Hi All,

I am writing to this platform to express my desire to leave my current industry to work in trading or trading research in case someone might have advice that could help me get there or in case someone may have a connection who might be interested in supporting my research efforts.

I have been studying and working on my trading since March 2025 primarily through futures prop firm accounts, spending nearly every waking hour on it since I started. I have been doing this alongside my full-time job in biotech. Due to the difficulty of working both simultaneously, I have not yet been able to achieve consistent profitability. Toward this end, I have used Claude extensively to create a variety of tools to support my trading, most recently producing a strategy file that enters and exits trades algorithmically. The performance of this strategy and the manner in which I use it is discussed further below.

My framework overall falls squarely under the trend following camp. I exclusively use Renko charts, and I base a significant proportion of my charting decisions on the "directional change intrinsic time" literature by Olsen and Glattfelder. I compute volatility statistics according to a method I learned from a certain Futures education firm (not the one I may be working with part-time), and I use that data to calibrate my Renko charts as well as my stop losses for each instrument I trade. Without giving too much detail, I primarily analyze the market and make trading decisions based on price's position relative to recent swing lows or highs using momentum signals as mechanical entry triggers.

In the attachments, I have provided the backtest results of the last 5 days on my MNQ chart. Note, I have tested it on larger time horizons and can easily find configurations that make it profitable, but the strategy is not currently designed to deal with both bullish and bearish market regimes without my management. I choose the bias based on my own analysis and set the bias of the strategy myself before turning the strategy on once price approaches a level upon which I think a continuation or reversal may occur. I use the performance on the last 5 days of data to get an understanding of how trades in a specific direction using this strategy would have performed as one input informing my directional bias, and in any case, this data provides a valuable look into how the strategy would perform on recent data without manual interference. Please note that the strategy is configured to use a maximum exposure of 3 MNQ contracts.

I am discussing a potential part-time role with one of the largest futures education firms in the space in which I would work for them unpaid to earn a spot in one of their educational programs. However, setting aside the fact that it would be unpaid, it would begin at the same time that my current full-time job is looking to have me start training for a promotion in my current industry. I won't have significant issues maintaining the two together (at least, none beyond what I've already been experiencing up to this point), but, nonetheless, it is not an opportunity in which I am allowed to devote the entirety of my focus to trading.

In the long-term, I hope to work in biotech venture capital in the Bay Area or San Diego, and I hope to use my trading funds to reach that point. My current trajectory enables that possibility, but I write this with the hope that there is a chance someone here or their connections may potentially be interested in employing me for a full-time trading-related role based on the information presented in this post. I would also greatly appreciate any advice anyone may have toward this end. Please let me know if any additional information/material from me would be helpful and thank you for reading.

@RenkoBrickRoad

Regarding your plan to transition into Biotech Venture Capital through trading success, I have to tell you directly: that's not realistic.

The skill sets are entirely different

Based on what you wrote about your full time experience in the biotech industry, you should already know that Biotech VC has very little to do with trading futures, price action, or momentum. Instead, in VC, you are evaluating highly illiquid, early stage companies. It's about scientific due diligence, understanding clinical trial phases, regulatory hurdles, IP rights, and long term fundamental value creation. Day trading or algorithmic futures trading is based on short term market inefficiencies and liquidity. The skills that make you successful in trading are simply not transferable to Biotech VC.

The assumption that a track record in private futures trading qualifies you for a VC role is a fundamental misunderstanding of who these firms are actually looking for.

The question you really need to ask yourself: Do I want to fully enter the world of trading and invest my energy there with joy and interest, or do I want to continue being successful in the biotech industry, in whatever area, and invest my full energy there.

That's your decision, and I wish you absolutely all the best going forward.

Symple

Symple 

@RenkoBrickRoad Regarding your plan to transition into Biotech Venture Capital through trading success, I have to tell you directly: that's not realistic. The skill sets are entirely different Based on what you wrote about your full time experience in the biotech industry, you should already know that Biotech VC has very little to do with trading futures, price action, or momentum. Instead, in VC, you are evaluating highly illiquid, early stage companies. It's about scientific due diligence, understanding clinical trial phases, regulatory hurdles, IP rights, and long term fundamental value creation. Day trading or algorithmic futures trading is based on short term market inefficiencies and liquidity. The skills that make you successful in trading are simply not transferable to Biotech VC. The assumption that a track record in private futures trading qualifies you for a VC role is a fundamental misunderstanding of who these firms are actually looking for. The question you really need to ask yourself: Do I want to fully enter the world of trading and invest my energy there with joy and interest, or do I want to continue being successful in the biotech industry, in whatever area, and invest my full energy there. That's your decision, and I wish you absolutely all the best going forward. Symple

Thanks for your comment, Symple.

