Question about first steps to take

DichaelMugless said:
Hi. Asking for a friend, what is the fastest way for a 30 year old middle school drop out to make a career out of trading? What is the best way? Ideally would like to daytrade index ETFs (IWM,QQQ,SPY) on a 10 minute time frame and bring in a consistent 2-4% monthly.Is this impossible? Any suggestions appreciated. Thanks
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Whatever you do in futures, as suggested by some above, with it's salacious and tempting price action, do it in the micros to start. Screw the minis until you become confident. If they (micros) were available when I started, they would have broadened my perspective in a way.

And if looking for a "different way", I would seriously consider bone's ideas on exchange-traded spreads. I love the concept. If your mind is a fresh slate, please explore all of your options before you get anchored into one ideology that you cannot shake yourself out of.

The world is your oyster. :-)

(I am in no way promoting bone as a way to go, over any other method/vendor. I am just stating that I like his system of trading.)
 
comagnum said:
Studies on thousands of options traders concluded that they lost more than twice that of the equity traders.
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May I see a study from a reputable source?

comagnum said:
Your at least 10 times more likely to be successful trading equities than trading options outright
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A made-up statistic. Who do you think has seen the real P/L of more traders, me or you?

Over and over in Elite Trader, I see traders tell others they can't make money at something they or their friends had trouble with. Trading is trading. A good trader that puts in the time and effort can make money trading any asset class.

I'm a position trader, not a day trader. I'm less likely to make money day trading. I do not tell day traders they can't make money.

This is a trader forum. Encouraging new trader to learn is more productive than telling them what they can't do. Help them find tools to be successful. "zero-sum game" is an excuse.
 
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Robert Morse said:
A made-up statistic. Who do you think has seen the real P/L of more traders, me or you?
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Robert - learn how to use Google man!
https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/25/...ng-helps-brokers-but-not-small-investors.html

I thought you were in sales Robert?

I am very encouraging to new traders - but not in playing with derivatives as newbies. TDA is the much larger broker & their CEO stated that options trader churn is very expensive to backfill - Are you calling their CEO A lair as well?
 
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comagnum said:
I thought were in sales Robert ?
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I started on the AMEX floor in 1982 as an option wire clerk for institutional accounts. Then a floor broker for the same company. In 1985 at 24 years old I leased a AMEX index seat and started my option trading business with my own BD. I eventually bought my own seat and split 2 others with another person. I traded as an option MM from 1985 until 2010 fro my own account/BD. During that time I was also part of a group that backed other traders. From 2011 to now I'm in sales. I see the P/L of all my equity, options and futures traders.
 
comagnum said:
Robert - learn how to use Google man!
https://www.nytimes.com/2013/05/25/...ng-helps-brokers-but-not-small-investors.html

I thought you were in sales Robert?

I am very encouraging to new traders - but not in playing with derivatives as newbies, we all know only the brokers clean up on this unless you calling the much larger broker TDA Amertirade a liar.
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The NYTimes wrote an article in the early 80's that talked about how the NASDAQ OTC market was horrible for investors. They were right, but the example they gave showed me they do not understand the business. They said the customer bought $10,000 worth of a stock and needed the money a week later and only got $ 5000 back. If you read the entire article, you learn that the customer bought a stock at 1/8 and sold it for 1/16.

NYTimes does not understand the business of trading.
 
Overnight said:
But...Can you core a apple?
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Yes, old man Morse is old enough to get the Honeymooners reference. And yes, I was a MM in AAPL from summer of '85 until Feb 2010.

This is not about me. The forum should be about getting information and sharing. Helping others succeed. Or, getting help.
 
Robert Morse said:
Yes, old man Morse is old enough to get the Honeymooners reference. And yes, I was a MM in AAPL from summer of '85 until Feb 2010.
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THANK you for finally acknowledging it. I think I've been poking you with that for a few years now. Weight off my shoulders. Hehe!
 
comagnum said:
Looks like I need to learn how to Google as well, silly me. Here is the study on 68,000 options traders. Its no big secret that derivatives traders few winners & lots of losers.

Your novice, IMHO would be smart to avoid derivatives until they can first be profitable trading without leverage. You got to walk before you can run .. right?

I trade mainly futures myself, so I am not anti derivatives, just in the hands of absolute novice traders.

https://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=965810
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I think all traders should start small and scale slowly until they have a process in place that works.
 
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