Some of you need to see the reality of the situation.
The reason why you want the lifestyle of a full-time trader is obvious. You can be your own boss, hang out all day making a fortune at a ridiculously easy job. It eliminates the need to go find a "real job", and the gambling thrill is very seductive.
Even the weakest and most irresponsible "dreams of glory" are milked by the brokers, firms, and vendors who want to sign you up as a customer, continuously making profits for them while you labor away and never quite make those profits.
The reality of the situation is this - real edges are extremely rare, and any that exist are guaranteed to be made extinct at some point (this is the nature of the markets). This is why even some of the "market wizards" went bust eventually. A losing trader wouldn't know a real edge if it was right in front of them, in any case. (They are usually too busy deciphering charts and researching the hundreds of methods out there that do not work)
Most traders fail, and this is not an accident or some random phenomenon. Your basic trading odds are 50/50, and this is made worse by human psychology, which works against you. Add into that commissions (the vig), and it is almost laughable that people think they can make a living daytrading.
Vic Neiderhoffer observed that if you were to flip a coin, winning a dollar if you guessed right, losing a dollar if you guessed wrong, but had to pay 20 cents on every flip (comms), your odds of coming out ahead after 200 flips is less than 1/100,000. Worth betting your financial future on?
You can tell a compulsive gambler pretty easily. They are always "on the verge of success". The problem is always their broker, or the specialist, or the markets aren't what they used to be, or the ECNs are too slow, etc.. etc.. They use others as examples - "well, so and so made $600k last year daytrading - it said so on Elitetrader". Many of these stories are just plain false, or worse - lies. Others that do succeed, sometimes do so only because of luck, and eventually their luck runs out, and they find another line of work.
There is a simple way to tell if you are a complusive gambler, and therefore a danger to yourself and people around you, and whether to know if you should quit and quit now -
If you are breaking even - are you enjoying it? If so, have at it.
If you are making money, you are doing the wise thing by trading.
(By "making money", I don't mean profitable SOMETIMES - look at your income tax return for the year - did your trading pay off?)
Are you losing money? If you are consistently losing money, and do not take a serious look at stopping the damage now, there is no explanation but you are caught in the delusional state of a compulsive gambler.
The reason why you want the lifestyle of a full-time trader is obvious. You can be your own boss, hang out all day making a fortune at a ridiculously easy job. It eliminates the need to go find a "real job", and the gambling thrill is very seductive.
Even the weakest and most irresponsible "dreams of glory" are milked by the brokers, firms, and vendors who want to sign you up as a customer, continuously making profits for them while you labor away and never quite make those profits.
The reality of the situation is this - real edges are extremely rare, and any that exist are guaranteed to be made extinct at some point (this is the nature of the markets). This is why even some of the "market wizards" went bust eventually. A losing trader wouldn't know a real edge if it was right in front of them, in any case. (They are usually too busy deciphering charts and researching the hundreds of methods out there that do not work)
Most traders fail, and this is not an accident or some random phenomenon. Your basic trading odds are 50/50, and this is made worse by human psychology, which works against you. Add into that commissions (the vig), and it is almost laughable that people think they can make a living daytrading.
Vic Neiderhoffer observed that if you were to flip a coin, winning a dollar if you guessed right, losing a dollar if you guessed wrong, but had to pay 20 cents on every flip (comms), your odds of coming out ahead after 200 flips is less than 1/100,000. Worth betting your financial future on?
You can tell a compulsive gambler pretty easily. They are always "on the verge of success". The problem is always their broker, or the specialist, or the markets aren't what they used to be, or the ECNs are too slow, etc.. etc.. They use others as examples - "well, so and so made $600k last year daytrading - it said so on Elitetrader". Many of these stories are just plain false, or worse - lies. Others that do succeed, sometimes do so only because of luck, and eventually their luck runs out, and they find another line of work.
There is a simple way to tell if you are a complusive gambler, and therefore a danger to yourself and people around you, and whether to know if you should quit and quit now -
If you are breaking even - are you enjoying it? If so, have at it.
If you are making money, you are doing the wise thing by trading.
(By "making money", I don't mean profitable SOMETIMES - look at your income tax return for the year - did your trading pay off?)
Are you losing money? If you are consistently losing money, and do not take a serious look at stopping the damage now, there is no explanation but you are caught in the delusional state of a compulsive gambler.
. It's not HEADS or TAILS. If you believe that, then obviously you shouldn't trade.