OP, here's an old somewhat infamous thread indirectly related in theme to your question with lots of discussion. I think there was someone that even posted broker statements proving they had some profitable days on futures. ( "Ten-thousand in Education and still not profitable!")
As to your main question. Of course there are a very, very few who have or are making periods of profitability. Why do I say periods? Because being "consistent" for a month or two is still just an early experience on the journey. Trading consistently is very tough, similar to competitive individual sports. Like how many golf or tennis players can have a good enough season one after another to maintain a career and make a living at it? imo, the challenge of consistent trading is tantamount to that analogy. Some days or months a strategy one has worked out on their own may not do as well, or even completely fail for who knows how long. So one would presumably need to develop or switch to other alternate strategies they may have devised. Most would likely have to keep trading part-time, or part-time was always the goal for extra income while keeping the regular day job. In summary, basically you'll rarely hear of anyone posting their statements or how consistent they are or how well, or in detail, as it's understandably a very private financial matter. No one is likely going to straight out offer to mentor every step of a way in detail to a stranger on the web, but instead most likely, only a significant other or close friend or relative if at all. Most of those who reach some degree of consistency have paid for it with countless hours perhaps tens of thousands of practice, some form of journaling, and forward testing. And of course they are likely not going to or need to try to sell something. There are of course a few borderline breakeven traders who try to make up the difference in income by selling some education as a vendor perhaps, and maybe they are of some value to newcomers if they offer a chat or webinar room with at least real live trading going on.
Elitetrader has a "Hall of Fame" section of old threads where there is seemingly some discussion about live trading. I would also check out tradingschools.org and read most of the articles, even those about trading in general by Emmett. There's also the "38 steps of trading" famous thread here posted some time ago. ( "The 38 steps of trading" ) Also threads by fattails are great as besides his famous shared indicator threads, he also posted about the futures instruments and analyzed their session times. Anyway, that's my 2c. gl.
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@KyronC since I've noticed you joined the Elite membership here is a number of threads that I consider excellent that may help. Some of them are very long, such as the Scalper's Journey, but are also peppered with advice from really seasoned traders.
after reading the positive feedback on the journals kept here on futures.io, I decided to setup my own journal.
The reason I'm keeping a journal is because I would like to receive feedback from experienced traders to make the …
Well, it's time to step into the light. I've lurked around BMT and futures.io for a couple of years now, wandering through the journals of others, sampling indicators, hearing stories of gains and losses and feeling quite at home. I came here …
***My goal for this journal*** ***Please do not post in this box!!***
It's my intention to one day have a post here about each of the 10 elements I believe are all one needs to understand to be a successful Day Trader. I've knocked a couple …
(PS: The Old Tiger in the Snow is one of my favorite works of Hokusai I hope I will be able to purchase it someday. And I have it tattooed on my left shoulder).
Hello everyone,
As a personal introduction I am a little embarrassed about how to describe …
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First post here :-) Very interesting thread. I am very pleased to find such a wonderful, thoughtful group of awesome traders :-)
A little story about one guy making it happen.
I am living in Japan with my wife and 2 young kids. I have been trading forex and stocks part-time for about 14 years. Since October of 2019, I decided to make a move to work as a professional (as in my day job) trading in the various financial markets. I knew that my chances to make a decent monthly income were slim at best. But I was determined to figure out how to make it work.
I know from my many years of trading part-time and running startup companies that I needed a solid plan. My background is I have worked as a software engineer in tech startups for over 25 years. About a year ago my wife and I opened up a small cafe where we invested more than $200k and I was thrilled to work with my hands instead of sitting at a desk. About 12 months into running the cafe the writing was on the wall, we were just breaking even and I realized I am the wrong guy to be running a cafe. I made a decision to temporarily shut down the cafe and focus on stock and forex trading as I am 100x better suited for trading than I was cooking food in a cafe. I sat down with my wife and we had a good cry about closing the cafe as it is rather embarrassing to close. In Japan, people do not make public business mistakes and when they do they often take these mistakes very badly, some even commit suicide. My wife and I came to the conclusion that she would take care of the household bills, the kids, cleaning the house, and fulfilling online orders for our tiny coffee roasting business we have as a fun side business. It took my wife about 30 days to really get her comfortable with the new plan and daily strategy.
Here is my basic plan for making a stable income.
Sleep 8-10 hours a day
Create a very low-stress lifestyle. Cut out 100% of all drama.
Sleep, breath, eat, intraday and swing trading.
Nail down a solid strategy for trading. Test several strategies until it became apparent that I found the winning strategy and then stick to it.
Keep the trading risk, ultra-low. Leave big runners on the table and keep to a very strict strategy.
Scalp "futures" for the monthly income and take part of that income and put it into intraday trading news stocks and swing trading short and long term stocks.
Eat very healthy. Eat less than 40 carbs per 24 hours, and get on a keto diet for optimal mental clarity.
Excercise 1-3 hrs per day.
Shut out friends and neighbors who take your mind away from trading.
Basically create a daily life that is completely focused on day trading and studying trading.
I will not go into how much money I am making. I make enough to pay the bills and invest in stocks. But I can tell you that having a clean and focused lifestyle is critical for me. Maybe others can live the Lamborghini lifestyle and drink alcohol and have a busy social life. But for me I need 100% focus. Is this lifestyle sustainable for years to come? I don't know.
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I just need to tell you something quickly. I come from a short premium options trading world, so when I google what strategies are available I get instant answers like Iron Condors and Strangles. People use these day in day out. I didn't know that futures were completely different. It's as though people are playing different games within the same game. I felt like people were withholding information from me, but little did I know at the time, there was no quick and simple answer.
That's why I was so snappy the last time we spoke, because I come from a place where people are using the same strategies day in day out.
Also, thanks for the links. I really appreciate it!
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I know virtually nothing about options but @Skidboot's shrewd post is about what a lot of people on this forum believe: there is no secret sauce. Except you.
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