When is the right time to quit your job and trade full time?

Vindago said:
I am planning to leave my job to focus on trading full time but I won't do that until I have proven that I can make money each and every day, week, month, year.

Can I do that? not yet, though at least I know I cannot lose any significant amount of money anymore. I make 30-50 points most days (when I can trade) but now and then I still revert to old habits and some days I do not make money or lose a bit (10-30points) so I'll keep up and take the time to further improve until I will be ready for full time trading.
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this is such a classic post. it includes all the standard ET, uh, tropes.

a) making money every day. This is a perennial. This satisfies a psychological need for constant reinforcement, but it is not the best way to maximize returns, which is the ultimate goal.

b) utterly unrealistic goals. 10% per month is 214% gain per year! That's unrealistic. Not the 214% gain, which happens sometimes, but the consistency. If you can do 10%/per month, you can do 20% per month. Just lever up. You're making money every day, right? So no problem then.

c) the losers lament: if only I had no losers, I would have all winners. It doesn't matter what you call this - bad discipline, reverting to old habits, whatever. Losses are a part of trading. Don't define them away as poor discipline.

d) black and white thinking: "I know I cannot lose money" Trading is probabilistic. Losing a large amount of money is always a possibility, even if very remote.
 
i960 said:
If one is that consistent that it's month in month out the same thing the natural next step is to size up. 2k/month? How about try for 2k a DAY.
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oh no my friend, I am not consistent, that's why nobody in their right mind would invest with me. Down 30% one month, up 70% the next. The last thing you want to do is scale up, because you know it can't last. But if over the years, you take a percentage of your profits and just invest them like normal people do, it adds up. Just about everything in my S&P 500 index fund is a result of one of those 100% months.
 
billyjoerob said:
this is such a classic post. it includes all the standard ET, uh, tropes.

a) making money every day. This is a perennial. This satisfies a psychological need for constant reinforcement, but it is not the best way to maximize returns, which is the ultimate goal.

b) utterly unrealistic goals. 10% per month is 214% gain per year! That's unrealistic. Not the 214% gain, which happens sometimes, but the consistency. If you can do 10%/per month, you can do 20% per month. Just lever up. You're making money every day, right? So no problem then.

c) the losers lament: if only I had no losers, I would have all winners. It doesn't matter what you call this - bad discipline, reverting to old habits, whatever. Losses are a part of trading. Don't define them away as poor discipline.

d) black and white thinking: "I know I cannot lose money" Trading is probabilistic. Losing a large amount of money is always a possibility, even if very remote.
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Hi BJ,
you took me too seriously...
a) of course there will be some bad days, the point is that when focused and following the plan I make money consistently, main problem is when I trade on days when I should not.
b) let's assume I make an average of 30points a day, I have 50K account so I trade 10 contracts for a stock that sells at 50$ this makes me 300$ a day that makes 6K a month which is more than 10% a month, right? sound so unreasonable? not to me...
c)Losers are absolutely part of the game, when I lose I just move on to the next trade, the point is if you control your losers than it is no big deal
d) here I was referring to the above, if you have control on losers you can only lose so much, the problem come when you let a loser grow to a draw down of K$...
 
Vindago said:
Hi BJ,
you took me too seriously...
a) of course there will be some bad days, the point is that when focused and following the plan I make money consistently, main problem is when I trade on days when I should not.
b) let's assume I make an average of 30points a day, I have 50K account so I trade 10 contracts for a stock that sells at 50$ this makes me 300$ a day that makes 6K a month which is more than 10% a month, right? sound so unreasonable? not to me...
c)Losers are absolutely part of the game, when I lose I just move on to the next trade, the point is if you control your losers than it is no big deal
d) here I was referring to the above, if you have control on losers you can only lose so much, the problem come when you let a loser grow to a draw down of K$...
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did you identify any of your winning trades as the result of poor discipline? or are only the losing trades a result of poor discipline.
 
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billyjoerob said:
did you identify any of your winning trades as the result of poor discipline? or are only the losing trades a result of poor discipline.
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Hi BJ,
I hardly have winning trades when I am unfocused and I do not follow the plan, sometimes I do get a win but that is even worse as it reinforces bad behavior. I do however have loser trades even when I am focused and follow my plan, the difference is that are small losers as my plan do not allow for draw down.
 
in other words, you can make it trading or in a nice safe creamy job. The choice is entirely yours, but the money probably won't be that much different
 
barcadia said:
hehe, i'm kind of the opposite.
If I could make half as much money trading as I do in my job, I'd just trade for a living and never 'work' again, even if it meant always earning a smaller wage.
Unfortunately, I think consistently profitable trading could well just be a big lie being sold to us, though! (i.e impossible)
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Are you still sharing this conviction?
 
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