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For those who are trading full-time, what path did you get started on?
How did you actually take the step between ‘I want to be a daytrader’(or swingtrader) to having some skin in the game?
I’ve met people who started off poorly and found advice, or some who started off well and got arrogant before coming back down. Who here has a good journey story to tell?
I was lucky enough to start my path at the CBOT. I already knew someone who traded in the pit, open outcry, and they got me in as a runner and then trade checker. I learned to absorb information anywhere and everywhere and how to be an individual in a group. Meaning, I learned which trading style fit my current lifestyle. Many beginners want to trade to achieve a "certain lifestyle" which is usually is detrimental. I gained an understanding of how to be a responsible trader and be accountable for my own trades. Not take advice or tips from so called guru's and or my neighbor but to do my own homework! The best teacher is live trading to how to manage risk, consequences and disappointment. We, ourselves, are our worst enemy which is knowledge every beginning trader needs to acquire in their journey. Trading is not easy and it's not suppose to be... if it was everyone would be making a living doing it. There is no signal, alerts, or courses or any magic indicators to make you a successful trader. It's about identifying who you are as a trader and how you manage.
I have stories, all of them are fun to tell, even the one time I dug out of hell.
There are bold traders and there are old traders, but you cannot be both...
Look, I'm not a daytrader or a trader at all, I'm a survivor LOL.
Started at 7 years old. Acquired a large position in marbles, and tried to sell them to my neighbors. My dad got mad and yelled to me to come home. That neighbor replied back "It's OK, he's fine to knock on my door it's no problem!"
No clue why I wanted to sell marbles, because I didn't need money as a child. Born comfortable middle class. I guess I'm a natural entrepreneur and trader.
Then around 10 or 11 years old, I begged my dad to let me buy "penny stocks"? How the hell did I know about penny stocks, no CLUE! Nobody in my family trades, and nobody I knew was influencing me. Still not sure how I found out about anything stock related at that age. I joined the investment club at school in high school.
At 18 I opened my first account. Made a few thousand, then got smoked badly! Lost it all. That hurt, but what else would happen with a young man and a few thousand? Of course mistakes would be made.
I got back into futures trading after blow up #1, took a few years to get back. Second shot was also a blow up, quite major I would say, also that hurt big time. Then there was a 3rd small blowup, again, painful and stupid decisions. Also, I didn't know what I was doing. I made every mistake at least once.
There was years between each blown up account. I finished college. Started a family. Took over a small business for $0 which was headed for failure and I flipped it for a small profit. Did a lot of jobs and other entrepreneurship. Most of the small businesses I tried were profitable, just not massively profitable. More like "side-hustles".
Between jobs and side hustles, I got to travel around the world a little bit for fun. Still not sure how I had any money, but I worked 2 jobs usually and lived below my means. Ended up in jail once when I was being young and dumb. Lots of distractions! Along with chasing women (bad idea, don't do it).
Got lucky in real estate, flipped 2 properties and piled all of those funds to my 4th and final account (still holding 1 property because it will payoff big time when I retire). Got a better broker, better software, more focus on psychology plus my technique...Now I can pretty much say I am profitable, AFTER 10+ YEARS OF STRUGGLE! I'm in the GREEN now and seeing decent results. Granted, this account has had it's swings up and down as well, but I am well capitalized now and in the right place to win.
Each month I pull out my profits and pay my bills. Keep in mind, I live way below my means. This week I made enough to buy a Rolex (the lower priced ones I should say), and I want to buy one, but I also know this is just an expense I don't need at the moment and it does nothing for me. Instead, I treat my family to fun things. I order some delivery food and tip the guy $100 just to be charitable in these hard times (granted I don't do that OFTEN, it's just a random thing I do here and there). I live BELOW my means, and it helps my trading. Trading is hard enough.
Why did I mention my charitible givings? Am I humble bragging? Yes maybe I am bragging, but let me explain something: You need to have some underlying purpose and bigger goals. I want to help people, and I use my trading as a tool to do that, BUT I definitely "pay myself first"!
This journey has been well over 10 years. My losses all add up to about $40,000 over all those years (oh, so about $4k a year, not bad! lol). I also made sure to write off the losses on my tax return. At my current rate, I should be break even by the end of this year, but there's no rush really.
Things are good enough now that I can pay for an exchange membership to reduce my costs further. My expectancy is good enough that I can invest in my business and expect to gain it all back and then some.
So really, this is just the beginning of my journey....
Hope you enjoyed reading and cringed a tad bit too... haha!
Mentorship is priceless, and the best way to learn the business! I think I have the personality to be a pit trader, but now the pits are extinct. You saved yourself a lot of money and time with a mentor. I bet the pits at CBOT were pretty rowdy and you must have some good stories!
Was it hard to transfer over to screen trading for you?
I want to clarify, I never traded in the pit. That is just where my journey and my introduction to futures began. I started trading on the screen. At the time I was there, the pits were still pretty full and rowdy and emotional but the transition to screen had already begun. From the conversations I had, I know there were some traders that found it difficult to transition to screens.
haha!