there is no career in trading - quote

E

edward22245

I have the following quote written down in my memo app. I think I saw it from a book or a podcast. Does anyone know who said this and in what context?


"
There is no career in trading
You are only as good as your last trade and that’s it. You build nothing and you just trade. The day you stop trading it’s gone. So what you have been doing for x hours every working day of your life has just ended. And there is nothing left to show for it except for money. You have to keep trading because you don’t want to stop and look back because what have you done you have build nothing achieved nothing. You get to the end of it and look back and wonder what have I accomplished
"

What do people think about this quote? Even if I become and remain a consistently profitable trader, will I have acheived nothing?
 
i agree with this quote and that's why I left wall street. Trading is a horrible career in my opinion. It's better suited as an activity or a hobby.

The same is true with consulting and investment banking.

While I still trade on the side, my day job employees 300 people and produces goods which are valued by the customers we serve. (you know you are valuable, when you can tell a customer that we don't make enough profit on a part and they agree to raise the price so you can earn a decent living).
 
edward22245 said:
I have the following quote written down in my memo app. I think I saw it from a book or a podcast. Does anyone know who said this and in what context?


"
There is no career in trading
You are only as good as your last trade and that’s it. You build nothing and you just trade. The day you stop trading it’s gone. So what you have been doing for x hours every working day of your life has just ended. And there is nothing left to show for it except for money. You have to keep trading because you don’t want to stop and look back because what have you done you have build nothing achieved nothing. You get to the end of it and look back and wonder what have I accomplished
"

What do people think about this quote? Even if I become and remain a consistently profitable trader, will I have acheived nothing?
More...

There is a +50 page old thread from many years ago buried here at ET about the same sentiment and I myself posted a few messages in that thread as I will in this thread about the same thing.

Let us assume the writer is talking about professional traders working on Wall Street or working in other financial district like London...you know the suit and tie guys that have a monthly salary with benefits.

Trading for those people is a job that pays their bills, money into a retirement plan, paid vacation, pays for the kids college education, and so on...just like any other job (e.g. bank clerk, tax accountant, ski wax shop et cetera) although not as exciting as the movie series Billions. :D

If the writer is talking about a retail trader, most retail traders have a job while they're trying to become a trader (hobby or testing another career)...an hourly or salary job that typically has similar benefits (medical/dental, vacation pay, sick pay, pension et cetera).
  • Yet, a few retail traders are doing it in hopes it will replace whatever job they have that they no longer like.
A very low percentage of these retail traders will make it...trade for a living but there are a few smart ones that do both because the two do not conflict with each other.

As an example of the latter above...a retail trader trades a market in another time zone while keeping his/her other job in the current time zone. Essentially it's like having two jobs and one of the jobs guarantees the bills get paid.

Like any other job, people get tired of it because they don't visualize it as worthwhile, they think there's no advancement, not satisfying in comparison to someone doing something that feels like you're helping mankind.

The Pandemic caused many people in thousands of occupations after they question what they were doing for income. Many have packed their bags and changed occupations to something else more rewarding or more income. Some have even gone back to college to get a new degree as in to start all over again.

The above statements are for those that view their trading as a job.
  • In contrast, most retail traders view trading as a hobby, 2nd or 3rd source of income but nothing more than that.
To give an example of someone working two jobs and why...

A neighbor said her tax accountant now works the weekends at the local grocery store as a shelf stocker of foods. The way the economy is going with inflation, rising gas prices, rising grocery store prices, and increasing interest rates... it's a good guess that many traders will soon have the same sentiment as that writer or as the tax accountant of my neighbor.

Personally, I think this type of economy is the worst time for someone that has yet make it to trade for a living as a retail trader...too much stress and rising costs for trading.

I said this many times a few years ago...trading will soon become a job or hobby for those that are wealthy and really don't need trading to continue whatever lifestyle that they want to maintain especially those that were not able to understand nor take advantage of 2020 during the economic shutdowns of the Pandemic that started it all. Yet, some blame China and now blame Russia. :D

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-ta...unities-for-advancement-feeling-disrespected/

https://hbr.org/2022/03/the-great-resignation-didnt-start-with-the-pandemic

https://abcnews.go.com/US/great-resignation-origins-means-future-business/story?id=84222583

wrbtrader
 
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I completely disagree, probably also because I have a different view on trading, also when it comes to style or method.

IMHO, you can only make consisten money in this business in two ways:
- you provide liquidity which also can be viewed as closing the gap between natural buyer and seller
- you get paid a premium for risks other people do not want to take.

And these two in itself are incredibly valuable services since our entire society is build around these two principles.

That's why banks are so crucial, because they make capital available by scraping together many small borrows from retail and other banks to provide loans to businesses and real estate owners. They provide liquidity and capture the spread.

That's why insurance business is so crucial because they take on the risk you don't want to take and receive a premium for it.

Would you be able to buy a house without a bank? Run a business without loans, lease a car, hell even get a mobile phone without a payment plan? What about health insurance, car insurance, liability protection? No, you would pay rent and when your kid does something dumb, you're bankrupt.

I am the guy who makes it possible for other people to bet on direction, to fill up their retirement savings plan, to liquidate their positions when they need cash or have a margin call.

Where would the western world be today without traders like Mark Rich who literally created the spot oil market. You'd probably pay 60$ per gallon if there even was enough oil in the first place.

Empires have been created by war and by trade. And for the most part, most wars were fought to access trade. So how can you say that you create and accomplish nothing after you looked at it from this perspective?


