hire some kid from out of high school and have him trade your account for 20% commission. the problem or hazard in trading your own account is you might get too cocky and freaking out. taking crazy risk and breaking all your own trading rules. 1. MUST HAVE TRADING RULES 2. MUST HAVE INDICATORS 3. TRADING PLAN AND NEVER BREAK YOUR RULES.
1 in 1 million... Stats are gettng epic here on ET. Given there is about 1 million real traders on earth, this one guy must be making a crazy living...LOL Listen to YoungTrader's advice if you're passionate. Today, I' m about to make my first losing week since september 2007( damned sugar calls I sold ...LOL ). It just shows you it is possible to be consistent. No big money for me, but steady income and really enjoyable lifestyle...
1 in a million though is not impossible If you watch this video you will see, the impossible IS possible! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=skYRZ_-RXtk
If you want to trade full time make sure: - you have enough capital set aside in a cash deposit to pay all monthly costs such as rent/mortgage, insurance, child support, vacation, medical bills, home repairs, car repairs, etc. (+20%, just to be on the safe side) for a minimum of 2 years. Obviously, 3-5 years is much better. Depending on your lifestyle this "iron reserve" sum should be somewhere between $30,000 - $100,000 for every year you wish to cover. 2 years coverage is good, obviously 3-5 years gives you much more peace of mind once you're going through a drawdown in trading. - you have investable capital that is large enough to sustain a drawdown of 25-35% without making you panic and lead you to tap your above "iron reserve" for trading (which you should never do). I suggest a minimum trading capital of around $250,000+, analogous to the capital requirement for a nice little start-up brick and mortar company. If you can earn 15-25% annually - year in year out with little volatility of monthly returns - on your investable capital before taxes while slowly going through your reserve for living expenses you might be able to sustain yourself as a full-time trader. For a full time trader, I'd thus recommend a minimum of e.g. 3x$50,000 coverage for living expenses = $150,000 in a cash deposit plus $250,000 trading account = $400,000 starting capital. Obviously, these numbers are by no means mandatory, just a personal conservative recommendation. So if you want one piece of advice so you're "ready" in 2 years: reduce your costs today, save money. Don't try to trade fulltime unless you have the required capital base. Trading is like any other business. Make a business plan = trading plan. Include your assets, costs, goals and write down everything that can go wrong (e.g. 50% drawdown, becoming sick and needing 6 months hospital treatment etc). and potential solutions and plans for everything that can go wrong. This will prepare you and have you think about avoiding risk primarily rather than frantically thinking about maximizing returns. How many restaurant startups start with lots of passion but little experience and $15,000 in capital and end up making their owners millions? 1 in a 1000 would be my guess.
I agree on everything, so I advise you to do what Maverickz says, except for one thing: "Read books, take courses". That's going to ruin your reasoning. It will tell you how to think, whereas in my opinion your natural reasoning is the one that will tell you how things work, in trading and in every other field. First you should look at markets (and paper trade them) all by yourself, without any external influence on your reasoning. Leave your reasoning pure and rested. I would forget about books altogether. Besides, there will be no way of knowing which ones are good and which ones are bad. You'll get so tired that you won't have any energy left. Forget books and courses. On everything else, Maverickz is right. Paper trade until you find a way that works. Eventually, depending on your psychology and self-control you might not be able to learn a discretionary way of making money, so, like me, you will have to turn to automated trading. But whatever you do, paper trading first (best choice is to use IB's paper trading account), until you find a consistent way to make money.