what line of work are you currently in now?
Quote from ctarmor-et:
There are many neagative comments in this thread about a trading career with a few positive ones.
For those that wrote negative posts, are you successful traders, or you are just negative because you did not make it as a trader ? Although my question sounds sarcastic, it is a true question ....
If you are successful, how the hell did you start trading when everyone said NOT TO DO IT in the first place ?
I am startng to believe the guy that posted: <i>"this board is for loosers. Successful traders are not wasting time posting in ET"</i> .....
Quote from Gratitude:
For the past 7 years, I have been wanting to learn how to trade. I have read 100's of books and gone through the usual cycle of trying a near infinite number of indicators. However, I have been doing this only in my free time as I've had a full time career and a family.
I have come to realize that most books out there are of "limited" use, as are most indicators. Over the past year or so I have been increasingly focused on learning price action and have focused on actual price behavior to frame trading opportunities.
However, given my career + family commitments, I am only able to focus on learning price action during the limited amount of free time that I have. I feel that this is very ineffective - as I will often start to get a feel for something only to have a surge in activity at work and have to break the momentum. Additionally, I can usually look at charts only after hours or on weekends.
I want to decide if I should quit my career / take a leave of absence and focus on trading full time.
Just thought I would get guidance from others in the community who have been there, done that!
Some additional background to frame the decsision:
- Currently 34, married, 3 kids
- Both my wife and I have make a very good living
- House and kids education paid for
- Retimrement mostly taken care of (depends on your definition of retirement)
- Could support current standard of living for ~5-8 years without any income just based on savings (if both my wife and I quit today and had 0% return on our portfolio)
- If I continue at my current career, income in next 5-6 years will reach $1-2M/year; doing very well in terms of trajectory
- Currently working 70-80 hrs / week with significant amounts of travel
- Have MBA from top 10 school
- have ~$0 debt
Of course, I've tried to tell myself that I should just focus on my career but I just can't seem to get the trading bug out of my system. Luckily, I've done a lot of testing to already know that indicators etc don't work without losing any significant amount of $. Also, feel like we've gotten ourselves to a low risk situation where my wife can continue to work and we have no debt.
Would be helpful to hear from others to see how you think about such decisions.
PS: I've read ET forums. Recognize that similar questions have been asked before but think that each situation is unique. Also, would likely learn a lot from engaging in live discussion vs. just reading historical posts.
Quote from Port1385:
Dont take advice from some aliases on a random message board.
Instead, why not come down to Swift where real people will talk and help you out?
Do you really think successful traders gather on message boards to chat during the market hours?
You can be this guy trading 1 million shares of Microsoft in just ONE DAY.
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to the OP:Quote from oraclewizard77:
I started trading because:
1) I did not know that 90% don't make it.
2) No one told me not to do it.
3) Also, when I originally started I was not married and I still don't have kids.
4) I came up with my own system and edge after I found out that most books and seminars are scams.
real case, guy was a top heart sugeon, married, kid. He was so successful that he could afford to retire early. He was bored so he picked up trading for fun and profit. It ended badly, after 2,3 years all his monies were gone and he just couldn't go on living any longer. So think hard about what you about to do. You had been warned.Quote from Gratitude:
..PS: I've read ET forums. Recognize that similar questions have been asked before but think that each situation is unique. Also, would likely learn a lot from engaging in live discussion vs. just reading historical posts.
Quote from nkhoi:
real case, guy was a top heart sugeon, married, kid. He was so successful that he could afford to retire early. He was bored so he picked up trading for fun and profit. It ended badly, after 2,3 years all his monies were gone and he just couldn't go on living any longer. So think hard about what you about to do. You had been warned.![]()