Advice - moving from part-time to full-time

Discussion in 'Professional Trading' started by trumptrader, Oct 13, 2009.

  1. Hi Folks,


    I have been trading Forex for 2 years, with the last year being profitable. I trade my own account on a part-time basis and am quite successful at it.

    I currently hold a full-time day job that doesn't involve trading but would love the opportunity to move into trading full-time.

    What options do I have knowing that I am self taught and I don't have a degree? I've read about prop trading houses but really do not want to deposit any sort of cash since I am already making money on my own account.

    I average about 10-15% per month.


    Thanks
     
  2. 1) How many dollars per month is that?
    2) Keep your day job until you have atleast 24 months of living expenses accumulated in your checking account. :cool:
     
  3. "1 year" does not mean you are successful

    What is your Profit Factor, Sharpe/Sortino Ratio, Drawdown, etc.?

    How MUCH profitable were you during "last year?" 10-15% a month on a $10,000 account does not mean much. You can just as easily LOSE 10-15% for a year.

    How much do you have socked away OUTSIDE your trading account) I agree with "24 months" post above. Trading that must support living costs is called "scared trading."

    Giving up a job in a lousy economy, with benefits etc. to trade. Once you are out for a period of time, you might find it hard to get back into industry, once the inevitable "Risk of Ruin" blows you out once or twice. The market has a habit of sudenly blowing you out, regardless of your strategies, protections and cleverness.

    Try being profitable or THREE+ years before thinking you ahve arrived. And why don't you just ramp up your account for part-time trading if you are making 10-15% monthly?
     
  4. OP,

    Congratulations on your recent year of continuing success.

    The rest of my post will be convoluted and, of course, my first post in every thread is pontificating.

    It is my expience that people who begin to do better, continue to improve. Take out you initial capital and use it for its prior intended purpose. This will add to your feelings of success since you are now ONLY trading on profits for the rest of your life. Ultimately, full time trading is not a habit of most successful traders. The rate of income generation precludes having to trade full time. At first this fact just appears as a thin stream of campfire smoke rising on a distant horizon as your pont takes you down the trail....... Reynolds Numbers do not apply to campfire smoke in low humidity climates..... It is all non turbulent laminar flow when you get on the right trail..

    As time passes watch how using additional capital from profits shrinks the time required to get to your current monthly 10 to 15% success rate. As you add to profits, you will see that the % of profits per unit time grows. It is the result of two things: being in the market more of market time and doing better at timing in the markets.

    Sharpe ratio is a timing tool if you change its use. Use it to be sharp. For example, use a signal generator to tell you which side of the market is the right side. Notice this Sharp timing tool is great for changing sides of the market when the Sharp indicator says the right side of the market has changed. You can make it doubly sharp by staying in trends their whole duration Trends are double ended, so stay sharp at each end.

    Trends overlap too, so you can watch that. This is where Profit factor comes in. It is a measure of trend overlap. Here you get the "two for one" effect; hence profit factor. It is also known as what goes up must come down and in terms of elasticity coeficients, the reverse is true. The Silly Putty inventor got a Nobel Junior Prize for this from the children of the King of Sweden. Here is how you get two for one. You watch the price struggle to extend the trend. When under peaking volume it stops its getting there, you quickly and firmly, exercise the profit factor trade called a reversal. you get two for one this way during overlap.

    There is a corrolary too. This is where S becomes R and vice versa. It was invented in Sortino an Island off the coast of Sweden originally settled by little known pasta makers. The PF is related to the Sortino. as you see price humps down or humps up. Humping is how pasta is made free of air. It is called squeezing and rolling; hence the S and R shorthand.

    Another expression for going down is called humping it is a combo of rolling and squeezing, more or less. Going long is the opposite type of humping: you squeeze off first and you finally hit R and rollover with a profit factor overlap. It all involves being sharp and rolling over after a good humping.

    Actually as you become more sharp, you can increase the frequency of humping on a faster fractal. There is more Sortino humping and PF' ing (F'ing, in floor trader humping shorthand). The Sharp ratio is greatly enhanced on each faster fractal. By being sharper and PF humping faster, you get the same bottom line results in a much shorter period.

    There is a lot of Eastern literature on all of this. They originally disguised the printing and mailing of books and tools on this as "candlesticks". women loved them inbewteen preparing rice in bolws long ago (between humpings, too)

    Currently, the money velocity is running at about 5% an hour in ES.

    Again congratulations. Update your use of Sharpe, PF and Sortino, by all means.

    Another Nobel for AZ. Power to the beaver growers.

    This post is dedicated to Bentedge.
     
  5. Thanks for the replies!

    Much appreciated.
     
  6. Think about switching to currency futures as you increase the amount you risk per trade. At higher amounts, the forex brokerage has more incentive to run your stops which does not happen in currency futures.

    Remember you are going to have more stress when trading full time, so you need to trade the same way you did when you were part time.

    Also look for longer term swing trades. For example, inflation fears have caused some currencies to trend up longer term, so for example, you could do your normal trade, but let some winners run based on the longer term trend.

    Finally, look for other things you can do besides trading, for example, you may want to work part time as a consultant.
     
  7. And as usual, Jack's many words seem to boil down to a little too much cannabis use...
     
  8. Yeah I agree here.... i mean how do you make 10% to 15% part time? I can't do that full-time?

    Why not simply do as you are doing now?

    I am telling you now...when you make edxtra pocket money things are great...but as soon as it becomes your "job" things change. the fun goes. I.M.H.O.

    If I was you...keep doing as you do. Maybe when you have paid off your mortage and havemore than enough in savings do it...But why?

    2) Keep your day job until you have atleast 24 months of living expenses accumulated in your checking account.
     
  9. ok so what is a "higher amount"?
    -------------------------------------------------
    Think about switching to currency futures as you increase the amount you risk per trade. At higher amounts, the forex brokerage has more incentive to run your stops which does not happen in currency futures.
     
  10. Again, thanks for the replies.

    I know it's just a matter of time before I tackle this full-time. I just wanted advice from people that have been in the same boat as me.

    I am planning on moving forward full-time in 12 months time roughly as my account continues to grow.

    It's been a tough journey but incredibly rewarding. I am definitely a passionate trader as it's pretty much all I think about all day. Looking forward to working hard.

    Regards.
     
    #10     Oct 14, 2009