Welcome to NexusFi: the best trading community on the planet, with over 150,000 members Sign Up Now for Free
Genuine reviews from real traders, not fake reviews from stealth vendors
Quality education from leading professional traders
We are a friendly, helpful, and positive community
We do not tolerate rude behavior, trolling, or vendors advertising in posts
We are here to help, just let us know what you need
You'll need to register in order to view the content of the threads and start contributing to our community. It's free for basic access, or support us by becoming an Elite Member -- see if you qualify for a discount below.
-- Big Mike, Site Administrator
(If you already have an account, login at the top of the page)
Trading: Oh what a tangled web I weave, When I want to take profits in trading
Frequency: Several times daily
Duration: Years
Posts: 1,777 since Nov 2014
Thanks Given: 3,565
Thanks Received: 3,165
I am starting this journal/thread to summarize my Psychological progress in becoming a full time trader.
I work full time and currently mainly swing trade but day-trade the first 60 - 90 minutes. My goal is to become a full-time day trader in exactly 1 year. I am NOT brand new to trading and have some experience but inconsitent trader so-far.
I have been an active futures.io (formerly BMT) member for more than 6 months now. I gained immensely from my previous journal and starting this new one to make it easier for me and others who want to understand my methodology.
Very interesting topic and good luck. My plan is about seven years, seriously. I call it the seven-year bitch.
How have you worked this out numbers-wise? Are you planning on making 100% of your current non-trading income in a year? How much are you earning now off trading in a month and how do you plan to get to where you need to be in 12 months?
I really like your posts and analysis. I know you would have thought this thoroughly about your decision of full-time trader, I hope you are not giving up your profession...My life goal is to become successful trader, I too wanted to be a full-time trader but gave that idea recently because
1. With swing trading you don't have be full-time trader, in fact most of mistakes
I do is because of watching this market continuously tick by tick.
2. Idea of full-time is enticing but as a trader we end up doing more work than regular job.
3. The BIGGEST issue I am facing right now is if you are in a trade how do I determine my CONTEXT is right or wrong? This is specially challenging when you are SWING trading futures, that CONTEXT changes every hour.
4. One way to overcome this fear of failure is have 100K account and start scaling in with ONE contract and scale in or scale out at pre-determined levels for that
I don't know becoming FULL-TIME help or not?
Trading: Oh what a tangled web I weave, When I want to take profits in trading
Frequency: Several times daily
Duration: Years
Posts: 1,777 since Nov 2014
Thanks Given: 3,565
Thanks Received: 3,165
My goal is to make 100% of my income from trading starting Next November. I did a trial 10k target which I achieved (sort of, if you exclude today) in 5 months. However, I missed lot of opportunity due to my max 90 minutes day-trading restriction and was able to catch only the big swings. However, I THINK I GET IT. My understanding of Market behaviour increased significantly this year and I think I got what it takes. Hence the resolution to go full-time and give my 100%.
The magic number for me is 100k per year. However, I can still lead a comfortable life with 50k as I don't have a Mortgage, zero debt and likely to live in a developing country and hence low cost of living.
Though I make lot more than 100k from my current job as a Physician, I find trading world fascinating and NOT necessarily drawn towards it for income. I also like the concept of not having to work for someone. It will allow me to do whatever I want to do in anyway I want, whether it's within health service or others. I call it financial freedom.
I am quite privileged to have a job which pays me well and still provide satisfaction. My biggest advantage is my frugal lifestyle, sufficient emergency savings to last 2+ years & VERY understanding wife. This allows me to take that big risk of quitting (or rather stop practicing) for a year.
That's the dream world I live in but I am determined to make it a reality. We will know by October 2016.
I just need less days like today in my trading career.
Trading: Oh what a tangled web I weave, When I want to take profits in trading
Frequency: Several times daily
Duration: Years
Posts: 1,777 since Nov 2014
Thanks Given: 3,565
Thanks Received: 3,165
Thanks for your helpful comments and concerns.
Totally agree. I struggle with that tick watching daze too. Morover, I perform better when I enter my trade and leave the screen for 5 to 10 minutes. It's going to be a challenge as a full-time trader (when I become one) but I am hoping to extract more wisdom from successful day-traders here. I am sure others would have had the same problem before becoming consistently successful. futures.io (formerly BMT) is truly a sharing and helpful community.
How True. Even now, my full time job is lot easier than my 2 hrs trading. However, trading is also more exciting (not in the casino sense) and I expect it to remain satisfying. I am expecting to less spend hours eventually but don't mind spending more than 8 hrs as long is it's still enjoyable.
It's a huge issue for me too. I am not sure of the best way to overcome it. Hopefully experience will make me aware intuitively. In the meantime, I am trying to learn more by being accountable for my context analysis. My journal has been very useful so far and I often go back and re-read my own entries and see how context is changing. I am getting better at knowing whether my context is right or wrong. My problem is my stubborn behavior and not taking losses even after knowing that context has changed.
I agree. Well capitalised account is CRUCIAL for success. I have a 60k account but I will be able to increase it 100k if necessary. That's probably the reason why I trade without fear or strong emotions. Morover, I am VERY risk averse. My broker will probably let me trade 100 lots but I trade 1 . I just started practicing scaling IN 2 but probably not ready yet as I sensed mild butterflies in my stomach during strong moves. That's not a good sign. So I listened to them but I know I am NOT too far from trading 3 contract and will practice scaling In/out soon
Trading: Oh what a tangled web I weave, When I want to take profits in trading
Frequency: Several times daily
Duration: Years
Posts: 1,777 since Nov 2014
Thanks Given: 3,565
Thanks Received: 3,165
I will eloborate a little bit about my above comment.
My strengths
I am -
Well capitalised
Conservative & reduce risk as much as I can by position sizing
Young enough to learn new concepts/ideas
Old enough to know that success has multiple paths
I am NOT
An addictive personality
looking for fun from trading
Easily excitable with profit or dejected with loss
My weakness
I am
Narcissistic & often think I AM right
Hesitant to take many small losses and hence end with few big losses
Lack Patience - i.e Often too early to Short and too late to go long
Less physically active and mostly Cerebral (But not obese Yet)
Most smart people struggle with those same weaknesses, but don't underestimate how difficult they can be at times. You will likely find yourself mainly struggling in two areas:
1) Holding on to losers because you don't want to accept you're wrong. This will turn a small loser into a very large one. (I once lost two weeks of solid profits in about three hours using this fine technique.)
2) After hitting a string of losses, such as two or three in a row (which is not statistically uncommon regardless of your strategy), you will be afraid to pull the trigger on your next setup. Because if you don't enter the trade it has no chance of being a loser. You're not afraid of the money loss (as you said above the money is not the concern), but you are afraid of being wrong, or having to admit that maybe you are not the level of trader you have told yourself you are.
What it takes to overcome the above is to realize that this is a probabilities game, and if you have edge, over time you'll see consistent positive results. It does take time to get there though. You have to stick to your trading plan and take the loss when you said you would, gain from that new information the market gave you, and learn from it. You also have to come to realize that two losses in a row have no statistical bearing on the next trade setup that presents itself. So you have to take the next setup. That said, you also need to consider days when you might be "off" for some reason, and know that you need to step away.
You likely do have what it takes, and can overcome all of the above, but it does take hard work and time.
By the way, a healthy body aids a functioning mind, but you know that.