I am indeed aware that biotech VC has little overlap with futures trading. In my undergraduate studies, I spent 4 months in the Bay Area learning about entrepreneurship in an honors study abroad program created and operated by an alum who serves on the board of trustees at my university and has been working in biotech VC for the bulk of their career. I also took classes at my university's business school (one that requires a separate application from the university's application, exclusively takes applications from students at the university where the acceptance rate at the time was ~20%, and which itself had an acceptance rate around ~40%) relating to entrepreneurial finance and global capital markets. I appreciate that your comment would have steered me in a better direction had the assumption I was unaware of the lack of skillset overlap between the two industries fit.

My intention is not to work at these companies as an employee. It is to grow my own capital to the point where I can make investments of my own in this space. I have had exposure in particular to neuropharmacology and want to use my expertise in that realm to aid me in investments in startups primarily in CNS. I am also very interested in other therapeutic areas -- I have gotten meaningful exposure in particular to oncology, in which I have worked for the bulk of my career. Biotech VC is a longer-term goal. In the nearer term (i.e., the next 10-15 years), my plan is to leave my current industry, begin trading futures full-time either on my own or with a firm, scale my capital through my 30s, then in my mid-to-late 40s or 50s, consider biotech VC.

If you had the time, I would be grateful for your input on the above, as I would much prefer to find out if I am misguided in my goals sooner rather than later. I appreciate your time and interest.

RenkoBrickRoad 

Thanks for your comment, Symple. I am indeed aware that biotech VC has little overlap with futures trading. In my undergraduate studies, I spent 4 months in the Bay Area learning about entrepreneurship in an honors study abroad program created and operated by an alum who serves on the board of trustees at my university and has been working in biotech VC for the bulk of their career. I also took classes at my university's business school (one that requires a separate application from the university's application, exclusively takes applications from students at the university where the acceptance rate at the time was ~20%, and which itself had an acceptance rate around ~40%) relating to entrepreneurial finance and global capital markets. I appreciate that your comment would have steered me in a better direction had the assumption I was unaware of the lack of skillset overlap between the two industries fit. My intention is not to work at these companies as an employee. It is to grow my own capital to the point where I can make investments of my own in this space. I have had exposure in particular to neuropharmacology and want to use my expertise in that realm to aid me in investments in startups primarily in CNS. I am also very interested in other therapeutic areas -- I have gotten meaningful exposure in particular to oncology, in which I have worked for the bulk of my career. Biotech VC is a longer-term goal. In the nearer term (i.e., the next 10-15 years), my plan is to leave my current industry, begin trading futures full-time either on my own or with a firm, scale my capital through my 30s, then in my mid-to-late 40s or 50s, consider biotech VC. If you had the time, I would be grateful for your input on the above, as I would much prefer to find out if I am misguided in my goals sooner rather than later. I appreciate your time and interest.

@RenkoBrickRoad

Thank you for the detailed explanation. I am glad to hear that you understand the distinction between being employed at a VC firm and making independent investments, and that you are aiming for a long term horizon of 10 to 15 years. That removes much of the urgency that seemed to come across in your initial message.

Since you have now outlined a clear, long term plan, the next step isn't further discussion here, but rather consistent and realistic execution. First, focus on building a verifiable, long term track record in trading (over months or years, not days), and protect your current career rather than risking it for unpaid 'education' programs.

I wish you the best of success and the discipline needed for this long journey.

Symple

Symple 

@RenkoBrickRoad Thank you for the detailed explanation. I am glad to hear that you understand the distinction between being employed at a VC firm and making independent investments, and that you are aiming for a long term horizon of 10 to 15 years. That removes much of the urgency that seemed to come across in your initial message. Since you have now outlined a clear, long term plan, the next step isn't further discussion here, but rather consistent and realistic execution. First, focus on building a verifiable, long term track record in trading (over months or years, not days), and protect your current career rather than risking it for unpaid 'education' programs. I wish you the best of success and the discipline needed for this long journey. Symple

I appreciate this. I wanted to provide a little more depth to a few points if I may--

Admittedly, I do have a sense of urgency that can lead to self-sabotaging behavior. This has been a bit of a challenge for me. I am prone to certain forms of self-sabotage since I have found that it is relatively simple to make far in excess of the income I receive from my current full-time job when trading goes well. This year, I made $6k in one day in June, and in July, I made $7k in one day. I come from a well-educated but not at all wealthy background, so dealing with the emotions of these events did not go well. I experienced the overconfidence that many talk about that leads to the aforementioned self-sabotaging behavior. Those experiences were some of the impetuses that led me to direct my focus toward algorithmic trading.

