Transition to full time trader quitting school and work

[qxr1011]

My biggest fear is that one day the market or the way these small cap stocks are priced will dramatically change and I won’t be able trade the way I do and will never be able to stay consistently profitable.

well, then you will work around the problem...

at the beginning one should trust his instincts, time will come and you will trust your intuition

but if one is too fearful about the failure , one should stay at the quiet, salary paying job...

It is impossible to make an omelet with out breaking the eggs - Napoleon

 

[Simples]

Hey guys

First post, so here goes!

I just want to introduce myself to everyone beforehand. I am a 25 year old finance student


For the last 5 years I have been consistently trading small cap stocks between (0.25-3$) I have had only 3 losing months out of the past 60 months and average around 42-57% a year. My system also allowed me to trade while in class and at work and also allowed me to monitor my positions from my cell phone and PC at work I only work about 20-25hrs a week part time and I am allowed to trade at work.

I started trading with about 7-8k in 2011 and now I’m at 200k with some money I added as well. I am able to net close to 100k a year trading and another 25-30k working part time.

My biggest fear is that one day the market or the way these small cap stocks are priced will dramatically change and I won’t be able trade the way I do and will never be able to stay consistently profitable. I have recently stopped going to school and have switched to working only part time so I can focus on trading. How have you guys gotten over the fear of losing your edge or not being able to trade profitably. I don’t want to be a 35yrld trader who loses his edge or blows out and then becomes unemployable or has no other skills.

I also don’t use a technical system, just price action and volume and reading the bid/ask. I feel like my small cap system is more of an art form than anything else. If you approach trading with a purely mechanical system I think you will get cut down after some time. My dream is to become a full time trader in the next 3-4 years and would greatly appreciate if you guys can tell me how you transitioned into full time traders and what were some of the challenges you guys faced?

Cheers

I hope you can take good advice offered in this thread. Most people can't live on trading from own funds. Professional traders usually live off others' funds and risks, and that is a game in itself of which retailers know very little.

There's a real risk that if you go full-time, you won't make the transition. As you've probably discovered, trading more doesn't necessarily equate to more profits, rather the contrary. Also, if you rely on some mechanics in the market place, these things tend to change over time, especially if there's no sound reason for them to be there. Then there's the emotional baggage if you rely on living on trading profits, withdrawing living expenses from trading account = not good.

So if you're currently making it, welcome to the rest of your life! What do you want to do with it, stay uneducated? Or play with life, see where it can take you, while not betting all on just one stallion, but diversifying?

Wtf is so glorious about being full-time trader anyways? It's a shitty life sitting glued in front of a screen frantically clicking, very very stressful. So doing it part-time is actually a safer bet. However, only you can conclude, since it's your life and depends on what you enjoy and find meaningful.

Kudos for staying green for so many trades and years though.

 

[apo99]

You obviously have a gift, be careful of what happens next. I started with a gift, in keeping my distance became was very successful, being nice I unknowingly listened/subjected myself to IYIs (Intellectuals Yet Idiots), it caused an implosion, and had to do it all again. Fortunately I had a backstop of what I did before the IYIs which stopped the rot, my recommendation, avoid the IYIs like the plague and stop at the second point, it's a less drama filled life. Hope it all goes well.

Thx Birzos,

Thankfully i don't think i have many "IYIs" in my life since only some close friends know about my trading.

 

[apo99]

well, then you will work around the problem...

at the beginning one should trust his instincts, time will come and you will trust your intuition

but if one is too fearful about the failure , one should stay at the quiet, salary paying job...

It is impossible to make an omelet with out breaking the eggs - Napoleon

Im always fearful or better yet overly cautious, about everything, but i guess you can say that helps in regards to trading.

 

[apo99]

I hope you can take good advice offered in this thread. Most people can't live on trading from own funds. Professional traders usually live off others' funds and risks, and that is a game in itself of which retailers know very little.

There's a real risk that if you go full-time, you won't make the transition. As you've probably discovered, trading more doesn't necessarily equate to more profits, rather the contrary. Also, if you rely on some mechanics in the market place, these things tend to change over time, especially if there's no sound reason for them to be there. Then there's the emotional baggage if you rely on living on trading profits, withdrawing living expenses from trading account = not good.

