I started with 25k (to trade with) and had enough income saved up to live (very) frugally on for a few years at most. My wife (g-friend at the time) was making a nice living so that helped on the relationship front.
I started trading VERY SMALL and that was after spending months doing nothing but watching. I basically treaded water for 2 years; I could have EASILY blown up multiple times but I really didn't try and push it before I was ready. 10 lots back then would have scared the absolute piss out of me, back when I was, I guess, in hobby mode like you are now.
Like with most everything else, you spend enough quality time doing something, you gain a better fundamental understanding of it and, from that, comes the ability and confidence to trust that your developing skills are working. From there, the size of my trades increased as did the precision of my entry and exit points. All trial and error of course, but all the while sorting through trades that worked vs ones that didn't and finding correlations that I could separate out and quantify. Again, more precision and work and, eventually, I had a concrete and precise system that I trusted and could follow without hesitation.
Also, I've already had several other ET'ers read this story (when I posted to you last time on this subject) and comment that their experiences mirrored mine and so that should lend some credence to the fact that my story is not that unique, others out there have been able to have success by taking the slow and steady approach.
PS I have 2 other fellow trader friends that never come here to ET yet they are very good short term traders so you should know that others exist out there beyond the people you see posting here.
Quote from marketsurfer:
what I was trying to get across is I have seen and experienced many things in the market over multiple years first hand.
What I have NEVER seen is evidence of someone making a decent living trading in the manner you claim you trade-----there has always been a caveat where the money actually comes from or family wealth or subsistence eeking out a living then failing or making money as a vendor.
Let's make sure I am understanding, ok. You started with 20k, have no other sources of income whatsoever, and now make a decent living purely from trading using Technical Analysis in the manner you described earlier--- riding gyrations--- you consider 10 contracts to be small time, you don't trade with a prop firm therefore only have access to retail leverage.
is this correct?
thanks,
surf