great post thanks for the insight.
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Is my career over?
- Thread starter TruthSeeker247
- Start date
great post thanks for the insight.
Quote from TruthSeeker247:
Have you ever suffered a major loss in trading? I would say probably not because if you had you would not longer be trading; that is, you'd probably give up. Your attitude seems to be: if i lose too much, let me do myself a favor and just move on. Sorry but that is not very inspiring at all. If YOU were not meant to be a trader then perhaps YOU should move on to something else. I know I was born to be a trader and don't expect to ever give up on trading as a profession. Losses should be expected as should a blowup of one's account. 99% of would-be-traders are like you: they have a big loss and then they "move on." That's why 99% don't make it and why I believe I will. You see, I don't have a strong affinity with money; I am not materialistic. I can take a loss and keep on truckin. Trading is what I was truly meant to do; I am convinced of this.
So, I will move on, but I will not give up on trading. Whether I lose what little I have left or not, I will always be a trader at heart and any job I take will be a temporary one to build up a new trading stake. These are facts of the matter. here's my motto: NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER NEVER EVER GIVE UP!
Thanks for your post
I take large losses all the time. The only difference is that I take even larger gains and I have 6 years of successful trading behind me with a huge account balance. I've never blown up an account and I was profitable from day one. I'm a realist. I'll keep doing this until I can't anymore. If and when that happens, I'll move on to something else.
You don't have a strong affinity with money?? Then why bother trading with real money at all? Maybe you need to start caring more about money, that may be a reason why you blew up your first account so easily.
So much good info here...if only all beginners read this first.
Quote from traderdragon:
The painful truth is, you never had a career in trading to start with. This was the equivalent a guy who just read the rules of poker and sat at a table with a bunch of pro's. Sure you made a little bit of money along the way due to pure luck, but you were doomed from the start if you played long enough.
Get out now. Learn to really trade while saving up for an account big enough to make a living off of. Somewhere in the 200K range would be decent before attempting full time trading as a career.
Even with 200K and 20% a year return, thats only 40K year. Not much.
Do you know how many pro funds pull 20% a year consistently?
Not very many.
So I think its a little crazy to assume you will be able to beat the majority of pros and make enough to live on while still growing your account.
There are exceptions, but there is a reason so many people fail at this game. #1 & #2 being undercapitalization and trading with no real edge.
You have commited both of these errors already.
If you cannot at least tell someone what you exact win% rate, profit factor, and max draw down is for whatever system you are trading, then you are not even close to being ready.
Go teach yourself to trade. It will take years.
So what you are saying is that with a $200,000 account, one can't expect to make more than $150 per day? You obviously do not know what you are talking about. the problem with money management firms is that when you trade a massive account of hundreds of millions or billions of dollars, it becomes more difficult to post large end of year gains because your trades will often have significant impacts on the markets you trade. With smaller accounts, I know it is possible to make 20, 30, and even 40%. I know people who have done it (and continue to do it). A very successful trader friend of mine suggested that new traders should put up $40,000 in starting capital. by your standards, such traders should not expect to make more than $31 per day. That's pretty funny.
Thanks for the reply nonetheless
If there's one thing I've found it is that you don't learn to trade from books and you don't learn to trade from papertrading. You learn to trade by trading.
Quote from Htrader:
I take large losses all the time. The only difference is that I take even larger gains and I have 6 years of successful trading behind me with a huge account balance. I've never blown up an account and I was profitable from day one. I'm a realist. I'll keep doing this until I can't anymore. If and when that happens, I'll move on to something else.
You don't have a strong affinity with money?? Then why bother trading with real money at all? Maybe you need to start caring more about money, that may be a reason why you blew up your first account so easily.
The point I was trying to make is that I can take losses without getting emotional. Losses can teach valuable lessons. I take large gains as well but I don't always cut my losses. If I could somehow find a way to continue to take large gains and at the same time keep my losses small I will be very successful. This, of course, is easier said than done.