So if you're currently making it, welcome to the rest of your life! What do you want to do with it, stay uneducated? Or play with life, see where it can take you, while not betting all on just one stallion, but diversifying?

Wtf is so glorious about being full-time trader anyways? It's a shitty life sitting glued in front of a screen frantically clicking, very very stressful. So doing it part-time is actually a safer bet. However, only you can conclude, since it's your life and depends on what you enjoy and find meaningful.

Kudos for staying green for so many trades and years though.

Thx simples

I try and reinvest close to 70% of my trading profits, i like trading and i don't really have to be glued to the screen, im always able to take some time off to go fishing, the gym, or play some golf as long as I have my phone or my I pad with me

 

[Handle123]

This is why im considering still finishing school since im 90% done, might as well finish it. Trying to work on other systems but i cant seen to branch out to other things since they trade so differently. Thanks for the advice

This is where your lack of years in trading puts you behind a little. A good system should be able to trade on one minute bars or weekly bars. My main ES one minute system is one of the systems I use on daily/weekly stock system. If you have developed something that only works on one system, that might turn dicey cause most systems have drawdowns of some degree, some only a few trades and others several months to a years. I have charted sim trades not knowing what I was trading in past to see if something is robust AND if money management rules are working.

Just take years to be able to see one day nothing trades really that differently.

 

[apo99]

This is where your lack of years in trading puts you behind a little. A good system should be able to trade on one minute bars or weekly bars. My main ES one minute system is one of the systems I use on daily/weekly stock system. If you have developed something that only works on one system, that might turn dicey cause most systems have drawdowns of some degree, some only a few trades and others several months to a years. I have charted sim trades not knowing what I was trading in past to see if something is robust AND if money management rules are working.

Just take years to be able to see one day nothing trades really that differently.

I hope your right then, my worry is that the market will drastically change, and make it almost impossible for retail traders in the futures.

 

[algofy]

I hope your right then, my worry is that the market will drastically change, and make it almost impossible for retail traders in the futures.

I think it depends on what your edge is. I know you are trading low priced equities, is there some mis-pricing inefficiency that you are taking advantage of in order to get such good statistics. If so, sure this loophole could and likely will close. Are you doing something else like shorting pump and dump stuff after exhaustive run ups, that is more trader behavior related and likely not to change much over time, greed/fear and the like.

 

[apo99]

I think it depends on what your edge is. I know you are trading low priced equities, is there some mis-pricing inefficiency that you are taking advantage of in order to get such good statistics. If so, sure this loophole could and likely will close. Are you doing something else like shorting pump and dump stuff after exhaustive run ups, that is more trader behavior related and likely not to change much over time, greed/fear and the like.

No nothing like that, pretty much a boring momentum strategy, i just stuck by it for 2 years at the beginning and spending countless hours tweaking it and learning the individual characteristics of about 30 stocks. Like i said its more of an art from than a science. I just find that if you work hard enough and put the time into it you can make it. Few people are ever willing to work hard or long enough at a anything in life.

 

[Gotcha]

A good system should be able to trade on one minute bars or weekly bars. My main ES one minute system is one of the systems I use on daily/weekly stock system.

More bullshit. When will you get around to showing some proof for all these claims? You already said that your risk per trade for day trading is usually much higher than your profit, but that your win rate is very high. So since you use the same system, does this also mean that for weekly bars, your risk is much higher than your reward? Is this what I'm to believe your swing trading system does? Other times you say you take lots of losses along the way until you finally get into a trade that hits the home run... so which is it?

Jesus Handle123, the way you talk, you have a system that gets you 1 tick profit, 2 ticks profit, 3 ticks profit, 1 point, 2 points, 10 points. You have a bloody system for everything. You say you are 99% automated, and then you say you've come up with a system trading from your hospital room. The only people who believe you at this point and like your posts are the newbies that come on here who are lost. All your claims sounds wonderful, but anyone can say anything about the system they designed. My system hunts down your trades and fucks with them. Beat that! You know how you say sometimes you lose an entire months worth of profits from averaging into your positions, that is me going against you.