Questions About Being A Trader

[dbphoenix]

It wasn't easy to get started 40 years ago, either. It was never easy, and it still isn't, but I constantly hear its-not-like-it-used-to-be as an excuse. If that were true, then nobody these days would ever "make it." But some do: those who are determined and ambitious (and fortunate enough to be of sound mind and body). No, we did not all have rich parents or go to Harvard or know important people. No, we did not all see the path clearly before we started, or even in the middle sometimes. Yes, it seemed impossible at times, but no, it's not.

You may be indulging in selective memory. Higher education was far cheaper in the 60s and 70s than it is now. The student loan situation is far worse than it was. And employment ops were more numerous then than now.

This isn't about bootstrapping. Even the determined and ambitious find the going rough. Those who are neither determined nor ambitious are pretty much doomed.

 

[HighFrequencyBum]

You may be indulging in selective memory. Higher education was far cheaper in the 60s and 70s than it is now. The student loan situation is far worse than it was. And employment ops were more numerous then than now.

This isn't about bootstrapping. Even the determined and ambitious find the going rough. Those who are neither determined nor ambitious are pretty much doomed.

Yeah tuition has seen a marginal increase over the years.

I don't know about doomed though, but that's maybe that's the entitled attitude in me hoping it's not or the realist thought of discrimination occurring and not getting a job even if I did everything right.

 

[lucysparabola]

This really is a sad thread to witness.

 

[Hooti]

In terms of laziness, trading is peculiar. You have to do the logical part of learning to trade, yet trading is largely emotional. So you have to do your homework... all of it. For example in DB's process of observe, back test, forward test, sim trade, live trade... if you skimp at any point the emotional capitol doesn't develop. You have to do the work yourself, all of it. Make it your own. Repeat every step for yourself and by yourself. ...determination and ambition. It isn't easy, that is for sure.

A sad thread? Time will tell.

 

[lindq]

Yeah tuition has seen a marginal increase over the years.

I don't know about doomed though, but that's maybe that's the entitled attitude in me hoping it's not or the realist thought of discrimination occurring and not getting a job even if I did everything right.

You're missing a very important consideration in thinking about your future.

Following only a trading path, you're losses can be greater than financial. You can easily experience what we call "opportunity loss". It's very easy to blow 5-10 years sitting at a trading desk, chasing a dream and fooling yourself that you're getting somewhere. But the odds are great that you won't be getting anywhere, and you'll waste years that could have been spent on a more certain professional path.

Think your job hunt is tough now? Just imagine what you'll face telling potential employers that you just blew years at a trading desk.

Forget trading until you can establish a solid career path in accounting/finance. Then you can begin looking at systems development and testing on your own time. You don't need to be live to do that, and some great systems can be run using EOD data while you're working.

 

[dbphoenix]

You're missing a very important consideration in thinking about your future.

Following only a trading path, you're losses can be greater than financial. You can easily experience what we call "opportunity loss". It's very easy to blow 5-10 years sitting at a trading desk, chasing a dream and fooling yourself that you're getting somewhere. But the odds are great that you won't be getting anywhere, and you'll waste years that could have been spent on a more certain professional path.

Think your job hunt is tough now? Just imagine what you'll face telling potential employers that you just blew years at a trading desk.

Forget trading until you can establish a solid career path in accounting/finance. Then you can begin looking at systems development and testing on your own time. You don't need to be live to do that, and some great systems can be run using EOD data while you're working.

Thank you for pointing this out.

I've known "traders" who went at this for as long as nineteen years without ever doing much better than breakeven. Nineteen years. Wasted. And though nineteen years is a bit extreme, one need only click on members' names and view their profiles to find plenty of people who've been at this for four or five or eight or ten years and still haven't reached a point where they are making consistent profits, much less making enough to live on.

If all one wants is a pastime, great. But this can be a hell of an expensive way to pass the time.

 

[HighFrequencyBum]

Thanks for all the responses everyone. Every post has been helpful.

 

[qxr1011]

Forget trading until you can establish a solid career path in accounting/finance. Then you can begin looking at systems development and testing on your own time. You don't need to be live to do that, and some great systems can be run using EOD data while you're working.

he-he

and then when he will leave behind his cushy job in which he invested 10-25 years of his life he will find out that "some great systems" do not work

what then? and then he will find out what is he made off

one can not sit with one ass on two seats

if one wants to swim to other side he will have to forget about the side he is on...

 

[qxr1011]

Nineteen years. Wasted

most of the people waste they whole life (not just 19 years) on the job they hate (that's where "Thanks God it's Friday" comes from) , on the wife they do not love etc, etc

so imho "waste" is a matter of perspective

imho nothing is wasted in pursuit of your own calling, and everything i wasted if you pursuit somebody else's calling in the belief that it's your own

so the bottom line as the say in "Swimming with the sharks": "You have to ask yourself a question: What do you really want?"

 

[dbphoenix]

most of the people waste they whole life (not just 19 years) on the job they hate (that's where "Thanks God it's Friday" comes from) , on the wife they do not love etc, etc

so imho "waste" is a matter of perspective

imho nothing is wasted in pursuit of your own calling, and everything i wasted if you pursuit somebody else's calling in the belief that it's your own

so the bottom line as the say in "Swimming with the sharks": "You have to ask yourself a question: What do you really want?"

At least they aren't living in a box under a bridge.

There are choices beyond doing something you're no good at (trading) and doing something you hate.