live at home and am being supported by my family to pursue my goals of becoming a successful trader.

I've been trading full-time since June 2018 and 2.5 years part-time before that. Last year I traded 33million dollars and ended up with $7000 in losses, $2,249 from trades and $4,213 in commissions. My average green and red days are $300-400 I managed to get up $2500 in the first two and a half weeks this year. The fourth week I took an $1800 loss one day and the week after I took another $1600 loss. Fast forward to today and I'm down -2302 for the year and only $174 away from my account being locked out due to the PDT rule. Total over the last 3.5 years I am down $17,000. Im not focused on making the money back, I know that if I just become consistent then the money will come. I'm mentally in a rut right now due to my performance over the last 3 weeks and slightly "Burnt out" from showing up every day for the last 3.5 years and making no progress monetarily.

I planned on trading till June and if I was still struggling then I would switch to part-time and start working on real estate or something. However, nothing is more attractive to me than being a trader, the money and the time freedom make this my favorite career option in life.

If you were in my shoes what would you do? Do I fund my account and switch to paper trading for a week or two to get back in the zone? Do I lower my size to 100 shares and start with my back against the wall? Do I fund my account and go on a "vacation" while the funds settle to clear my mind? Or my least favorite option do I throw in the towel early?

Read this thread:

https://www.elitetrader.com/et/thre...t-feel-like-theres-so-much-more-to-go.324108/

IMHO, maybe you should try swing trade instead of day trade. Intraday requires faster decision and not suitable for newbies unless you can automate. It is also noisier.

Another advantage of swing: You can get a good paying job and build up your trading capital, like the poster above and still have time to hone your trading skill.

Best wishes.

 

[destriero]

Strategies/patterns/set-ups is just tinkering. You're not losing money because you selected a weak pattern from a strategy book.

You've got to make some radical choices which might be binary and uncomfortable:
Should you trade intra-day or long-term?
Should you trade break-outs or follow trends or would reversals be better?
Are you trading the right markets?
Do you actually have a trading plan?

What you've stated here is akin to tinkering as well. The "right" markets? He should trade breakouts when it is a BO and fade when it's not. How is this helpful?

Everyone has a plan until they get hit in the face...

OP,

You can sum up the majority of failures to "needing" to be in the market. Vola goes to zero and they force a trade, or unrealistic targets in good vola.

A friend of mine had a huge position in CL options as a local. Basically long the ATM straddle with realized vola above implied but he missed some hedge levels and essentially went debit when the straddle pinned to the strike on LTD. He literally missed a 500 lot short by a single tick. For the want of an eighth the kingdom was lost.

You need hard REASONABLE stops if you're going to trade by your gut. There needs to be some ruleset... somewhere.

 

[tomorton]

What you've stated here is akin to tinkering as well. The "right" markets? He should trade breakouts when it is a BO and fade when it's not. How is this helpful?

Everyone has a plan until they get hit in the face...

OP,

You can sum up the majority of failures to "needing" to be in the market. Vola goes to zero and they force a trade, or unrealistic targets in good vola.

A friend of mine had a huge position in CL options as a local. Basically long the ATM straddle with realized vola above implied and he missed some hedge levels and essentially went debit when the straddle pinned to the strike on LTD. He literally missed a 500 lot short by a single tick. For the want of an eighth the kingdom was lost.

You need hard REASONABLE stops if you're going to trade by your gut. There needs to be some ruleset... somewhere.

He can't do it.........

 

[vincentnyc]

My mentor averaged 600k a year over the last 5 years and is done trading most days by 11 and will stop back in at 2 to possibly take another trade and review his day. The last 2 days he only had to trade for 10 minutes. The only time hes stuck looking at the screen all day is when he has a red morning.

Also, I'm attracted to being successful at something that is considered so difficult. Anyone can get a job, only the greatest can be successful here.

Your mentor making $600k/year in trading. How much capital is he working with? Do you have that amount to work with? You can’t trade like him cause you probably don’t have that amount since you are so young and only learning how to trade. Did he ever show you proof like a brokerage statement that he is successful? Obviously, you don’t have an edge since you have been losing the whole time. Ppl with edge still lose.

 

[ajensen]

From my experience: people how really have a dream, who want to reach a certain goal, no matter what, who dedicate all their effort to something special... they would never even consider to throw in the towel, to give up. This possibility does not exist to them. Because of this, because of the dedication and willpower, they sooner or later fulfill their dreams.

That is inspiring but untrue. There are more boys who want to be professional football players than there are spots in the NFL. There are more boys who want to marry supermodels than there are women who are supermodel gorgeous. More brilliant people want to become tenured professors at research universities than there are slots available. In life people often need to abandon their dreams and pursue more realistic goals.

 

[destriero]

Your mentor making $600k/year in trading. How much capital is he working with? Do you have that amount to work with? You can’t trade like him cause you probably don’t have that amount since you are so young and only learning how to trade. Did he ever show you proof like a brokerage statement that he is successful? Obviously, you don’t have an edge since you have been losing the whole time. Ppl with edge still lose.

The only proof is his canceled IRS check.

 

[destriero]

Hello TheDailyTrader,

If you have $33 million dollars, why do you want to be a day trader?

Most people will just retire, buy some property and just live their wealthy life.

I am just curious to know.

P.S., I strongly advise taking putting atleast $32.5 million in your savings, use the rest for your trading career before you make a mistake and lose it all.

Dude, c'mon. He means the notional value transacted in buys and sells. He's sitting on $25-$30K.

 

[SimpleMeLike]

Dude, c'mon. He means the notional value transacted in buys and sells. He's sitting on $25-$30K.

Thank you destriero for correcting me, I appreciate you. Thanks

 

[TheDailyTrader]

Your mentor making $600k/year in trading. How much capital is he working with? Do you have that amount to work with? You can’t trade like him cause you probably don’t have that amount since you are so young and only learning how to trade. Did he ever show you proof like a brokerage statement that he is successful? Obviously, you don’t have an edge since you have been losing the whole time. Ppl with edge still lose.

I don't have the capital or experience he has, he's been trading for 17 years. I trade live with him every day and he tells me how much he made or lost that day. I have yet to see his statements but he has a wife and two kids so he can't be faking it since he's here every day with me, he's never tried to get me to give him any money or sell me on anything. Obviously, I'm not going to be able to trade like him now but as I become consistent and grow my account I don't see that being an issue 5-10 years from now.

Also, I haven't been losing the whole time, I'm just not winning right now. I've had three periods over the last 8 months now where I've had success then I get too ballsy and take a big loss and mess my mind up then I continue to lose till I get my mind right again.

 

[nooby_mcnoob]

I don't have the capital or experience he has, he's been trading for 17 years. I trade live with him every day and he tells me how much he made or lost that day. I have yet to see his statements but he has a wife and two kids so he can't be faking it since he's here every day with me, he's never tried to get me to give him any money or anything. Obviously, I'm not going to be able to trade like him now but as I become consistent and grow my account I don't see that being an issue 5-10 years from now.

Also, I haven't been losing the whole time, I'm just not winning right now. I've had three periods over the last 8 months now where I've had success then I get too ballsy and take a big loss and mess my mind up then I continue to lose till I get my mind right again.

All this reads as: I'm still a boy, not a man. You'll get there, stop being a wuss is step 1.