Trading for a living....full time....only income
- Thread starter catcando
- Start date
I see that alot of part timers have been putting in their 2 cents worth.... I believe this tells you something about the difficulty of trading as a sole source of income.... Can we please stick to the topic at hand have the full timers chime in.. If there are any out there..
Hey, nitro and I are the full timers.
Just thought this was a friendly board.Quite friendly. It is easy too. You just have to understand the feel of the waves. Then go surf them. Gotta have fun.
Yup, these two are full timers. But there is no reason not to appreciate the input of the part timers as well. They make their doubts and apprehensions as well as their confidences and enthusiasm interesting stuff to ponder.
I find it all worth considering for those interested in this particular thread.
I know it was an easy decision for me to go from being a retail broker (which I hated so much that digging ditches would have improved my mental state) to a full time trader. I had an advantage because I was on a decent salary right away. I don't know how I would have handled the change in todays environment. Of course daytrading as it is now did not exist when I made the change (1988). I went to work on the CBOE, and my career just evolved to "daytrading"...if that is really what to call what I do....I am not typical of daytraders, but that is irrelevant.
I am empathetic to those who are now considering daytrading as an alternative career. It is a tough choice. It is a difficult thing to achieve success in. It takes more time than most are aware of. It can't be rushed, and there are no shortcuts I know of. It is learnable, but the process is one of a lot of learning through one's failures. This is so unfortunate. Those who need to feel success are not given the opportunity (unless they get very lucky).
The lucky beginners don't learn from their early success. So when their luck runs out, they are behind the curve as to where they should be.
My advice to those who are uncertain is....if you are not sure, or not financially secure enough to weather 2 years of not making money, then stay part time until you are 100% comfortable in your trading abilities, and/or your finances.
The exception of course is the young guys (or gals) with no real financial responsibilities. When I was right out of college, I worked for peanuts and had a great time. Too bad daytrading didn't exist for me then. But on the other hand, maybe I would have washed out and never given it another try. Fate takes you where you least expect it sometimes. I was supposed to be a movie director/screenwriter. Tell me how I came to be a business owner, a stockbroker and a trader with that educational backround!?!?!
I usually take 1 week off a year and maybe 2 additional days at some point. When you have open positions, you still have to use your palm pilot to get quotes every half hour when on vacation.
Since I started the MWY here, I figure I'll finish it off. I sold it all today at 4.85 avg for about 35k in gains. Good luck to all that are still long.