Alright guys, so i am 26 years old and i have dreamed of being a trader since i was 20 years old and opened my first brokerage account. I have periods where i can stay disciplined build a solid strategy and do very well consistently. Then i have periods were life, and stress get the best of me and i deviate from my strategy and i blow up my account. It is quite frustrating to see how well i can do and how accurate my analysis can be when i am not acting like a hormonal chick! I have quite a bit of money saved up again about 30k that can be used for trading. and i am returning to finish my degree in finance since I dropped out when i got my girlfriend pregnant so i could work commercial construction and she could be a stay at home mom. Which got me nowhere because she didn't appreciate it and we split up after 3 years. Now that i am a student ill have mon,weds,fri free to trade. i like futures and in the past i specialized in the e mini. I did so well on one of my disciplined sprees, that i landed a 500k trading account from a guy and was trading that and earning weekly commission for awhile. so i would like to stick to the e mini, crude, gold, and euro. primarily E mini though. So if any of you have any advice or useful resources i would greatly appreciate it! i want to give this another solid shot. Thanks guys
Why are you going to college? You want to be a trader, right? As in making your living trading - not some profession where you need some professional designation (i.e. law, accounting, medicine). So why are you going to college? To be like everyone else, to be as uniform and crystallized in your thinking as everyone else? Do you see how disgustingly conformist that is? Yet, you want to be in a profession that requires true individuality, and genuine out-the-box thinking, and a contrarian nature. College is the very last place you'll find any of that.
I discovered trading while I was in college and I only have one year left to finish. Since I already invested 3 years of tuition and time into it and there is no gaurantee that I will be able to make trading work for me. I feel it would be foolish not to finish my finance degree, specially since I am a father now.
Thanks to everyone for sharing their views and giving some valuable advice to the young stars. I am also a new trader and I am a student. I am trading in the forex market for almost six months. And before appealing in forex trading, I have practiced a lot of trading with demo trading accounts. Even I am still working with demo trading accounts and it is helping me a lot.
Well then if you are that close to finishing, you should finish. As an employer in the financial world, I can tell you ay resume I get that has a college listed I throw.I just can use them. I would much prefer to hire someone your age who has hitchiked across America.
My advice is this : the road narrows. Survival in the markets is the first order of the day, above profit, especially when you are trading other people's money. You''re young and you want to make a success of this, and many market cycles in these markets will (hopefully) come and go while you trade that account. Don;t focus so much on making money as on not losing it. If you survive long enough and are prudent the profits will find you. Don't worry about "Not making enough." If you are trading other people's money you can never make enough for them. Focus on remaining solvent. Sit back and watch all the ways everyone will figure out how to fuck up. Focus on remaining solvent, weird, unexpected things will pop up, and the road is going to narrow.
Trust me. I completely see where you are coming from. I have been supporting myself since I was 18 and put myself through school and everything I know is life and self taught. Def very little is from our education system. I built a new house last year and I support two kids. Most people I know my age that work corporate can barely take care of themselves. But unfortunately for me most employers do require degrees. And if I don’t make trading work, I don’t want to end up building high rises my whole life.
hi aorneltrades91, the default advice for youngsters is to run far away from trading. it is ademanding craft that is like no other. however, as I read on & understood more of your background; dream since 20, now 26, a young father returning to college, 2-3 yo old, self awareness u periodically r a hormonal chick, landing a 500k other pple's $!! trading wise, you are doing well. take comments here with a pinch of salt. life perspective wise, I would tell my younger self to find balance by fully understanding myself thru a mind-body-soul approach. trading is just a craft to make $. always know what I am doing this for. just a way to make dough for autonomy of my life & provide for my family. as a father, happiness comes from raising my child. trading is only a means to that happiness imagine yourself on your death bed. what is most important? a successful $$ loaded career in trading or ??
Thank you scalpie, the things that you have mentioned now that I am a father is the reason why I have become hesitant many times to pursue this. Everytime i pursue it. It takes over my life. But it is all I want to do, I enjoy nothing like I enjoy navigating through the markets. My goal this time around is to trade less and be more disciplined.
Because to be a trader in the modern world you need an education. It does not even matter what type of trading he wants to do, be it global macro, quant or fundamental long/short. He is not going to get exposure to that knowledge on his own. Additionally, if he wants to manage OPM (either as a PM or a founder), his chances are much better if he goes to a good school. I've been in the business for a little while and have yet to see someone who was able to make it on "the street smarts" alone.