Quote from ChiBondKing:
also have you considered spreads?
while not giving you the pure adrenaline of outright futs trading, spreads are, in general somewhat less risky. And, personally, I find spread and yield curve dynamics to be quite fascinating. You may like it too.. just a opinion.
good luck, i've been in your shoes before.. i know how it feels. But first, like some wise people have said, you have to learn how to stay in the game until you get it right
-c
I've traded the FITE and the NOB before. Problem is that I always wound up getting amazing prices in the spread because I would wait before I would put on the second leg of the spread. I decided "what is the point of trading the spread when I am really betting on market direction after all?"
I have to learn how to stay in the game. You are right. I really don't want to be out anytime soon.
Thanks
Quote from TruthSeeker247:
The point I was trying to make is that I can take losses without getting emotional. Losses can teach valuable lessons.
Yeah, well in your case, you've taken enough of them, so start trading a low risk strategy with higher reward, and be right more than you are wrong.
Also, don't tell us you will do it.... JUST DO IT already.
Quote from JMowery1987:
Yeah, well in your case, you've taken enough of them, so start trading a low risk strategy with higher reward, and be right more than you are wrong.
Also, don't tell us you will do it.... JUST DO IT already.
I started this thread 2 days ago. lol
I don't think you even need to be right more than you are wrong; so long as your losses are much smaller than your gains you can still be successful being wrong more than you are right. I really do believe that.
Thanks
Lets see here, basic math tells me that:
200K account
20% profit = 40K year
30% profit = 60K year
40% profit = 80Ka year
Ummm, so how much do you have now???
Again, I ask you, how do you expect to pull 20% a year starting out? You wont. Drop your ego at the door and open your ears because your own post makes it obvious you havent a clue what you are doing.
You admit in your very first post that you started with 30K.
If we assume you are some kind of trading prodigy and pull 40% a year, thats a pathetic $12,000 a year. If I made less than 100K a year living in california I would consider myself poor.
You are undercapitalized using your own best estimates.
However, if you started with 200K and made 20%, which would be very good for starting out, you would make 40K which you could get by on until you got better. if you lived in a cheap area.
You are undercapitalized and clearly dont have an edge or any money management ability.
No, the best way to learn to trade is not through trading. This is the equivalent of learning poker by using real big money against real pro poker players. You are a lamb leading yourself to your own slaughter.
Why not stop trading until you first develop a system with a positive expectancy??? Then test it in real markets. To trade without this is simply idiotic.
200K account
20% profit = 40K year
30% profit = 60K year
40% profit = 80Ka year
Ummm, so how much do you have now???
Again, I ask you, how do you expect to pull 20% a year starting out? You wont. Drop your ego at the door and open your ears because your own post makes it obvious you havent a clue what you are doing.
You admit in your very first post that you started with 30K.
If we assume you are some kind of trading prodigy and pull 40% a year, thats a pathetic $12,000 a year. If I made less than 100K a year living in california I would consider myself poor.
You are undercapitalized using your own best estimates.
However, if you started with 200K and made 20%, which would be very good for starting out, you would make 40K which you could get by on until you got better. if you lived in a cheap area.
I think its painfully obvious that its clearly you that dont have a clue, and the only person here making any sense at all between you and me, is, well, quite frankly me.You obviously do not know what you are talking about.
You are undercapitalized and clearly dont have an edge or any money management ability.
No, the best way to learn to trade is not through trading. This is the equivalent of learning poker by using real big money against real pro poker players. You are a lamb leading yourself to your own slaughter.
Why not stop trading until you first develop a system with a positive expectancy??? Then test it in real markets. To trade without this is simply idiotic.
Quote from TruthSeeker247:
With smaller accounts, I know it is possible to make 20, 30, and even 40%. I know people who have done it (and continue to do it).
You learn to trade by trading. [/B]