Anyone not making 200k a year from trading is a piker

Kinda agree. You can be rich in many ways. I am wealthy and have retired rather early and these days I trade mostly for fun and to pay a bill or two.

Am I a piker? I don't think in these terms. I don't think it can even be very helpful.

 

+1

I think in framing this question I have made the mistake of casting my situation onto everyone else. I trade full-time out of my home and I have recently become net profitable after years of hard work, sweat and losses. However I am still making less than what I could make in an alternate career. So, I tend to think of myself as a piker who has miles to go before he sleeps.
My intention was not to leave bad taste in other people's mouth. So, apologies for choosing not so appropriate words in framing my poll.

 

I did not take it that way. I just offered my own opinion.

 

I'm not offended. It's just my only experience with the word came from a broker using it to describe traders that didn't generate sufficient commission income for his brokerage. Traders who, in his opinion, were a waste of time.

The guy only wanted large, active accounts as customers...

Needless to say, I don't think he's in business anymore...

 

you really have not made any money yet to insult people and i don't think anyone attacked you. if you made 70k a year for the last 5 to 10 years just day trading you are successful. that 70k is really like 85k when you add in no travel cost and the tax break of being a trader. it comes down to what lifestyle you need but i would take a 70k trading from home over 120k working for someone else like a dog 60 hours and yes the freedom is worth 50k to me. you make it seem like people are promised 200k jobs in this world and yet the top 5% income earnings start at 150k.

also yes you are a piker at 70k haha i am just pointing out if you can pull in 50k or 100k and live a relaxed life nothing wrong with that.

 

Ah, I understand your rationale very clearly, I think it’s rubbish. That means that a large percentage of college graduates are also pikers, because many fail to bring in over 200K per year. All those years of study and a college graduate is essentially lazy who doesn't have any ambition. How about giving credit where credit is due?

Let me guess, college graduates do not count because traders are held to a different standard or rather a double standard. That’s really what you’re trying to say. There is no need to explain yourself, it’s all very clear for everyone to see. From what prestigious college did you graduate from I wonder? Or could it be that you only graduated from high school?

 

Try avoiding excessively comparing yourself to others. To each according to his own abilities.

 

just keep that account growing and compounding

 

I don't make anywhere near 200k, call me a piker if you like, my life is incredibly awesome.

I think people who sit at a desk for 12 hours a day with 6 monitors, spending countless hours on development and backtesting are pikers. Then they come to EliteTrader and have a contest about who's smarter and/or the best trader.

If you want to be successful, stop believing what people say on this forum. You are getting advice from people who don't trade successfully (there are some smart people, you just have to dig. Mav, Bone, etc..). It's like getting tips for succeeding in the NFL from a guy who just got cut from his highschool football team.

I spend around 4-6 hours a day trading, from a laptop, while traveling the world. I make 1-2 trades a day and rarely trade on Fridays. If that's a piker, I'll take it.

The secret? It's different for everyone. What changed my career was ignoring all trades that don't deliver at least a 5R return on my risk. It's very hard to screw up those odds.

I started trading for the freedom and that's what it has provided.


**Sorry for the rant and no offense meant towards the OP. However, when I was younger and struggling many years ago it was threads like these that discouraged me and sent me down the wrong path. I hope everyone here finds success trading, but have a salt shaker nearby because every thread on here should be taken with a grain of salt.

 

College graduates are at a different stage of their lives. There is no sense in comparing college graduates with full time traders. If you want to compare full time professional traders, the correct comparison would be against their alternate careers be it at a Walmart store or in an investment bank.

I think the most pertinent observation has been from a guy who said "one should aim to make 3x of the income one can make in his alternate career". I think it is a good benchmark that every trader can apply to his particular situation.