I think the wisest thing for me to focus on at this point would be developing the strategy to require progressively less of my involvement (without trying to aim for *no* involvement), and I sense you would agree. In any case, I will continue to focus on building a solid track record in Sim--October went well, having made ~$7k with predominantly manual trades and with some of the largest winners having been entered via the strategy/algorithm. I did, however, lose a significant amount of money on an FOMC day and one other day that month, which again speaks to the sense of urgency you pointed out as a vulnerability. I am improving my ability to adhere to daily loss limits and have done well with that lately, but I will need to be careful to avoid letting my desire to trade full-time as soon as I can from preventing me from reaching that point.

On the unpaid educational program, to add more detail to this - it would be through Axia Futures. One of their founders has spoken at a conference held by Bloomberg, and this was the same person I spoke to about the part-time opportunity I may have with them in January. Watching that conference gave me confidence that reaching out to them about an opportunity would be a good idea. If one does well in their programs, there is a pathway to becoming a funded trader with them, and they do claim to have 8-figure traders. I respect your point re: the advice to avoid risking my full-time job for an unpaid opportunity such as this one, but I hope it may be a little clearer why I am considering this route. Ideally, in the context of trading, one should probably consider quant roles (or at least I am under the impression this route offers the highest likelihood of success in trading if you are able to get such a role), but I am not in a position to go back to university currently. Since I already have an algorithm that has produced backtest results with a profit factor over 5, I sense that developing my skills on my own as well as the strategy/algorithm would get me to the point of being able to trade full-time sooner than going back to school to prepare for quant roles would. And lastly, regarding my full-time job, they are not the strictest in regard to monitoring remote employees, and I am hoping to negotiate with Axia such that a significant proportion of the work I do would occur after work if possible. Trading futures is challenging enough on its own without having to work an unrelated full-time job concurrently, but if I can eventually become a funded trader with Axia or consistently profitable on my own, I would be able to leave my current job as I am seeking.

I hope the above makes my current plans a little clearer. I am very motivated to trade full-time, but the available paths are as opaque as they are difficult considering I do not come from a traditional finance/trading background. Thus, if I'm doing anything you firmly wouldn't suggest doing based on the above details, I'd value hearing your perspective tremendously.

RenkoBrickRoad 

I appreciate this. I wanted to provide a little more depth to a few points if I may-- Admittedly, I do have a sense of urgency that can lead to self-sabotaging behavior. This has been a bit of a challenge for me. I am prone to certain forms of self-sabotage since I have found that it is relatively simple to make far in excess of the income I receive from my current full-time job when trading goes well. This year, I made $6k in one day in June, and in July, I made $7k in one day. I come from a well-educated but not at all wealthy background, so dealing with the emotions of these events did not go well. I experienced the overconfidence that many talk about that leads to the aforementioned self-sabotaging behavior. Those experiences were some of the impetuses that led me to direct my focus toward algorithmic trading. I think the wisest thing for me to focus on at this point would be developing the strategy to require progressively less of my involvement (without trying to aim for *no* involvement), and I sense you would agree. In any case, I will continue to focus on building a solid track record in Sim--October went well, having made ~$7k with predominantly manual trades and with some of the largest winners having been entered via the strategy/algorithm. I did, however, lose a significant amount of money on an FOMC day and one other day that month, which again speaks to the sense of urgency you pointed out as a vulnerability. I am improving my ability to adhere to daily loss limits and have done well with that lately, but I will need to be careful to avoid letting my desire to trade full-time as soon as I can from preventing me from reaching that point. On the unpaid educational program, to add more detail to this - it would be through Axia Futures. One of their founders has spoken at a conference held by Bloomberg, and this was the same person I spoke to about the part-time opportunity I may have with them in January. Watching that conference gave me confidence that reaching out to them about an opportunity would be a good idea. If one does well in their programs, there is a pathway to becoming a funded trader with them, and they do claim to have 8-figure traders. I respect your point re: the advice to avoid risking my full-time job for an unpaid opportunity such as this one, but I hope it may be a little clearer why I am considering this route. Ideally, in the context of trading, one should probably consider quant roles (or at least I am under the impression this route offers the highest likelihood of success in trading if you are able to get such a role), but I am not in a position to go back to university currently. Since I already have an algorithm that has produced backtest results with a profit factor over 5, I sense that developing my skills on my own as well as the strategy/algorithm would get me to the point of being able to trade full-time sooner than going back to school to prepare for quant roles would. And lastly, regarding my full-time job, they are not the strictest in regard to monitoring remote employees, and I am hoping to negotiate with Axia such that a significant proportion of the work I do would occur after work if possible. Trading futures is challenging enough on its own without having to work an unrelated full-time job concurrently, but if I can eventually become a funded trader with Axia or consistently profitable on my own, I would be able to leave my current job as I am seeking. I hope the above makes my current plans a little clearer. I am very motivated to trade full-time, but the available paths are as opaque as they are difficult considering I do not come from a traditional finance/trading background. Thus, if I'm doing anything you firmly wouldn't suggest doing based on the above details, I'd value hearing your perspective tremendously.

