I was not sure if I should let this decision be influenced by the public opinion, but I`ve decided to think out loud and ask for some guidance. I`m sure many of you have been in the same place.
Entering the holidays, I had finished my first two months of live futures trading (ES contract) in addition to working a full-time job. Living in Europe, this allows me to trade the afternoon session in the US markets, while missing the open of the session.
Needless to say, this combination is very exhausting, especially since I sit up late with my post-analysis after the close and sleep way less than I should. My daytime job is also fairly demanding. I was very tired entering the holidays.
As for my trading, after some initial success, I`m now down $3000, much of it due to a terrible mistake on Fed day (QE2) and swinging too much size early on. In spite of this, I feel fairly confident in my abilities to read the market and I`ve improved immensely since I went live. I`ve spent the last two years studying the markets (after my first failure, knowing nothing back then), so I should be fairly prepared for the task.
However, the truth is that I have lost money and I need to re-evaluate things going forward from here.
I fear that if I continue like I`ve done, it will be very hard to achieve decent results in my trading. Much because I miss the open and potentially the best moves of the day, but also because it give me less time for analysis and preparation and also the fact that my day job tires me physically and mentally.
On the other hand, the reason I`m working a job is that I need to pay bills like everyone else. On the flip-side, my skills are in demand and I have a decent reputation so I will probably get a new job (or my old job) pretty quickly, if my trading does not work out.
Considering that I need to change course, I see the following alternatives right now:
1) Give notice that I`m leaving and fulfill the last two months of my contract working long days. I should probably be able to save $7000 by then. That should cover 2-3 months of living expenses. Start trading full-time in March.
2) Negotiate a deal where I resume my current job, but reduce my hours by 40-50%. This would allow me to trade full time 2-3 days of the week in addition to the afternoon session on the remaining days. Having some savings, I should be able to cover my expenses for a while, provided I live frugally.
If I can negotiate such a deal, I`m thinking that a reduced day time job would be my best bet as opposed to quitting completely.
I was not sure if I should let this decision be influenced by the public opinion, but I`ve decided to think out loud and ask for some guidance. I`m sure many of you have been in the same place.
Entering the holidays, I had finished my first two months of live futures trading (ES contract) in addition to working a full-time job. Living in Europe, this allows me to trade the afternoon session in the US markets, while missing the open of the session.
Needless to say, this combination is very exhausting, especially since I sit up late with my post-analysis after the close and sleep way less than I should. My daytime job is also fairly demanding. I was very tired entering the holidays.
As for my trading, after some initial success, I`m now down $3000, much of it due to a terrible mistake on Fed day (QE2) and swinging too much size early on. In spite of this, I feel fairly confident in my abilities to read the market and I`ve improved immensely since I went live. I`ve spent the last two years studying the markets (after my first failure, knowing nothing back then), so I should be fairly prepared for the task.
However, the truth is that I have lost money and I need to re-evaluate things going forward from here.
I fear that if I continue like I`ve done, it will be very hard to achieve decent results in my trading. Much because I miss the open and potentially the best moves of the day, but also because it give me less time for analysis and preparation and also the fact that my day job tires me physically and mentally.
On the other hand, the reason I`m working a job is that I need to pay bills like everyone else. On the flip-side, my skills are in demand and I have a decent reputation so I will probably get a new job (or my old job) pretty quickly, if my trading does not work out.
Considering that I need to change course, I see the following alternatives right now:
1) Give notice that I`m leaving and fulfill the last two months of my contract working long days. I should probably be able to save $7000 by then. That should cover 2-3 months of living expenses. Start trading full-time in March.
2) Negotiate a deal where I resume my current job, but reduce my hours by 40-50%. This would allow me to trade full time 2-3 days of the week in addition to the afternoon session on the remaining days. Having some savings, I should be able to cover my expenses for a while, provided I live frugally.
If I can negotiate such a deal, I`m thinking that a reduced day time job would be my best bet as opposed to quitting completely.
