Something not often mentioned

[themickey]

Quote from BSAM:

HUH???

Yeah.. what was all that?

Anyhow back to topic, Futures trading does not appear it will ever be an 8 hour job, it consumes more than that. I'm fortunate in that I work full time and my trading is but a hobby, I would like to have thought I could go full time trading, however doubt it very much, the risk, uncertainty and watching my system around the clock would turn me from an introvert into a super duper introvert and I don't wish that.

I enjoy the trading hobby, but I think for me that's all it will ever be.

I have a friend who is a Geologist and he has spent many years coding futures, (about 10 I think) has never pulled the trigger.
He has some radical new ideas in his approach to predicting the next day, however I disagree with his methods as I believe reaction is better than prediction.

 

[bighog]

Quote from bighog:

A hobby is just a hobby, a business is just a business. Worlds apart for sure. What you fail to comprehend is that trading is like any other professional path taken to produce an income. Their are professional dues to be paid before you reach the promised land. How many lawyers become decent trail lawyers compared to those just filing papers at the county clerks office knowing it will be settled out of court for some chicken feed amount?

About the 8 hour job which you have concluded is beyond your reach. Guess who in general trades LESS than 8 whole hours a day. Give up? I will be kind enough to tell you who. The winners, that is who, they got past the hobby stage and paid the dues in time/effort and graduated to the BIG LEAGUES. Winning day traders do NOT spend hours and hours watching a screen after they find what works FOR THEM as an individual.

Typical time spent entering and exiting orders on a daily basis: From 0930 est to about 1400 unless a fed report is coming out or I am casually watching for an afternoon reversal signal like a "DC" in ES. A DC (double cross) is a reversal where price recrosses the 20 and the previous trend.........look for a basing first and never forget the 1-2-3. Casual glances at a screen (4 toys actually) is all that is needed to glean for a prospective upcoming event. The difficult part of trading is in the beginning, then it gets SIMPLE. Simple is as simple does. PS: Many "DC" signals come out of the blue and those are usually the ones that run for a solid 10 handles if not completely reversing the ENTIRE early trend of the day.

 

[cornix]

Quote from wrbtrader:

Most folks don't understand that becoming a retail trader is essentially starting their own business without knowing or ignoring the fact that most businesses do fail. Just important, most underestimate the time required in the beginning, underestimate the costs involved and underestimated that the income level will be losing or breakeven at best in the early years.

This is not per se a trader issue...its just a typical entrepreneur issue involving folks that decide to work for themselves via starting their own business.

Most are just ill prepare to be an entrepreneur.

Treat your trading like a business...not a hobby.

P.S. I'm not saying successful business owners will make the best traders. I'm saying that successful business owners will be better prepared to become a retail trader in comparison to the typical retail trader dreamer.

So true. There's nothing wrong with trading, but there's much wrong with expectations most wannabe traders have.

 

[NoDoji]

Quote from bighog:

A DC (double cross) is a reversal where price recrosses the 20 and the previous trend.........look for a basing first and never forget the 1-2-3. Casual glances at a screen (4 toys actually) is all that is needed to glean for a prospective upcoming event. The difficult part of trading is in the beginning, then it gets SIMPLE. Simple is as simple does. PS: Many "DC" signals come out of the blue and those are usually the ones that run for a solid 10 handles if not completely reversing the ENTIRE early trend of the day.

Same here, and thanks to you I learned to distill and simplify.

I look for two setups and trade them aggressively. The RTH session is 6.5 hours at most and there's no commute time involved.

So what's not to love?

 

[cornix]

Quote from NoDoji:

Same here, and thanks to you I learned to distill and simplify.

I look for two setups and trade them aggressively. The RTH session is 6.5 hours at most and there's no commute time involved.

So what's not to love?

Now, going further, 6.5 hours is too much! 3 first hours usually enough.

It takes years to learn BEFORE and gets simple after, Bighog is absolutely right about it.