Trading is the hardest way to make easy money.

Been at the trading game 30+ years. Previous career was in charge of quality assurance for an aerospace company. Our product, if it failed, would lead to jet engine loss. Single point of failure for the engine. I had to make sure part dimensions were made to within 1/30th the thickness of a human hair (.0001 inches). Could never let a bad part escape the factory. FAA and other groups watched us like hawks. Intense pressure and stress.

And yet, full time trading is 100x tougher.

RenkoBrickRoad 

I appreciate this. I wanted to provide a little more depth to a few points if I may-- Admittedly, I do have a sense of urgency that can lead to self-sabotaging behavior. This has been a bit of a challenge for me. I am prone to certain forms of self-sabotage since I have found that it is relatively simple to make far in excess of the income I receive from my current full-time job when trading goes well. This year, I made $6k in one day in June, and in July, I made $7k in one day. I come from a well-educated but not at all wealthy background, so dealing with the emotions of these events did not go well. I experienced the overconfidence that many talk about that leads to the aforementioned self-sabotaging behavior. Those experiences were some of the impetuses that led me to direct my focus toward algorithmic trading. I think the wisest thing for me to focus on at this point would be developing the strategy to require progressively less of my involvement (without trying to aim for *no* involvement), and I sense you would agree. In any case, I will continue to focus on building a solid track record in Sim--October went well, having made ~$7k with predominantly manual trades and with some of the largest winners having been entered via the strategy/algorithm. I did, however, lose a significant amount of money on an FOMC day and one other day that month, which again speaks to the sense of urgency you pointed out as a vulnerability. I am improving my ability to adhere to daily loss limits and have done well with that lately, but I will need to be careful to avoid letting my desire to trade full-time as soon as I can from preventing me from reaching that point. On the unpaid educational program, to add more detail to this - it would be through Axia Futures. One of their founders has spoken at a conference held by Bloomberg, and this was the same person I spoke to about the part-time opportunity I may have with them in January. Watching that conference gave me confidence that reaching out to them about an opportunity would be a good idea. If one does well in their programs, there is a pathway to becoming a funded trader with them, and they do claim to have 8-figure traders. I respect your point re: the advice to avoid risking my full-time job for an unpaid opportunity such as this one, but I hope it may be a little clearer why I am considering this route. Ideally, in the context of trading, one should probably consider quant roles (or at least I am under the impression this route offers the highest likelihood of success in trading if you are able to get such a role), but I am not in a position to go back to university currently. Since I already have an algorithm that has produced backtest results with a profit factor over 5, I sense that developing my skills on my own as well as the strategy/algorithm would get me to the point of being able to trade full-time sooner than going back to school to prepare for quant roles would. And lastly, regarding my full-time job, they are not the strictest in regard to monitoring remote employees, and I am hoping to negotiate with Axia such that a significant proportion of the work I do would occur after work if possible. Trading futures is challenging enough on its own without having to work an unrelated full-time job concurrently, but if I can eventually become a funded trader with Axia or consistently profitable on my own, I would be able to leave my current job as I am seeking. I hope the above makes my current plans a little clearer. I am very motivated to trade full-time, but the available paths are as opaque as they are difficult considering I do not come from a traditional finance/trading background. Thus, if I'm doing anything you firmly wouldn't suggest doing based on the above details, I'd value hearing your perspective tremendously.

@RenkoBrickRoad

Thank you for the additional details and your openness regarding the psychological challenges you described.

I have reviewed your points, but my professional assessment remains unchanged. The combination you described:

- Manually overriding the bias,
- Relying on backtests with an extremely high profit factor
- Attempting to scale this alongside a full time job

carries fundamental risks that would not be acceptable in a professional trading environment.

At this point, I must end our discussion. Since I am neither a career counselor nor a mentor, I cannot and will not provide any further detailed analysis of your strategy or plans. Continuing this discussion would only create the false impression that your current approach is still negotiable or optimizable from a professional standpoint. It is not.

The best and only next step for you is to take this feedback, reflect on it, and make your decisions independently. I wish you the best of success and the discipline required for the road ahead.

Symple