Hey Everyone! I'm not sure if this is the correct place to post this so I'm sorry if this is the wrong place. I did read that I should look at other places to make sure but I couldn't find anything that relates to this topic. However, I've been doing a lot research and studying on swing trading. I'm a 24 y/o former Marine and once I got out of the Corps I went straight to college for computer engineering. I now have a full time job building anti money laundering software for banks and I figured that swing trading would be the best place for me to start because I can work around a full time job unlike day trading. Eventually I want to quit my job and become a full time trader but I want to build enough capital to feel comfortable enough to do so. Like I said I've been studying, reading books, and looking up online tutorials about swing trading but I would like to get a mentor or someone who can guide me in the right direction. I'm not here looking to get rich quick as I understand that trading takes a lot of practice and patience. Currently I've been using Fidelity Active Trader Pro application and it looks great but I still have trouble reading charts and knowing how to set things up. I want to keep learning before I jump right into buying and selling. I want to minimize my risk as much as possible before I start trading. If you guys have any advice on books, software, or maybe you're very kind and would like to take time out of your day to help me out personally that would be much much appreciated! I'm looking forward to start my trading days!
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- Thread starter jonbrowusmc
- Start date
Robert Morse
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Hi jonbrowusmc,
Check out our Lightspeed Trader software. It targets active traders. Even though you are a swing trader, you might like the offering that includes the following. Try a demo.
https://www.lightspeed.com/trading-platforms/lightspeed-trader/platform-features/
Some Swing Traders like our Web Trader which has a lower cost and deposit level with a mobile option. https://www.lightspeed.com/trading-platforms/lightspeed-web-trader/
Bob
Check out our Lightspeed Trader software. It targets active traders. Even though you are a swing trader, you might like the offering that includes the following. Try a demo.
https://www.lightspeed.com/trading-platforms/lightspeed-trader/platform-features/
Some Swing Traders like our Web Trader which has a lower cost and deposit level with a mobile option. https://www.lightspeed.com/trading-platforms/lightspeed-web-trader/
Bob
Thanks for the reply Robert! I will check out your Lightspeed Trader software
What are your expectations in terms of P&L ? Too many people think they can make too much money and 99% of retail traders end up failing.
The truth today is that if you beat the S&P 500 on a volatility-adjusted basis, you're very very very good.... meaning the odds of that happening are very very very slim. I've run money professionally for years working at various hedge funds and market making HFT firms and I've never seen a guy who successfully make money over the long term in his garage, or when they do it's far more mediocre than the s&p 500 total return, vol-adjusted.
In my humble opinion if you do 10$ a year and every 10 years you managed to lose only 10$ peak-to-valley, you are already very very very good.... so if you have 100k$, say you're willing to take 50k$ of risk, you'll make 50k$ a year, on average if you're very good, over the long term. Anyone who tell you otherwise has just been lucky for a few years or is simply lying to you.
Maybe a more interesting thing to do for you would be to write code that relates to trading (e.g. daily trading systems etc) for fun rather than with the idea of trading a capital base, and in 1 or 2 years time see where you're at. There's a lot of interesting stuff to do in C# that are intellectually entertaining (e.g.: backtester to simulate trading ideas, market data manager, etc.)
Some blogs here: http://quantocracy.com/ may give you a few ideas.
Like I said I'm not in the mindset of "get rich quick". My goals for swing trading are realistic (at least I think they are). I want to try starting off making around $50 a day and moving my way up from there.
A lot of what you said went over my head. I'm not use to the terminology yet so things like "volatility-adjusted basis", "vol-adjusted", "peak-to-valley", etc... I don't understand. I'm still a noob but I believe if I study hard enough and work hard enough I can accomplish my goals. Is it reasonable to think that I can make a living off swing/day trading or is it just not possible to do? I understand that it takes a long time to start seeing profits and only about 10% of people actually make it and 1% make it big. The other 90% fail either because they are uneducated and jumped in to the game to fast, didn't have enough money to start with, or just gave up.
I never even thought of writing code that relates to trading but that's an excellent idea!
A lot of what you said went over my head. I'm not use to the terminology yet so things like "volatility-adjusted basis", "vol-adjusted", "peak-to-valley", etc... I don't understand. I'm still a noob but I believe if I study hard enough and work hard enough I can accomplish my goals. Is it reasonable to think that I can make a living off swing/day trading or is it just not possible to do? I understand that it takes a long time to start seeing profits and only about 10% of people actually make it and 1% make it big. The other 90% fail either because they are uneducated and jumped in to the game to fast, didn't have enough money to start with, or just gave up.
I never even thought of writing code that relates to trading but that's an excellent idea!
I should rephrase that first part. My goal isn't to start making $50 a day but rather stay in the green consistently and then worry about how much I made later on. I need consistent wins to stay in the game.
I lose money 9 days out of 10 and I manage a book that varies in size between 250m$ and 500m$ cash. So your first intuition to make money sort-of every day is wrong >> this is because of the noise in the market you need to focus on losing a little when you lose and making a lot when you make money.
Maybe start by reading the Turtle methodology, it's basic trend following, it will teach you the basis of trading or at least give you a good base and you can find the pdf online if you don't want to spend 20-50$.
I don't think you can make money with your money enough that you can live off it - but I'm pretty sure that you can find a fund or a quant house that needs a computer engineer, that will pay you well throughout the years and where you'll have a lot of fun and meet other interesting people. Salaries for senior computer engineers can easily go above 500k$ in NYC, up to 1m$ with bonuses for senior people. A friend just joined Jane Street, an HFT market maker in the ETF space, he writes code all day, he's getting 110k$ p.a. versus 60k$ at any other computer engineering job he received offers from.
If I could give an advice to my eager self 18 years ago I would say:
"This is a tough game, you need to start somewhere. Focus on losing the right way. Going for consistent green in the beginning you can forget, it will take time before you understand how the market really works. No one who knows will write it in a book and tell you. So begin with the number one item on your list: How can you lose money the right way."
I was eager to get going, and unfortunately I had some good winnings in the beginning, which made me think I knew what was going on. I got punished for it later.
Good luck.
H.
I still have a lot to learn lol. I'll start reading the Turtle tonight. I wish I was getting paid that much. Currently I'm still in college to get my degree but I'm doing good enough that a company noticed and decided to hire me. Only making about 36k a year at the job I'm at right now. Thank you for the advice! If you have anymore I'm all ears (or eyes in this case)
No worries. We all could probably learn a thing or two from you, since you are a new veteran. Thank you for your service, sir.