Transition to full time trader quitting school and work

[ironchef]

liquid markets have edges too, as long as you're a small fish, you can sneak in and grab some scraps from the big fish. But once you're a big fish, you better be ready to compete with the other big fish.

Thank you for the encouragement.

Been there done that. I found it hard to sneak in when armed only with pencil and paper to calculate my options entry/exit, and even after learned to use Excel to calculate basic Black Scholes, it was futile to trade against folks with PhD in finance, sophisticated volatility models (Heston, CEV, SBAR, GARCH, Chen...), huge cloud computers that could spit out forecasts every millisecond, spotted and exploited small miss prices in an instant, the latest auto trade software....

I think as minnows, we small retail traders are appetizers to the big fish in a liquid market.

 

[HeSaidSheSaid]

why break what is working?I mean part time is working fine.

You miss this?


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[apo99]

Hey guys,

Quick update, I added a bit more money to the account, I had a not so good month in May +2% net. Liquidity is really low on the TSX venture, I used to have a pool of around 350 stocks to trade with I'm down to about 250 now and volume is lower than ever. I have expanded my core strategy to higher prices stocks ($0.75-1$) which is pretty cool and I am still working on a short sided strategy on $1-3 stocks since I can only go long on these micro cap stocks under $0.75. On paper the short strategy is doing well and will hopefully begin executing it in the next 6-8 weeks. Now I need to find a way to get some leverage since everything has to be cash for small cap and mirco cap stocks. If anyone knows of a broker who provides leverage for micro/small cap stocks please let me know.

apo

 

[apo99]

Hey guys,

Almost been 1 year since i last posted in this.

I closed 2017 +35% and got a additional good chunk of cash to trade with.

Unfortunately I am off to a not so great start in 2018. January was by far my best month of all time and February was my worst lol, April and May have just been a struggle especially with volume drying up in the Canadian exchanges during the summer. I am still trying new things all the time and doing my best to stay a float and sane. Even though I have been doing OK for the last 5 years I feel that trading will always be a struggle and a battle everyday it will never be easy.

Anyways there is so much to say but its hard to put down in paper. To next year!

 

[Turveyd]

Yep battle, what works likely only works briefly, then it's a battle to get back on top, then your not on top for long!!

Why I've not went full time, I'm barely part time, doubt I've hit 8 hours this year so far

 

[newwurldmn]

Even though I have been doing OK for the last 5 years I feel that trading will always be a struggle and a battle everyday it will never be easy.

That pretty much sums up the career of a professional trader.

 

[apo99]

Yep battle, what works likely only works briefly, then it's a battle to get back on top, then your not on top for long!!

Why I've not went full time, I'm barely part time, doubt I've hit 8 hours this year so far

I still keep a part time job, helps my trading alot

 

[apo99]

That pretty much sums up the career of a professional trader.

On the good days you feel unstoppable and on the bad the days you question yourself if your doing the right thing and if trading is really for you. Its the change from highs to lows that kill me.

 

[newwurldmn]

On the good days you feel unstoppable and on the bad the days you question yourself if your doing the right thing and if trading is really for you. Its the change from highs to lows that kill me.

It's a tough career and I would not recommend anyone do it as their soul source of income (as a retail trader).

 

[Turveyd]

It's a tough career and I would not recommend anyone do it as their soul source of income (as a retail trader).

But still for most of us here, its the dream lol