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A new path for life


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A new path for life

  #31 (permalink)
 
bobwest's Avatar
 bobwest 
Western Florida
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new2trade View Post
I have a good paid job (but very stressful and long hours) that I need to decide whether I want to go back in less than a month or so. Oh how much I want this to work out but I may need to do what you're doing and not making a rush decision.

(Sigh.) I hate to sound negative, and I don't mean to.

But.... unless you have no need for money due to inheritance or something, do not try to make enough in trading right off the bat. You just do not have a prayer of doing it.

Believe this. Everyone here has faced this fact. I do not know of anyone whose published trading journals showed them being ready to succeed in the markets when they started out, and many, many have tried.

Keep that job. Find a way to trade nights, or weekends (you may just have to use replay for a while), or in markets that have good activity when you aren't working (currencies that have a big non-US trader base), or in non-US equities markets, or anything that will give you some experience while you don't need to rely on trading income to survive.

Just trust us on this. Don't think you can do it when no one else has. Really.

Why is this such a problem?

(a) Skill development -- it takes a lot of time to learn anything.
(b) What is called "psychology," but is more like, "how you feel when there is real money on the line that you can't afford to lose, and price just went against you and now you're losing...." (Fill in sounds of panic, denial, hope, fear, and bad decisions.) It's called experience, and there's only one way to get it.

This is all part of finding your way. I do not know how long it will take, and everyone obviously is different, but it will take time.

I hope this is not too big a downer. If you would like some more realism, a good thread to read from beginning to end is this one: . It starts with the experiences of @Big Mike, the founder of this forum (who is one of the best traders I have ever known), and goes on to many, many others, who have blown up accounts as they struggled for consistency.

It's not a bad thing to know what other people who went before you have run into and had to deal with.

Again, good luck, and read that thread. There's a lot of reality there.

Bob.

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  #32 (permalink)
 
casey44's Avatar
 casey44 
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Hi @new2trade, from my perspective some of the most respected names in this forum have responded to your posts. Many new folks do not receive this quality and quantity of response, too many are obviously not respectful of input/just do it for me/etc.... am sure we all are touched by your motherhood and sincerity.

Other than that, I'd pass on what I once heard and that is what if you considered trading not like running a retail store or being in a structured job as an employee, where if you're competent and responsible that might be enough, but rather think of it as akin to a performance art or a sport, and how long would you realistically expect it to take to have folks__pay you__to perform if you just now picked up an instrument? Or started playing tennis or golf or whatever?

Speaking as one on the elder side of life, my concern born of tenderness for new life, is, if you go too far down the rabbit hole of trading it may impact your family life. The trading arena is not going away, will always be there if you put it on the back burner for the time being. Would be easier I'd think to return to it in x years than to go down the trading path, not have it work out, then want to return to being an employee in x years.

But in the end, we are not you, so grain of salt and all that, for all we know you might be the next Yuja Wang (pianist), so only best wishes to you and your family! Maybe you're making good money in no time at all and you'll wonder what was all the fuss about...-)

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  #33 (permalink)
 
MiniP's Avatar
 MiniP 
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new2trade View Post
I'm trading all the Emini Indexes and I using the method from the trading room where they look at the relationship between markets and the support and resistant levels defined by their program. I like their program but I also customize it to fit to my own risk tolerance. The area that I have many problems with is the psychological aspect that heavily impacts my decision on when to enter a trade. I think if I can get it down then I can make profit consistently. Time will tell, but I don't have much time left though. I have a good paid job (but very stressful and long hours) that I need to decide whether I want to go back in less than a month or so. Oh how much I want this to work out but I may need to do what you're doing and not making a rush decision.

Best of luck to you as well.

There are two ways to look at this and I'm sure what I'm going to say is going to be slightly frowned upon but it is what it is.

