Profitable Traders: What makes you keep going?

ktmtrader said:
...trading seems to take up so much of my time, the actual trading, reading, thinking about the markets.

...profitable traders are basically automatons, just repeating the process over and over without thinking or emotion...
More...
Hmmm?

I started to get bored after having finished (in March) developing the system I will be using to trade foreign currency pairs, so last month I established a group via meetup.com to help others who are now where I used to be when I first began.

You wrote: “If I could rewind my life 10 years - I wouldn't do this. I would do graduate work on economics and gone on to do some theoretical work or gotten a CS degree and do something interesting.”

In 2029, what are you going to be writing you would have done if you could rewind your life back to 2019? Whatever the answer, you might want to consider making it a priority now and finding a way to get started—whatever it takes.
 
Last edited:
ktmtrader said:
This is my 10th year of day trading futures full time, I make money consistently but I am losing motivation, it is a very lonely profession, there is no real excitement, I am relatively young in my mid 40's, I feel like am I wasting my life looking at screens all day waiting for a setup. Shouldn't there be more to life than this? I see so many people all around me on TV, in magazines doing amazing things, engineers, medical professionals, journalists heck even hedge fund managers running billions.

Do other full-time profitable traders feel this way? What keeps you motivated and in the game?
More...
"What keeps you motivated?" Why can't the answer be like you said yourself, that there's a hell of a lot more to life than trading. I don't think you're wrong.

I see trading as a money maker. But beyond that, it's not worth even as much as one good conversation with loved one or friend to me.
 
ktmtrader said:
This is my 10th year of day trading futures full time, I make money consistently but I am losing motivation, it is a very lonely profession, there is no real excitement, I am relatively young in my mid 40's, I feel like am I wasting my life looking at screens all day waiting for a setup. Shouldn't there be more to life than this? I see so many people all around me on TV, in magazines doing amazing things, engineers, medical professionals, journalists heck even hedge fund managers running billions.

Do other full-time profitable traders feel this way? What keeps you motivated and in the game?
More...

Out of curiousity, why didn't you use the profits from those 10 years of making money consistently to go back to school to pay for a new education to become an engineer, medical professional, journalist or even a hedge fund manager running billions ???

You could have continue trading (part time) while in college.

wrbtrader
 
The general theme of the responses so far are: 'Be grateful you do something that generates an income, most people have crap jobs." I do agree, that trading is a simple way to generate an income (for longtime pros only) compared to 90% of the jobs out there, but that is not my point. Like many have correctly assumed I do not have kids, I am married to a wonderful woman though and I do have hobbies, am fairly fit and active but obviously going through a mid life crisis questioning my life choices. I only wanted to find out from other full time profitable traders if they ever went through a period where they questioned their work. I'm sure people of other occupations do so as well.
 
ktmtrader said:
I only wanted to find out from other full time profitable traders if they ever went through a period where they questioned their work. I'm sure people of other occupations do so as well.
More...
I looked at a lot of Tony Robbins (and other) video excerpts available for free on YouTube when I was designing a two-year Leadership curriculum for a school in Singapore. I ran across any number of talks the speakers delivered closely related to the topic of midlife crises or finding/discovering what fulfills an individual in his or her life, if you think you might be interested.

Here is an excerpt from one of the lesson plans I wrote...

Stress: “This is why making the shift towards quality questions is so important—because quality questions create a quality life. They direct our mental focus and ultimately determine how we think and feel. The key is to develop a pattern of questions that empower your true nature. For example, try focusing on quality questions such as:
  • What am I most happy about in my life now?
  • What am I most excited about in my life now?
  • What am I most proud about in my life now?
  • What am I most grateful about in my life now?
  • What am I enjoying most in my life right now?
  • What am I committed to in my life right now?
  • Who do I love?
Continue: “By making quality questions part of your daily ritual, you will be able to access your most empowering emotional states. And over time, as you consistently practice doing so, you will be able to create mental highways to happiness, excitement, pride, gratitude, joy, commitment and love—which is who you are at your core.

Add: “Also, remember In Lesson 10 how we learned that one of the ways for a leader to connect with others is to do what one leader says he does when he wants to really get to know someone, which is to ask them three questions. He says people’s answers to these questions help him to really see their ‘hearts.’ The three questions were:
  1. What do you dream about?
  2. What do you sing about?
  3. What do you cry about?
“If you know the answers to these questions, you will know where to look to find common ground with your followers.

“Well, if you ask yourself these three questions, it will help you to connect with who you really are. What do you dream about, sing about, and cry about? Answer these three questions honestly and you will have a better idea of what really matters and is important to you, and who you really are deep inside.

Stress: “But it’s not enough to simply know this. Then you need to act on and live in accordance with this knowledge.
 
Last edited:
ktmtrader said:
The general theme of the responses so far are: 'Be grateful you do something that generates an income, most people have crap jobs." I do agree, that trading is a simple way to generate an income (for longtime pros only) compared to 90% of the jobs out there, but that is not my point. Like many have correctly assumed I do not have kids, I am married to a wonderful woman though and I do have hobbies, am fairly fit and active but obviously going through a mid life crisis questioning my life choices. I only wanted to find out from other full time profitable traders if they ever went through a period where they questioned their work. I'm sure people of other occupations do so as well.
More...

Investment bankers
Private equity managers
Management consultants
Some specialities of lawyers

They all go through this. When I graduated college i thought about all these careers and had the benefit of speaking to veterans in those careers (family friends). Each person told me to choose one of the other professions that person wasn’t in.

In the end there is nothing real in these professions other than a pile of money.

When I left walk street I started a search find and bought a small manufacturing firm. That has a lot of meaning for me.
 
newwurldmn said:
Investment bankers
Private equity managers
Management consultants
Some specialities of lawyers

They all go through this. When I graduated college i thought about all these careers and had the benefit of speaking to veterans in those careers (family friends). Each person told me to choose one of the other professions that person wasn’t in.

In the end there is nothing real in these professions other than a pile of money.

When I left walk street I started a search find and bought a small manufacturing firm. That has a lot of meaning for me.
More...

I worked for an ex-investment banker on a software project. His new work: Creating a large scale preschool education business in Korea from scratch. He could have decided to retire and live his life on a beach somewhere, but he was looking for meaning in his life.

Then again, the grass is always greener on the other side of the pond. What could have been, and all that.
 
Snuskpelle said:
I worked for an ex-investment banker on a software project. His new work: Creating a large scale preschool education business in Korea from scratch. He could have decided to retire and live his life on a beach somewhere, but he was looking for meaning in his life.

Then again, the grass is always greener on the other side of the pond. What could have been, and all that.
More...

You aren't wealthy until you have something money can't buy. Helping Children, Priceless...
 
Snuskpelle said:
I worked for an ex-investment banker on a software project. His new work: Creating a large scale preschool education business in Korea from scratch. He could have decided to retire and live his life on a beach somewhere, but he was looking for meaning in his life.

Then again, the grass is always greener on the other side of the pond. What could have been, and all that.
More...
He could jump to N Korea for more of a challenge....
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top