OP, about a year back I met man who was day trading (or learning to trade) full-time. He also worked 8-10 hours on each Saturday/Sunday, teaching English to Chinese kids via internet. He didn't speak any Mandarin so I guess it was some sort of conversate deal. He claimed he was able to meet all of his financial obligations through the weekend job, while he made his go at trading. I don't know the details of his arrangement, but the point I'm getting at is, plenty of low-stress, part-time gigs you could pick up. As an Engineer/consultant, some of them might feel beneath you, but do everything you can to give yourself a chance to succeed.
Negativity around here is not good, it can be done, there he can do it, hard work obviously. Go demo first decide on your method, practice then live. You've accepted you might fail but want to try so get trying.
Best to get industry experience as a Trader first at a good firm IMO . . . It's easier than being self-taught and you'll learn from those around you. Then going out on your own is easier. Good Luck!
I appreciate all comments, but won't spend any more time defending myself or my decision. I am taking a risk pursuing this, but it's a calculated risk with limited down side. At this point in time, I feel it's far more risky to continue dabbling instead of pursuing this with full focus and determination. Up until this point I've been working with programmers and crafting my trading model, so it hasn't made sense to quit, but now it does. It's also clear to me that many of those responding simply don't have success/experience in day trading index futures or they utilize strategies which lacks precision and allow for huge drawdown (no thanks). The type of advice I was interested in was more about how to proceed from here and if there's anything other independent traders feel have been important or crucial in a similar situation starting out on their own. For example, I want to eventually start focusing on expanding my operations. But how? Adding a new market? Asian markets? European markets? Day trading or maybe something different? Or stuff like having a business plan. Thanks for the reminder @speedo . I already have one and have trading rules for how to manage my operations. That's not to say it can't be refined even further. Anyway, thanks to everyone who's taken the time to write and give me comments on this. It's appreciated.
Yes. Good advice. I'm definitely not opposed to get supplementary income somehow in order to sustain my expenses even longer, so will be watching out for opportunities. Thanks.
I have to echo $15k is an awfully small account to start off with. There's not much room for errors if things go south or there are too many losing trades at the outset especially if the account dips initially to $10k. $40-$50k I'd be more comfortable with since it's easier to recover losses on the way assuming a consistent w/l and r:r. That said, as you've mentioned you are in Norway. That's a decently good timezone advantage where the main session starts in the early afternoon for you. The asian markets start around now at the time of this post which is probably 1am in Norway, so maybe not a great timezone for you (unless your trading schedule includes midnight to morning hours watch), but fine for those in the U.S. who can trade the yen futures in the late afternoon or evening. It was mentioned recently maybe a less stressful job could help. Like maybe a part-time gig such as uber-eats, or just a part-time anything in something more laid back. I mainly daytrade. For the main U.S. session start, I usually go with CL, NQ, or YM, sometimes ES. For asian session, the 6J. For the start of the UK session, 6E, 6B or even CL. CL seems to get active again regularly an hour or so before the U.S. session start also. And there's usually that sudden big move on CL with inventories day each week. (I usually don't try to predict it before it pops, but try to catch some of the volatile swings after the initial big fast move.) And of course there are choices of some decent discount futures brokers (in the U.S., not sure which or if they serve european customers) that have lowered intraday margin requirements. "tradeovate" I heard has some kind of leverage deal structure with less commissions although I haven't tried them yet. Good luck.
@Howard, You want to quit your job because you don't want to be politically correct all the time. I am just joking. Ideally, only use 10-20% of your cash saving for trading. Of course, some might not agree. Believe you me, having a substantial savings will take a lot off your shoulder and let you be patient and focus on your process rather than profit.
Sine you're ignoring all the precautionary advice including mine (which doesn't bother me at all; in fact, I'm perversely pleased to see someone ambitious enough to bull ahead despite it), I sincerely wish you the best of luck. I hope you succeed beyond your wildest expectations.
Good luck. It can be done. I started with 50k 5 years ago,now make more than 500 a year. Traded for 10 years before going on my own. Doubled the account in 3 months and was all uphill from there. Didn’t pull anything out first 6 months.