If you really want to do this then quit your job and figure out how to do it BUT you will more then likely go through extreme up's and downs the hardships will be extremely hard BUT if you go through all that you might be able to come out on top in a few years. There are tons of podcast and well known traders who slept on floors ate tuna and ramen for years while they did things the hard way. I know people who have taken thousands and thousands in student loan debt to fund accounts... is that the correct thing to do NO but if you have a dream then follow it. You only get one life.

OR live below your means for 5 years save and take some investment style positions and give it a shot then.

I would say if your not sure if your comfortable to go live in a month of not then you probably aren't but I also don't trade full time so I cant speak on that as well as some of the others.

-P

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  #34 (permalink)
 kevinkdog   is a Vendor
 
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MiniP View Post
There are two ways to look at this and I'm sure what I'm going to say is going to be slightly frowned upon but it is what it is.

If you really want to do this then quit your job and figure out how to do it BUT you will more then likely go through extreme up's and downs the hardships will be extremely hard BUT if you go through all that you might be able to come out on top in a few years. There are tons of podcast and well known traders who slept on floors ate tuna and ramen for years while they did things the hard way. I know people who have taken thousands and thousands in student loan debt to fund accounts... is that the correct thing to do NO but if you have a dream then follow it. You only get one life.

OR live below your means for 5 years save and take some investment style positions and give it a shot then.

I would say if your not sure if your comfortable to go live in a month of not then you probably aren't but I also don't trade full time so I cant speak on that as well as some of the others.

-P

I would agree with your "go for it" advice if OP was single. But OP is a mom with a newborn, which changes things a LOT.

I quit my good paying full time career in May 2008 to be a full time trader. I had a 2.5 year old, and a 1 year old. People thought I was CRAZY ...

BUT

I had a history of real profit. I had even won a real money trading contest. AND I had 3-5 years living expenses saved up. Finally, I also have a fully supportive spouse (that is huge).

If OP had all of these things, I'd say "go for it." But, I'm not sure she has ANY of these pre-requisites.

****************************

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  #35 (permalink)
new2trade
Conway
 
Posts: 18 since Jun 2018
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Hi all,

I've read (some more than twice) and been overwhelmed by all the well-meaning advice from every single one of you. Honestly I never thought that this is the place where I would be able to determine my path again (my husband gave me similar advice and it didn't work LOL). For that I forever grateful to those who are willing to share your own experience. Although at the beginning, I discovered that trading career is incredibly sexy, it's definitely not been easy the past few months. Then I started having a feeling that this is not going to be just a short simple education to get the same outcome as getting a college degree or something similar. You all helped confirming that, exactly what I've been looking for. Funny that I just told someone 2 days ago that I wish somebody just punches me in the face and tells me to wake up and go back to work. I think I just got what I wished for here

I'll not continue to learn to trade while working on my job (need to balance work/life), but who know I would come back again one day. If it happens, this forum would be where I pick myself backup again.

Y'all have no idea how much y'all have helped ease up my internal struggles. Thank you for crossing my path!

Best of luck to you all

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  #36 (permalink)
 
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 MiniP 
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kevinkdog View Post
I would agree with your "go for it" advice if OP was single. But OP is a mom with a newborn, which changes things a LOT.

I quit my good paying full time career in May 2008 to be a full time trader. I had a 2.5 year old, and a 1 year old. People thought I was CRAZY ...

BUT

I had a history of real profit. I had even won a real money trading contest. AND I had 3-5 years living expenses saved up. Finally, I also have a fully supportive spouse (that is huge).

If OP had all of these things, I'd say "go for it." But, I'm not sure she has ANY of these pre-requisites.

****************************

Agree 100% my main point was somethings in life you just have to do them the hard way. If you truly want to become a trader then you'll make it happen . I don't have kids at the moment so I cant speak from that stand point but I am lucky enough to have support from my other half who has agreed to help support this pipe dream when ever I take the leap.

Any ways @newtrade good luck!

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Last Updated on June 13, 2018


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