Trading financial products is just like any other merchant business out there. You buy shirts at wholesale and sell it at retail, you make t-shirts available to everybody in your area and whenever your shop is open, people can just chime in to get a t-shirt. Your inventory is your risk and the more volume you do the more often you capture the spread.


It's because people tinker too much with systems that try to predict the outcome, they think too much about what is going to happen in the future. I don't care about that and nobody else should. Look where the margins are, where the risk is the lowest for the potential return and how to take the other side of the dominant flow.

When everyone wants to sell tech, well figure out how to buy tech and get paid, when people do covered calls I'll be buying those calls and spread off my risk. Buy and sell back to back, because people want to do business. And if that's not a service, I don't know what is.
 
wrbtrader said:
There is a +50 page old thread from many years ago buried here at ET about the same sentiment and I myself posted a few messages in that thread as I will in this thread about the same thing.

Let us assume the writer is talking about professional traders working on Wall Street or working in other financial district like London...you know the suit and tie guys that have a monthly salary with benefits.

Trading for those people is a job that pays their bills, money into a retirement plan, paid vacation, pays for the kids college education, and so on...just like any other job (e.g. bank clerk, tax accountant, ski wax shop et cetera) although not as exciting as the movie series Billions. :D

If the writer is talking about a retail trader, most retail traders have a job while they're trying to become a trader (hobby or testing another career)...an hourly or salary job that typically has similar benefits (medical/dental, vacation pay, sick pay, pension et cetera).
  • Yet, a few retail traders are doing it in hopes it will replace whatever job they have that they no longer like.
A very low percentage of these retail traders will make it...trade for a living but there are a few smart ones that do both because the two do not conflict with each other.

As an example of the latter above...a retail trader trades a market in another time zone while keeping his/her other job in the current time zone. Essentially it's like having two jobs and one of the jobs guarantees the bills get paid.

Like any other job, people get tired of it because they don't visualize it as worthwhile, they think there's no advancement, not satisfying in comparison to someone doing something that feels like you're helping mankind.

The Pandemic caused many people in thousands of occupations after they question what they were doing for income. Many have packed their bags and changed occupations to something else more rewarding or more income. Some have even gone back to college to get a new degree as in to start all over again.

The above statements are for those that view their trading as a job.
  • In contrast, most retail traders view trading as a hobby, 2nd or 3rd source of income but nothing more than that.
To give an example of someone working two jobs and why...

A neighbor said her tax accountant now works the weekends at the local grocery store as a shelf stocker of foods. The way the economy is going with inflation, rising gas prices, rising grocery store prices, and increasing interest rates... it's a good guess that many traders will soon have the same sentiment as that writer or as the tax accountant of my neighbor.

Personally, I think this type of economy is the worst time for someone that has yet make it to trade for a living as a retail trader...too much stress and rising costs for trading.

I said this many times a few years ago...trading will soon become a job or hobby for those that are wealthy and really don't need trading to continue whatever lifestyle that they want to maintain especially those that were not able to understand nor take advantage of 2020 during the economic shutdowns of the Pandemic that started it all. Yet, some blame China and now blame Russia. :D

https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-ta...unities-for-advancement-feeling-disrespected/

https://hbr.org/2022/03/the-great-resignation-didnt-start-with-the-pandemic

https://abcnews.go.com/US/great-resignation-origins-means-future-business/story?id=84222583

wrbtrader
More...
The tax accountant should see www.reditt.com/r/overemployed and get a second job as an accountant. Mostly programmers doing it from home but other occupations as well.
 
edward22245 said:
There is no career in trading
You are only as good as your last trade and that’s it.
More...
Agree.
This is one of the reasons trading get you in a strange state of mind...
You don't build anything, it's feal, for me, strange..
 
ZBZB said:
The tax accountant should see www.reditt.com/r/overemployed and get a second job as an accountant. Mostly programmers doing it from home but other occupations as well.
More...

My point...he's looking for another career not related still as an accountant as a 2nd job.

I read some years ago that when people have 2 or 3 jobs...the jobs are not related. Instead, they are jobs as a convenience.

Another example is my daughter's volleyball coach (a paid position) is a 2nd job but her primary job as a head nurse on the night shift at a nearby hospital.

Then there's the classic example not often discussed enough...how many students are in college (being a student is a job in itself) and working a job on the side that's not related to what they're studying in college ?

Answer: Most are not working a job related to their studies in college. This is where the seed is planted for people working more than one job and the jobs have nothing in common except for "money" (getting paid).

wrbtrader
 
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edward22245 said:
There is no career in trading
You are only as good as your last trade and that’s it. You build nothing and you just trade. The day you stop trading it’s gone. So what you have been doing for x hours every working day of your life has just ended. And there is nothing left to show for it except for money. You have to keep trading because you don’t want to stop and look back because what have you done you have build nothing achieved nothing. You get to the end of it and look back and wonder what have I accomplished
More...

What is the definition of "building" something? If it's literally, physically building something then most careers build nothing, only a small % of people work in construction.

In reality, pretty much no successful traders "Just Trade". They have to build a system, build their skill, build their model of the market. This isn't gone when you stop trading.

If building means contributing to society, well, if you have an "active" income (with a few exceptions) you are by definition contributing to society. Every voluntary transaction results in both parties being better off, and the same applies in trading.

Besides that, the main purpose of any career or job is having an income. With an income, people build their life. Support a family, support other businesses with their consumption, etc. Why does that not count as building and achieving something?
 
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