A quote from Norman Vincent Peale, "Its Always To Soon To Quit". I myself am 44 years old with 2 kids, 8 and 15. I have no collage education at all, I dropped out of high school in the 11th grade. My god given talent is my ability to deal with people. I am a positive thinker and my favorite saying is " you can if you think you can" All successful men fail many times before succeeding. Failure is a good thing it creates wisdom, no wisdom comes from success. Now you listen to me you never give up, I want you to go to your local bookstore and order this book Stay Alive All your Life, by Norman Vincent Peale. Read the book and come back and try again. Now if you hate trading then find something you enjoy and keep at it, never give up.
my mini - well said and nice to hear. the tough part of trading sometimes is how easy it is to quit. just shut your computer off. so constantly you are battling yourself
you never said what your method was. What did you trade and how? Are you licensed? How did you analyze trading opportunities? Statistics, programming? Do you know trading platforms like openlink or murex? Do you understand the otc market, ideally in one industry like energy or fi? Risk management? Clearing? If you just sat in front of a screen all day trying to scalp exchange traded products, you were finished before you started.
Sorry to hear your story, but I know that its common for many people and I applaude you for having the guts to admit when its not meant to be. If you have trouble finding a job because of the gap in your employment history, one thing to consider would be going back to school for a masters, like an MBA. Before trading I was working in sales after college (I also have an econ degree) and wanted to have a finance related job but no one would talk to me due to inexperience in the field. I used my company's tuition reimbursment plan to get my MBA and the act of graduation opened up some interviews and I was able to get a job that way. You'll have access to the school's placement office and probably have recruiters come to the school. It meant 2 more years in a job I disliked, but that was worth the sacrifice to get into the field I wanted. Also, on your resume, use terms like "small business owner" or other phrases that show you are a self starter. You can get into the details of your "business" once you get an interview if they want to know, but by then you will have the chance to sell yourself in person. If you just list "daytrader" then the resume will probably get tossed without a second glance. Good luck to you whatever you choose.
Yeah, I did give it a shot. I don't know if it was really "big balls" though because I would actually think it was the opposite. Trading is really something that sucks you in once you enter. And I held on for so long because I was a bit stubborn. And maybe I just didn't want to let go of some dream yet. The irony was that without trading, I had no security, but with trading, I didn't really have security neither, but at least I got to dream about security once in awhile. I was also afraid of quitting on something that I had spent so much time and energy on. A realization that I might had just wasted about half a decade of my life on something I may not succeed in was kinda hard to swallow. But time's not on my side anymore, and I don't think I can grind it out any longer. No trader ever wants to admit that he's not going to make it in this game. But I'm closing in on 30 and don't want to be in this same situation when I'm 38 or whatever. I see some of my friends, and they're about to get a mortgage, and they're living the dream that I used to have, and they did it through the 9-5 way. So I can't dodge reality forever. I guess it's time to hang it up and look for a real job. Best of luck to all of you still in the game.
I don't want to put him down when he is already down, but.... Quite honestly, if you have no imagination how you could go around a gap in your resume, I don't know how you wanted to make it as a trader.... Some people might don't see the connection. But if you were trying to develop your own trading system, that required imagination, observation and creativity. Those are also the characteristics a guy needs who has a huge gap in his resume. See my point? So trading was maybe not for you, after all.... And if you weren't trying to develop a system, and in 5 years you couldn't find a system to adopt from someone else, chances are, you won't find in the next 5 years.... So your decission maybe for the better, and there is always life after trading....
Thanks for the award, but I prefer cash. It's a fact of life that many people get married so they no longer have to work, so that their spouse can help with the bills, or so that they can launch their "dream" business (which may require a secondary source of income to pay the bills). If you have difficulty discussing possibilities which are founded in reality, then perhaps you should either seek help in overcoming your phobia or select a discussion thread which is less threatening to your psyche.
i was day trading stocks making 1500 a month now trading futures for a prop firm make 10 times that much easier to follow a few index and a few bonds than 8000 stocks plus much better liquidity and no fuckin down tick rule