Professional Traders. need advice

also dont believe all the posts claiming howmuch they made...at minimum if they cant post a snapshot of their trades they are bullshitters.Ive called a few bs'ers out here and they chickened out.
MAkes you wonder if they are killin it why wouldnt they post their trades?The internet is loaded with sociopaths,wannabe's and lonely a-holes who troll all day on the internets.
 
Stay out of the futures market. If you feel nervous when you get in a position - or feel emotional about your losses - your too leveraged for your account size - even with 1 YM contract. I say you move to the stock market.

Plus you mention you are getting whipsawed - that's likely because you are required to keep a small stop because of your account size.

As far as people 'killing it' on this forum - they are just excited because they maybe having a good streak right now, but they'll never talk about their losses.

There's generally 2 types of futures traders. Ones that have gone bust - and ones who eventually will go bust.

Some of the ones who have lasted end up teaching or mentoring to make up for losses, or incorporate another revenue stream to 'keep them in the game', because their short-term trading alone could not sustain them.
 
Girls are not the problem im am kept satisfied. Bills got none still live at home i dont even pay for cell phone. All my money is disposable. I just choose to save and put it into my account. I am in school at a junior college right now. But i am matricualting to San Fracisco State University. Yes its a state school but im not going to drop 50-60 k a year to go Ivy. just to get a BS. GPA is ok not the best 3.1. But besides that. Im going to SF state because i might be able to possibly intern at a hedge fund. i would do so under the intentions of learning so i would probably work for free and be an errands boy. but if thats what it takes im going to do it. I really want to get on the floor. I have a connection like i said to a successful floor trader. i was told to contact him when things calm down so probably wont be until this summer. I just dont know what to do. 2 years might be out of school or an MBA program but what kind of job can i get to fund an account for a possible run at becoming a professional. who knows job market looks bleek. Thats why im trying so hard to take a small account and grow it slowly so i can professionally trade but man its so difficult. My inspiration is people have taken peanuts and grown there accounts to modest levels. Maybe its my inexperience still trying to figure it out. I would love to go prop. Trading daily surrounded by traders but i dont have the capital to post. How do traders claim there stake. I admit i have blown up but i want to make it at. I havent been trading to long a year total. is this market one of the toughest markets in the last decade or is this the norm? Am i right to try learning trading the toughest market so when things smooth out i am more experienced?
 
Quote from dsq:

people who lose dont post losses...nothing to gloat about....I bet 85% of traders investors are getting killed.Even the billionaire big wig players are getting their asses handed to them like kirkorian,icahn etc. So dont feel bad.
Also if u dont have large coin and are getting whipped out in futures you should switch to stocks were you dont have the margin/leverage issues etc...
Personally,you should finish your college.At least you ll have a passport to a career down the road.Cant say the same for trading-you can end up with no cash and no degree/skill.If you want just buy some long term equities at these cheaper levels and walk away...cat,fcx,nov,x,c...
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I think it's more than 85%. I for example lost maybe 50% of my equity...wiped out. I was overleveraged in the oil market and when the collapse happened, I couldn't get out without collapsing against myself. It was all position trading - similar to hedge fund type trading.

Since then I have ferrociously been trading to make back SOME good gains so far - but WAY shorter term, but nothing compared to the insane gains made in the oil market pre-crash.

It was as if every hedge fund and big & small speculator was piled onto this big mountain climb - everest, then they reached the summit with no energy left, pushed over the other side with cliffs & ice just sliding out of control.

I thought in the back of my mind the oil trade was going to collapse eventually, but impossible to call the top. It was one of the few places left in the market where one could make good money, so almost every hedge fund on earth was on this bandwagon, and they got trapped. Some of the big hedge funds in Canada are down 60% YTD, wow.
 
this is counter to probably everything you have read. no one trades directionally. everyone is a spreader (options or futures) and fairly risk averse. point and click guys at day trading shops just feed the machine. the mkt wizard books are nothing like the real world. you dont need to follow the news or even be aware of whats happening. I know a guy who trades SP all day long and never knows what handle it closed at.
 
i fully believe that you need to have a degree as SOME kind of fallback if you fail.

i've tried several different things in my life which were out of the normal career path, 2 with entertainment industry, one with a startup, and now trading.

the startup was my only "full-time" job, it didn't work out.

other than that, the others i did on the side. i've been trading for myself for 9 years now, but had done a couple years (before that) on the side with my then-day job.

some people say you can't succeed if you have a fall-back option, in my case, i felt i couldn't succeed UNLESS i had that kind of option.

(EDIT: i'm 99% a daytrader, and long-term for me is usually a couple hours)
 
Your chances of success in the first year are almost 0%.

Trade with 1% of the money you would otherwise use till you learn techniques.

Even when you find something that works, be careful of doing something "almost as good".

Know that usually your counterparty is the market maker who is out there to eat up retail traders.
 
There is an old saying in the gold miners. If you want to find gold, look where it has already been found.

Fwiw, forget all the indicators and computer generated neato stuff. Start with the basics. Read Wyckoff, Dow, Livermore, etc. There is nothing new. Those people figured out how markets work. Computers just make everything happen faster. For my money, study price action and volume. Get a time frame that you are comfortable with, ie do you feel better darting in for the small gain or do you need the satisfaction of the longer trade for more money? Everybody is different.

Finish school.
Good luck
 
Quote from CollegeTrader:

Girls are not the problem im am kept satisfied. Bills got none still live at home i dont even pay for cell phone. All my money is disposable. I just choose to save and put it into my account. I am in school at a junior college right now. But i am matricualting to San Fracisco State University. Yes its a state school but im not going to drop 50-60 k a year to go Ivy. just to get a BS. GPA is ok not the best 3.1. But besides that. Im going to SF state because i might be able to possibly intern at a hedge fund. i would do so under the intentions of learning so i would probably work for free and be an errands boy. but if thats what it takes im going to do it. I really want to get on the floor. I have a connection like i said to a successful floor trader. i was told to contact him when things calm down so probably wont be until this summer. I just dont know what to do. 2 years might be out of school or an MBA program but what kind of job can i get to fund an account for a possible run at becoming a professional. who knows job market looks bleek. Thats why im trying so hard to take a small account and grow it slowly so i can professionally trade but man its so difficult. My inspiration is people have taken peanuts and grown there accounts to modest levels. Maybe its my inexperience still trying to figure it out. I would love to go prop. Trading daily surrounded by traders but i dont have the capital to post. How do traders claim there stake. I admit i have blown up but i want to make it at. I havent been trading to long a year total. is this market one of the toughest markets in the last decade or is this the norm? Am i right to try learning trading the toughest market so when things smooth out i am more experienced?
More...

Learn how to write. Trust me, you could never get into a prestigious school with your writing ability.
 
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