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Trading - when did you stop getting nervous and start to get comfortable trading


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Trading - when did you stop getting nervous and start to get comfortable trading

 
jmp470
San Antonio, TX
 
Posts: 96 since May 2019
Thanks Given: 46
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I’ve been in and out of the markets since 2000. Due to life events, I’ve never truly had enough money (by my standard) to actually be able to trade. Fast forward to last May, when I was able to start saving money to trade.

1. I started by putting 3K per month in May 2022 into JEPI. I started making Dividends immediately, and did DRIP. By the end of 2022, I was able to amass about 25K. Enough for the PDTR, but I was not willing to trade with no margin for mistakes.. (All my trading has proven time and time again, that I’m a shit trader!). I cannot time bottoms / tops for the life of me!!!!

2. I was blessed in Jan - Mach of this year to get two major bonuses (I have never received a bonus before). I was able to amass 75K…..

3. Starting in May, I saw that the stocks that I follow started the bottoming process. I put all my money into risk on stocks and was able to make a significant amount of money (for me). I was able to make 41K (May - Jul).

4. In May I took out 5K, to pay for a certificate in Machine Learning, Deep Learning, and Data Analysis. In July, I took 23K from my account to pay off one of my cars.

My questions are:

1. How long did it take for you to realize you are able to trade, versus feeling lucky?
2. How do you transition from side hustle to full time trader?

Life wise: I’m married with 3 kids. My wife does not work….

My near term goal is to trade full time, 5 years.

I was thinking 2 years of bills in the bank, and 100 - 150K to trade with..

But, I only have about 1 quarter of truly trading under my belt to see my results….

All thoughts are welcomed!


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 Miesto 
Monte Carlo, Monaco
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jmp470 View Post
I’ve been in and out of the markets since 2000. Due to life events, I’ve never truly had enough money (by my standard) to actually be able to trade. Fast forward to last May, when I was able to start saving money to trade.

1. I started by putting 3K per month in May 2022 into JEPI. I started making Dividends immediately, and did DRIP. By the end of 2022, I was able to amass about 25K. Enough for the PDTR, but I was not willing to trade with no margin for mistakes.. (All my trading has proven time and time again, that I’m a shit trader!). I cannot time bottoms / tops for the life of me!!!!

2. I was blessed in Jan - Mach of this year to get two major bonuses (I have never received a bonus before). I was able to amass 75K…..

3. Starting in May, I saw that the stocks that I follow started the bottoming process. I put all my money into risk on stocks and was able to make a significant amount of money (for me). I was able to make 41K (May - Jul).

4. In May I took out 5K, to pay for a certificate in Machine Learning, Deep Learning, and Data Analysis. In July, I took 23K from my account to pay off one of my cars.

My questions are:

1. How long did it take for you to realize you are able to trade, versus feeling lucky?
2. How do you transition from side hustle to full time trader?

Life wise: I’m married with 3 kids. My wife does not work….

My near term goal is to trade full time, 5 years.

I was thinking 2 years of bills in the bank, and 100 - 150K to trade with..

But, I only have about 1 quarter of truly trading under my belt to see my results….

All thoughts are welcomed!

Just some personal thoughts.

It seems you are in a phase where your professional career is paying off (finally? with the bonuses?). Why would you stop? This is an important question for you to answer.

You made some good profits on your stocks from May-July. You risked your whole wad. If you had bought two futures contracts in the ES (S&P 500 index) in May at approx. $4,200 and held till July (19th) where you sold at approx. $4,600 you would have made $40,000.00 on an approx. $1,000 investment (being the margin, it's some more for holding overnight).

What does that mean that the whole market was going up (with regards to your call in May)? And what does it mean with regards to return on investment, and leverage? Through leverage one can make nice profits but the losses can also be big. Can you make the leverage work for you?

Are you planning to trade intraday or longer term? When trading longer term, like you did with the stocks, what are you going to do all day? You can do this besides your job till you have enough money to retire.

When trading shorter term, say intraday, you have zero or little experience with. Regardless how much money you've saved, you will experience immense pressure to become profitable one day which will add to your losses (which again will add to the pressure).

With three kids (going to study some day) and a wife without income you have a responsibility. Will you do better for your family by going into the trading business (as a newbie)?

Try to trade besides your job and prove yourself you can make money consistently over a longer period of time. Do a SWOT analysis and make a (business or project) plan (detailing how to go from A to B).

William O'Neil's "How to make money in stocks" describes a good method despite the terrible title. Gil Morales and Chris Kacher, being former O'Neil's co-workers, wrote more about it.

You will find lots of information on this forum (on approach and how long it will take), maybe you should become a member.

