Took out a loan to transition to full-time trading. 24 years old.

[HobbyTrading]

But borrowing money to trade? Suggestions anyone?

Don't borrow money. Get yourself a(n additional) job to generate more income. And reduce your spending, thus resulting in more savings. Start trading once you have accumulated enough savings, and be prepared to lose it all.

 

[insomniactrader]

Copy that LacesOut Actually Fan27 also has a good point re programming. I may create and license a program via e.g. Quantopian. There's more than one way to stay involved with some aspect of trading. I just have to suppress procrastination and do it.

 

[insomniactrader]

Don't borrow money. Get yourself a(n additional) job to generate more income. And reduce your spending, thus resulting in more savings. Start trading once you have accumulated enough savings, and be prepared to lose it all.

Man I sure don't like the last part of your last sentence HobbyT.

 

[HobbyTrading]

Man I sure don't like the last part of your last sentence HobbyT.

I'm simply trying to suppress over-enthusiasm, if any of it is still remaining.

 

[murray t turtle]

Hi guys - in need of your opinions.

I'm thinking about quitting my current job soon and trade full-time. I'm 24, been working for 1.5 years at a finance firm, and make little under 60k per year. Right now I have $9000 and I just took out a loan of $11000 from lendingclub which is going to be deposited into my bank account in less than 4 business days (26% APR). My current plan is trade safe until I get to $30000 then start day-trading. I don't have experience daytrading with real money due to lack of capital but I think I'll be able to make make consistent returns while cutting my losses short.

The reason I think i have a talent in trading is (haha..) my experience from virtual trading. Using $100,000 account with 2x margin ($200,000 buying power) I was able to consistently make at least 2% returns a day while keeping my losses to 1% a day. I participated in virtual stock competitions and finished first places. I developed my own trading style and later found out it was a mix of what people refer to as momentum trading and technical trading.

I've also traded during college and used the profits to pay for rent, phone bills, living expenses, etc. Please note I had about $5000 at the time and I was able to make $1000 (~10% return a month due to leverage) in most months. This was under PDT restrictions. Due to the stupid PDT rule once I went under for a month and because I was paying bills, in the long run I lost money. But every year it's always positive a couple thousand, then slowly sliding down to end the year in the red after that "one month" of negative returns.

I told one friend about my loan and while all he said was "I think that's too risky. Well, you might get lucky but don't do it again", his initial expression was "WTF is he crazy?".

I understand what I'm doing is extremely risky, but I always thought I had a talent for trading and it came off as easy to make at a percent a day. I also never keep my trades overnight. Any thoughts on my stupidity?

Should have asked for people's opinions before taking out my loan, but the dice is thrown...

%% Well, Ok ;
just because many borrow for education. Leverage is worst way to learn, but most value an expensive education so OK.[LOL] Its like medical science/+[Edit note- not all borrow to get a medical education and did you read what you wrote?? '' in the long run lost it. [money... but end of year lost it'' WA 27,You may have a talent for trading ,congrats but double check you writing. Close price is real important, day, week mo, year; hi + low can hint.....]

 

[Humpy]

Day fin.
- 4x%
so let down dont even want to calculate or update the title of my youtube videos. wifi-trouble all morning, and completely wrong chart analysis. I hate to admit but everyone that's been criticizing me was right... im going to take a break and also do some virtual trading to get my game back. currently i'm horrible at cutting losses and i trade way too big..
Well, it was fun while it lasted. Until we meet again! Adios.

Last post by wabu OP Oct 3rd.
Let's hope he is being sensible now and saving up for another try ??

 

[eaglefeather]

I do have to advocate for the lad in a sense, you can't honestly build up enough savings in this day and age to do it right IMO (at least for most people). If you are working class, you are in a system gamed against you as far as living expenses on the rise and so forth. On the counter weight, I would say his interest rates are really high and undo-able. If you can secure funding at around 4 1/2 percent interest or below APR, I would say that is do-able, and have fun doing it.
Another factor is the time and losses it takes to really prototype a trading system. I recommend Mark Douglas' presentations on the matter. I'm in the same boat myself honestly.

 

[Humpy]

Some will give up and some keep going on free demo programmes.
I would definitely advise against borrowing to trade before profits are consistant.

 

[SunTrader]

I would definitely advise against borrowing to trade PERIOD.

 

[ironchef]

I do have to advocate for the lad in a sense, you can't honestly build up enough savings in this day and age to do it right IMO (at least for most people). If you are working class, you are in a system gamed against you as far as living expenses on the rise and so forth. On the counter weight, I would say his interest rates are really high and undo-able. If you can secure funding at around 4 1/2 percent interest or below APR, I would say that is do-able, and have fun doing it.
Another factor is the time and losses it takes to really prototype a trading system. I recommend Mark Douglas' presentations on the matter. I'm in the same boat myself honestly.

For us ordinary folks, rather than taking out a loan to trade, it is better to save then trade. Yes, it is difficult but trading is hard enough, having a loan hanging over your head makes it impossibly hard.

Best wishes.