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I'm not sure about the context with which you are using the word "hobby". I can assure you that trading cannot be seen as a hobby. It may be something that you are passionate about, but it is definitely a hobby. Trading is a high performance career. It is a business in a highly competitive and fast-paced industry.
Now, don't get me wrong. Passion and hobby are not the same thing. I don't pursue my passions as a way to support my lifestyle. There are many aspiring and passionate actors, singers, artists, interior designers, architects and others out there. But if your passion is not something that is in demand and that society is willing to pay you for, then find another career.
On the other hand, pursuing a career WITH a passion is a great way to go. You have to be passionate about trading. It is demanding of our time, energy, emotions and funds. However, things that we are passionate about are not necessarily a hobby. We choose what we want to be passionate about. Just don't make trading into a hobby.
I believe the big problem too is the people want to make money very faster. It´s a big mistake. The psychology is very important, many people fail at this point. Bye...
There is also one very important point - choose RIGHT market for YOU.Not the most liquid,not the most popular - but that RIGHT one.The one who is not too big,the one who has strong trend's and which let you FEEL it.Most of people start with ES/YM/NQ or some Forex one's - and that it's like a financial suicide even if you are not undercapitalized.Beginers with no knowledge who try to go into the most competitive market in the world...
When is time to give up and be sure that this is not for you ? Stricle just when you feel bad after logging to trading account...
I’ve been thinking about the thread since I saw it a few months ago. Looking back at my 6+ years’ experience and realising I haven’t yet been able to succeed, I thought whether it was time for me to give up too, but …
I have come a very long way from perceiving that success in trading is down to putting a few indicators with fancy names on a chart and becoming a billionaire in a year, taking large loans and almost losing everything with one click of the mouse, to studying the internals of markets, the volume profile, what market participants are doing, where the value is, why and how effectively the market participants defend a certain price level, where the sellers or buyers are trapped, where spoofing occurs and why, etc. etc.
I.e through trial and error I have slowly realised that trading requires you to understand the market and I don’t even mention getting your head in the right state. At a very primitive level you have to be able to understand why at a local farmers’ market tomatoes can cost 3 pounds per kilo in the morning, 2.30 at the peak time and 1.50 before close. You have to understand why all vendors sell at around the same price, and why one re-seller may want to park at the market in a huge empty truck, but announce to all sellers the truck is full with tomatoes.
Now, if I continued with my previous approach of looking for a holy grail indicator, then yes, I should go do something else. As an example, my friend’s brother has been trying to trade FTSE100 for a few years. According to him, he was very close to success, he had his “secret” strategy of trading during market open. Then I found out he lost around 150000 British pounds so far (and that’s what he said he lost, the amount is probably even higher than that). The guy’s wife doesn’t know it, the guy’s parents don’t know it, the guy is b**ls deep in debt and he still thinks he is close to success. Clearly he should stop trading immediately, check into his nearest hospital and get his head removed from his anus.
I do strongly believe that it is possible to learn anything and our brain is like a muscle that requires stimulation in order to learn a skill. Coupled with our desire to learn and to put in the hours needed to acquire one skill or the other, it is possible to become very proficient in many fields. Trading is similar, but requires an approach that is radically different to studying exact science, because contrary to what many trading courses are teaching, it is anything but the exact science. Although it is based on the same foundations – theory and practice – I think the ratio of practice required in trading is much higher than theory. With this ratio it is much closer to art - you can spend a week learning the technique, then spend 10 years developing your vision and being able to gain from it.
And that’s where I think the problem lies for many people who start trading (including myself a few years back), they buy a book with a few carefully chosen charts, leading them to believe that memorising a bunch of candlestick patterns or putting a line on the chart is going to bring them success in a year. They then backtest for a month, put their life savings together, setup a highly leveraged account and…go bust. And unfortunately the vast majority of books and courses out there are fuelling that, putting new traders in this perpetual cycle of searching for an indicator, switching systems, then losing money. Unless some traders re-think their approach to trading, they will be better off to do something else.
So, again, it depends on how you approach trading. As someone said on this forum, if you want to gamble, go to a casino, at least you will get some nice drinks and have some nice time playing.
I guess, for most people who trade, having a bad day means losing a significant amount of money. For me it means going against what I had set myself to do, i.e. breaking my own rules.
The loss was laughable (120 Euros), but what did it for me was the broken principle of getting back into a trade for a 3rd time when I had said 'enough' less than 5 mins earlier.
Sure, I had seen all the signals I wanted to see before entering again, and sure, this latest trade had got me back to break-even (even slightly profitable), but there was that uneasy feeling of having broken the rules that really turned a relatively okay day into a bad one.
It's days like these that lead me to confess about my sins into a thread called 'time to give up'. Freudian slip? Whoops.
What a terrible, sad and pathetic way to live. And if this is what you hold in your mind, neither you nor this trader will make it long term. Guaranteed.
My experience is the exact opposite. I love what I do, it is deeply fulfilling and I wouldn't 'trade' it for anything.
I have a very low joy threshold, and I am willing to enjoy all experiences.
You are never in the wrong place... but sometimes you are in the right place looking at things in the wrong way.
Thanks Anagami, although that is your opinion and you're entitled to it.
That statement rings true about the nature of learning to trade and the difficulties along the way - better hear sobering statements about that than to hear tough, macho-style slogans on how good is to be a trader. To many successful traders - in my opinion - the former sentiment would also ring truer.