so how did you end up becoming a trader?
- Thread starter Batman28
- Start date
I went to an engineering school and for the most part I found engineers to be boring (big surprise there) and without a doubt engineers, as a group, are the most egotistical group of people i have ever met!
If you come up with something outside of their way of thinking its..... DOES NOT COMPUTE! Therefore you must be wrong.
If you come up with something outside of their way of thinking its..... DOES NOT COMPUTE! Therefore you must be wrong.
It's all I've ever wanted to do. My intuition has always been my greatest strength. I think this came as a result of a rocky childhood, which led to me to try to anticipate what people were doing/thinking, so that I could position myself to respond accordingly.
I've always known I was a contrarian because I was never a team player and never very interested in shuffling papers around a desk. When I would sit in a cubicle, I could tell almost to the exact moment when my boss was going to fire me. I got so good at it that the last two jobs from which I was fired, I walked into my boss's office and said, "So, I'm fired, right?" to which he replied, "Yes."
Again, trading is all I ever wanted to do. My trading style gets me stopped out often for small losses, but when I win, I win big - normally for a point or more (often more - I'm a daytrader).
Even still, I feel that I'm a contrarian within my group because my style yeilds less volume than other traders.
Oh well.
I've always known I was a contrarian because I was never a team player and never very interested in shuffling papers around a desk. When I would sit in a cubicle, I could tell almost to the exact moment when my boss was going to fire me. I got so good at it that the last two jobs from which I was fired, I walked into my boss's office and said, "So, I'm fired, right?" to which he replied, "Yes."
Again, trading is all I ever wanted to do. My trading style gets me stopped out often for small losses, but when I win, I win big - normally for a point or more (often more - I'm a daytrader).
Even still, I feel that I'm a contrarian within my group because my style yeilds less volume than other traders.
Oh well.
Most engineers are worse than Dilberts and I don't know why so many here give them so much credit. They're just typical professionals, not very good at much more than their area of study/expertise, and forget anything about creativity. Have yet to meet any engineer I'd describe as a Renaissance Man. (Digression over)
With that being said, how did my trading career get going? I always was a hard working professional for years, and ALWAYS LIVED BELOW MY MEANS while saving vigorously and constantly studying markets and derivatives. I lived well but always prepared for the worse and constantly educated myself along the way. I bought and sold my first stock when I was 18. I traded my first options at 20 and haven't looked back since.
I was let go due to company bankruptcy from my last employer, and after years of working for the man (countless idiot bosses that probably couldn't balance their own checkbooks, let alone manage), I said screw it and turned to trading and investing full time. Haven't looked back, punched a clock nor had to respond ASAP to any bosses e-mails for years now. I manage mainly my own money and some people's that I care about. I have more desire now than ever to live well and invest in the most important thing, myself and my family.
Trading is one of the most liberating things I have ever done. I never went into it strictly for the money, and the thing I enjoy most isn't the money, but the amounts of time it has freed me to do the things I love to do. Probably the most rewarding thing about trading is that I have proven to MYSELF that I CAN DO IT and never, ever have to report to a cubicle or answer to anybody I don't have to ever again. At the end of the day, money is a renewable resource and as of yet nobody has found a way to get back lost time. Money: can always make more, can't take it with you, and you can't cheat the Reaper.
Good Luck and Happy Trading!
With that being said, how did my trading career get going? I always was a hard working professional for years, and ALWAYS LIVED BELOW MY MEANS while saving vigorously and constantly studying markets and derivatives. I lived well but always prepared for the worse and constantly educated myself along the way. I bought and sold my first stock when I was 18. I traded my first options at 20 and haven't looked back since.
I was let go due to company bankruptcy from my last employer, and after years of working for the man (countless idiot bosses that probably couldn't balance their own checkbooks, let alone manage), I said screw it and turned to trading and investing full time. Haven't looked back, punched a clock nor had to respond ASAP to any bosses e-mails for years now. I manage mainly my own money and some people's that I care about. I have more desire now than ever to live well and invest in the most important thing, myself and my family.
Trading is one of the most liberating things I have ever done. I never went into it strictly for the money, and the thing I enjoy most isn't the money, but the amounts of time it has freed me to do the things I love to do. Probably the most rewarding thing about trading is that I have proven to MYSELF that I CAN DO IT and never, ever have to report to a cubicle or answer to anybody I don't have to ever again. At the end of the day, money is a renewable resource and as of yet nobody has found a way to get back lost time. Money: can always make more, can't take it with you, and you can't cheat the Reaper.
Good Luck and Happy Trading!
hehe, crazily, most of that is my same story. Besides the having a job part.
I had been interested since I was late 14 - early 15. I started playing a game called Railroad Tycoon. It was a great game, it was mainly about laying down rails and connecting cities and all about supply/demand. Blah blah blah. Anyways, the game featured a stock market type feature. I had gotten interested in the stock market feature so much, that I made that the focus of the game. I forgot about starting my own railroad company *which you didn't have to*, and I just invested in the other railroads and built up personal capital and then generated huge wealth and took over the good companies.
Kinda stupid, but great game, but even greater was the amount of fun I had with the investing part of the game. Then I played around on online simulators, did fairly well on them, not great. Then my father passed away, things got tough for my family, very tough. Didn't get to follow the markets anymore that much.
I turend 18, opened up an account at Etrade, made my first trade. hehe, I could afford 30 shares of MSFT. I made nearly 40 dollars on that trade *was much less if included commissions*. After I did that...... I knew I was going to be a trader. There was no question. Following that, were hard times, but never once tought about the money, just wanted to learn more and more about the markets.
Went through Forex - failed, went through Futures - huge failure and very costly to me, and now at Equities - finally feel at home.
I'm 19 now.......... what do you know, not a care about the money *although I might have to get a part-time job, not really worried as long as I can still monitor the markets*, but have exposed myself to many markets, and love it.
For the past few months been focusing on the psychology of trading, and has helped me very much.
Its all fine and good to feel this way about yourself and what you COULD accomplish, but these kind of posts are all too familiar here and very few of the posters are here posting 1 year later from when they first started.
I would recommend staying very humble now and, after a year or two of trading almost everyday, you'll have a better idea of where you stand. You see, everyone thinks that they are different and that they are going to make millions. This is a very common thinking, but to succeed in trading, you have think and act very differently from the masses. You'll see this more clearly once you get going at fullspeed.
Good luck
I would recommend staying very humble now and, after a year or two of trading almost everyday, you'll have a better idea of where you stand. You see, everyone thinks that they are different and that they are going to make millions. This is a very common thinking, but to succeed in trading, you have think and act very differently from the masses. You'll see this more clearly once you get going at fullspeed.
Good luck
Quote from Batman28:
u know sometimes its like it was ment to be right.. thats how i see it.
i really feel like im ment to be a great trader and im gona make millions
No surprises here. Every nitwit and imbecile found this thread like flies to a rib roast. None of the legit guys even reply. Have fun with it kiddies.
yeah sure you were Ripley. In between community college and the JuCo? What lies you gonna come up with tomorrow? You can't even make enough to pay your ComEd bill jackass.