Unsuccessful trading with full-time job

Quote from jl1575:

http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?threadid=280146

Check out this link above. This guy started with $5000 to reached $52000 last year by swing/position play on options. Even though he didn’t post the whole year’s plays, but I tend to trust him as he is not out there to solicit anything, but just to show how a winning strategy/system can do.
By swing/position play, you don’t have to stare at the screen and watch the market all day long like those full time traders; by option play especially using vertical spread or other similar strategy, you effectively limit your risk as the max risk is in place, so you don’t have to be too nervous or anxious. Finally you don’t need big capital as he started with only $5000.
I believe he is going to have another fabulous return this year and his performance beats a lot of so called guru at ET here (1000% return in a year). I bet he has a very simple yet effective strategy.

Thanks! I'll keep an eye on that thread. Swing trading has always been difficult for me.
 
Quote from dbphoenix:

This is a perfect example of why so many on forums like this fail, chasing after mirages over greener grass. You have no evidence whatsoever that any of this is true. But even if it were, it would be irrelevant. The OP needs to pursue his own studies, formulate his own hypotheses, develop his own trading strategy. What anyone else does or doesn't do has absolutely nothing to do with his success or failure. Whether or not he succeeds is entirely up to him. Pursuing leprechauns in hopes of getting that pot of gold just isn't going to do it, no matter how legit the leprechaun appears to be.

I understand your concern, however, I haven't been studying trading in my free time to follow leprechauns. I intend to study and find my own "plan" as you say, however, at least the link above provides a good source to ask questions and learn from.
 
Quote from jl1575:

This is an extraordinary example of success (lets say it is true for a moment, because nobody could validate except himself), and probably most of people would fail to reach this kind of level of return even after 5, 10 or 20 years of trading. I pointed this out because this story is relevant in a couple points to the OP problems: can't watch/trade market full time, small capital.
I cited this because I wanted to show the OP that there is very successful example out there that full time trading is not required.
Of course, everyone has to try his best and find his own way to a wining system, but the guy in the link probably found out his system quite different from a lot of banal preaching at ET.

Without specifics regarding the trading plan, it's not an example of anything other than how imaginative one can be.

But, whatever.
 
A lot of people thinks trading is easy and if you read enough book and try long enough you will make big bucks.

Unfortunately this is far from the truth. Some people can do it some cannot. Just like everyone who wants to play football does not mean you get to go to the NFL.


My honest answer is trading is really no different than poker. You must be able to read the tells the market gives you and are able to place your bets accordingly, manage your bankroll accordingly and walk away and cash in your chips accordingly
Here is my advice. Learn how to play poker.

The is how it is, you are probably not cut out for it, but that is okay. My recommendation is to put your money into SPY and/or IWM and dollar cost average over time. Reinvest dividends and let the power of compounding do its work.
 
Quote from KINGOFSHORTS:

A lot of people thinks trading is easy and if you read enough book and try long enough you will make big bucks.

Unfortunately this is far from the truth. Some people can do it some cannot. Just like everyone who wants to play football does not mean you get to go to the NFL.


My honest answer is trading is really no different than poker. You must be able to read the tells the market gives you and are able to place your bets accordingly, manage your bankroll accordingly and walk away and cash in your chips accordingly
Here is my advice. Learn how to play poker.

The is how it is, you are probably not cut out for it, but that is okay. My recommendation is to put your money into SPY and/or IWM and dollar cost average over time. Reinvest dividends and let the power of compounding do its work.

I don't want to discredit your "its not for everyone" response, but I'd like to know why to think that? What flaws/mistakes make it not suitable for some people vs. others? Granted, I'm no genius, but I'm not an idiot either. I know that I have been unsuccessful, but that's why I am here, I want to know why? Is trading only for geniuses?

As far as your SPY/IWM comment, yes there a right time and place for everything. SPY/IWM long right now is, in my opinion, a bad idea. Very little reward left (if any in 2014) for the risk I would put in it. In late 2008, this would've been great advice, but today, not so much.

Are you a part time trader as well? What works for you?
 
Quote from th3moneytrain:

This is my first time posting on ET...so please humor me if I seem out of place...

as mentioned, the full-time job prevents successful scalping because of daily time constraints (can only trading 1 hr in morning)...

