The Truth about Daytrading Futures..
- Thread starter Trend Fader
- Start date
by the way..I find that some of you still think of trading as your ordinary job(100k per year). I think this sort of mentality is what's limiting most people's results and their motivation to trade.
trader A makes 1 million in 5 years. He makes 1 million in his first year and for the other 4 years.
trader B makes 120k each year, 10k each month, 500 every day, day in day out, nobody is more consistent..
and in 5 years , he "only" makes 600k.
who is better off? A is obviously better off at the end but which trader would u WANT to be??
I would guess most people would choose B EVEN if B make less money. This is exactly the kind of psychological problem that surface when you view trading from "100k per year" perspective.
from a lifestyle/self-estemm perspective, the "k per year" mentality is of course very important to some people. You get to tell other how good you are at trading, how you don't have any losing week. How consistent you are..blah blah blah..
But if you treat trading seriously, none of that crap should come into consideration in your trading. The only thing that matters should be your long-term mathematical expectation.
If anybody comes into the trading arena and is SATISFIED WITH ONLY 100k per year , then I suggest he find something else to do. He is not the risk-taker he think he is. That self-limiting belief is not going to take him anywhere.
trader A makes 1 million in 5 years. He makes 1 million in his first year and for the other 4 years.
trader B makes 120k each year, 10k each month, 500 every day, day in day out, nobody is more consistent..
and in 5 years , he "only" makes 600k.
who is better off? A is obviously better off at the end but which trader would u WANT to be??
I would guess most people would choose B EVEN if B make less money. This is exactly the kind of psychological problem that surface when you view trading from "100k per year" perspective.
from a lifestyle/self-estemm perspective, the "k per year" mentality is of course very important to some people. You get to tell other how good you are at trading, how you don't have any losing week. How consistent you are..blah blah blah..
But if you treat trading seriously, none of that crap should come into consideration in your trading. The only thing that matters should be your long-term mathematical expectation.
If anybody comes into the trading arena and is SATISFIED WITH ONLY 100k per year , then I suggest he find something else to do. He is not the risk-taker he think he is. That self-limiting belief is not going to take him anywhere.
oops..the example doesn't make sense because I forgot to put in a few words.
trader A makes 1 million in 5 years. He makes 1 million in his first year and BREAKS EVEN for the other 4 years .
trader B makes 120k each year, 10k each month, 500 every day, day in day out, nobody is more consistent..
and in 5 years , he "only" makes 600k.
I do not think this mentality works at all for trading. With all the potential for flat periods and drawdowns in trading, you have to push the envelope when things are working well. I don't think any trader should limit his profits by some form of "curbs in place" mentality. If a traders strategies are working well and his income and account size are growing, then I think this person needs to move up their trade size proportional to the increase in their account. Trade size or volume should be dynamic in relation to the traders account size. No one should say, "hey, I'm at $10,000 a month and I better hold my trading here for the rest of the year". This does not make sense to me with all the variables involved with trading.
Gotta push it to keep the edge, and you can always get better
Gotta push it to keep the edge, and you can always get better
Quote from AMT4SWA:
I do not think this mentality works at all for trading. With all the potential for flat periods and drawdowns in trading, you have to push the envelope when things are working well. I don't think any trader should limit his profits by some form of "curbs in place" mentality. If a traders strategies are working well and his income and account size are growing, then I think this person needs to move up their trade size proportional to the increase in their account. Trade size or volume should be dynamic in relation to the traders account size. No one should say, "hey, I'm at $10,000 a month and I better hold my trading here for the rest of the year". This does not make sense to me with all the variables involved with trading.
Gotta push it to keep the edge, and you can always get better
That depends entirely on whether or not he's objective enough and disciplined enough to avoid the pitfalls of over-confidence. What you're prescribing is exactly what causes so many traders to give so much back.
"Every single day" .... Yes I would agree. There are down days and occasional down weeks and a rarer down month. However, as stated by some other folks, good traders typically make profits to cover their monthly salary draw / sweep against their trading accounts - for the talented traders this draw is usually much better than any typical professional salaried job. Like any other high paying job IMHO you cant walk in off the street and be an instant success if you have no exposure to the business: there is a learning curve.
Trading should not be thought of as an alternative to getting a weekly paycheck from a salaried job. Over the course of a year you may draw variable amounts on a monthly basis from your trading accounts. Morover some days and even months can be better spent at the beach or on an extended vacation - depending upon your trading style and markets traded.
I have never yet met a trader that never had a down day or an elected inactive day due to market conditions - and I have been in the business either directly or peripherally for many years.