Good luck.

-Mies


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jmp470
San Antonio, TX
 
Posts: 96 since May 2019
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Miles,
Thank you for the reply. I also realize that my post does not ask the right questions,

I guess I’m looking more at when started to become profitable, how long did it take you to accept it…. As of right now, I think it’s more luck than skill.

 
 kevinkdog   is a Vendor
 
Posts: 3,647 since Jul 2012
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I've been trading over 30 years, with last 15 full time.

Every time I start to feel comfortable, it seems another drawdown is about to smack me around and bring me back to earth.

Luck plays a big role, good and bad.

In my mind, comfortable = complacent, and that is dangerous in trading.

One piece of advice someone gave me before I started trading full time: "whatever capital you think you need to trade full time, multiply that by 10." I wish I'd have followed that advice, because the psychological cushion of a bigger account will help eventually.

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jmp470
San Antonio, TX
 
Posts: 96 since May 2019
Thanks Given: 46
Thanks Received: 56

Kevin,
Thank you. Miles brings up a great point. I'm not willing to leave my job, yet! As the work is starting to really pay off. I think that's more a daydream, for now :-)

30 years in the market. excellent.

The truisms that I'm gaining reading forums is very helpful.

10x the capital is a great goal. so trading a 7 figure account before I even decide. that's the goal then :-)

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 mntrader 
Vienna, Austria
 
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Thank you all for this great discussion and insights. I'm also in a similar situation:
- I have a full-time job and try to save as much as I can to invest/trade
- I've been trading for 5 years now
- Even if my job is fully flexible, I find difficulties in having a daily trading routine (e.g. how much/when to trade). That's one reason I was thinking of allocating*more time to trading and less to work.

I would be really interested if any of you have experience of transiting from a full-time job to full-time trading? I haven't really found yet posts around this (if there are, I would appreciate it if you could link here).

Thanks!

 
jmp470
San Antonio, TX
 
Posts: 96 since May 2019
Thanks Given: 46
Thanks Received: 56

@mntrader
Welcome to the topic. I have yet to find more information about it too. I’m still a full time W2 employee, who is 100% WFH. But, I think over the next few years that will dry up, the WFH…. As I’m seeing more data that suggests that workers are more efficient working from the office. The data needs to point to this, that way we can ensure the commercial real estate market does not implode :-)

For me; my exit plan consists of paying off as much debt as possible. I’m down to 1 car and my house…. With a family of 5, I’m super happy about that!

I would like to get my savings to 5x my yearly bills and have about 100k - 200k in trading capital…

I’m more of a swing trader / day trader sort of person. I trade stocks only, as I’ve gotten beat up in other sectors, aka futures / forex.

I’m also a long type of guy…. I know how to short, but, for some reason I don’t feel comfortable doing it.

I would like to hear your thoughts on how you want to transition.

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 deaddog 
Prince George BC Canada
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mntrader View Post
- Even if my job is fully flexible, I find difficulties in having a daily trading routine (e.g. how much/when to trade). That's one reason I was thinking of allocating*more time to trading and less to work.

I would be really interested if any of you have experience of transiting from a full-time job to full-time trading? I haven't really found yet posts around this (if there are, I would appreciate it if you could link here).

Thanks!

I swing trade stocks.
I was a buy and hold investor until a market collapse and cut my liquid net worth in half.
I retired early (55) with a small pension and no debt, planning on using my nest egg to fund my lifestyle. Having my account halved was a rude awakening.
I changed my strategy from investing to speculating.
I spend maybe 1/2 hour in the evening to scan and plan my next day.
I check the markets at the open and make any trades according to the plan.
I day traded for a short time but found that the time and the stress involved didn't get me any better results than end of day swing trading.
I would not call myself a full time trader, more an account manager who is responsible for funding my lifestyle.

"The days when I keep my gratitude higher than my expectations, I have really good days" RW Hubbard
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 blackgrey45 
Marco Island, FL
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jmp470 View Post

I’m also a long type of guy…. I know how to short, but, for some reason I don’t feel comfortable doing it.

Is that because shorting a stock involves unlimited risk?

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 mntrader 
Vienna, Austria
 
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Thank you jmp470 and deaddog for sharing your thoughts on this topic.

My plan in transition is to continuously decrease the number of hours I work for my current company and simultaneously spend more time on trading (starting with 30 hours work - 10 hours trading and reaching ~10-20 hours work and 20 hours trading).

I don't plan to completely leave my current job, but as I work more like a free-lancer, this kind of transition is quite possible.

The timing is the biggest question for me: after I feel myself fully confident and see my trading results consistent, I'll start this change.


 



Last Updated on August 9, 2023


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