1) Only trade in that 1 hour duration.

2) If you want to trade actively beyond the 1 hour...only do such on your days off, vacations, leave of absence or anything that doesn't interfere with your job. Simply, don't trade at work unless its fully automated.

3) If possible, change your work hours to have more time at trading but only if trading is really that important to you.

4) Be realistic, if your work schedule is not flexible or job is not suitable for whatever trading style you've chosen...stay away from trading (seriously).

5) Backtest your methods and use "replay data" on the weekends or use it on your day's off to simulate trading until you're ready to trade with real money only on your days off, vacations or leave of absence.

Quote from th3moneytrain:

...I know that I have been unsuccessful, but that's why I am here, I want to know why?...

You don't have you're job / trading schedule working together in a way that allows you to have a "chance" at being successful in trading. Simply, you need to fix that before talking about learning different methods and such.

Thus, I highly recommend staying away from the markets if your job schedule is not suitable for such. That's what I did as a part-time trader a long time ago while in college and working a part-time job. Some semesters trading didn't interfere with my class/study and job schedule. Thus, I traded. In contrast, there were other semesters my class/study and job schedule didn't allow proper time to trading. Thus, I didn't go near the markets.

Yeah, back then I traded full time during the summers and traded when the University was closed for holidays or semester breaks.
 
Quote from th3moneytrain:

This is my first time posting on ET...so please humor me if I seem out of place. I'll give you guys my history so that you can advice my dumba$$.

I've been trading diligently for about 2 years now. Diligently = I wake up early enough to watch and trade the market from 8:30 CT - 9:30am (1 hour during open). Then I go to work and monitor market and my trades when I can. I get home about 7:30pm, eat and learn about the markets, next day plays, read forums, forecast, etc. until I go to sleep around 11:30pm. Again, I've been doing this for 2 years now. So rest assured, I care about trading. I put plenty of time towards it and am very committed to it. YET, I have not had a winning year. And that's why I am here....to seek advice from you.
You're probably trading while too tired or still in that morning fog. If you're going to bed at 12am. That means you're getting at most 7-8 hours of sleep and less then 1 hour for your mind to wake up. It take the human mind a least a few hours to reach peak performance after waking up.
 
Quote from wrbtrader:

1) Only trade in that 1 hour duration.

2) If you want to trade actively beyond the 1 hour...only do such on your days off, vacations, leave of absence or anything that doesn't interfere with your job. Simply, don't trade at work unless its fully automated.

3) If possible, change your work hours to have more time at trading but only if trading is really that important to you.

4) Be realistic, if your work schedule is not flexible or job is not suitable for whatever trading style you've chosen...stay away from trading (seriously).

5) Backtest your methods and use "replay data" on the weekends or use it on your day's off to simulate trading until you're ready to trade with real money only on your days off, vacations or leave of absence.



You don't have you're job / trading schedule working together in a way that allows you to have a "chance" at being successful in trading. Simply, you need to fix that before talking about learning different methods and such.

Thus, I highly recommend staying away from the markets if your job schedule is not suitable for such. That's what I did as a part-time trader a long time ago while in college and working a part-time job. Some semesters trading didn't interfere with my class/study and job schedule. Thus, I traded. In contrast, there were other semesters my class/study and job schedule didn't allow proper time to trading. Thus, I didn't go near the markets.

Yeah, back then I traded full time during the summers and traded when the University was closed for holidays or semester breaks.

Most of your points hit on trading and full-time job not being compatible. I agree. However, I wonder if somebody here has mastered the art of part-time trading.

When you were doing it part-time, what were your strategies? How much time would you put into it? How would you manage your trades when you had school/work? Were you successful?Basically, what worked for you then?
 
Quote from jinxu:

You're probably trading while too tired or still in that morning fog. If you're going to bed at 12am. That means you're getting at most 7-8 hours of sleep and less then 1 hour for your mind to wake up. It take the human mind a least a few hours to reach peak performance after waking up.


That's a good point. I am usually sleep deprived, I will have to find a way to manage that. Are you a part time trader as well?
 
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