Can an average guy make a living at trading?

Discussion in 'Professional Trading' started by EliteEd, Jul 5, 2003.

  1. There's a total idiot called Will1 on Hitman's thread
    http://moneycentral.communities.msn...LastModified=4675420223651477465&all_topics=1

    who thinks that he can make over 4000% a year on ES trading 1 contract (an average of 9 points a day)... specifically he states that he can turn $2500 into $117,000 in a year...

    As you will see, my continued heated exchange with him has failed to convince him that his casual assertion of 4400% lacks credibility....

    As long as people like Will1 are classed as average, there is no hope for the average guy!

    I suppose we should try and come to some kind of consensus as to what an "average guy" is...
     
    #111     Jul 15, 2003
  2. corvus

    corvus

    Last I heard...

    [​IMG]
     
    #112     Jul 15, 2003
  3. hell no!!!!
    the sureway to lose money is to trade esp futures/options. futures/options are 0 sum games.
    buy stk/bond mutual funds for the long term.
    invest
    dont trade
    amen
     
    #113     Jul 15, 2003
  4. You mean he isn't saying

    "readit readit" ?:D

    Natalie
     
    #114     Jul 15, 2003
  5. If average equals, go to work 9:00 – 5:00, can’t wait for your next coffee break, dream about what you are going to have for lunch, go to the bathroom even thou you don’t have to just to kill 5 minutes, the minute you get home the tube is on and beer in hand, you are not going to make a living trading.

    If all the posters on this thread that say you can’t make a living thru trading stop you from continuing your journey, then it was good advice for you. Send all the nay sayers a thank you card, they saved you a ton of money.

    This is not a situation where just showing up is going to cut it, you must take the iniative to make it happen. Commit everything to paper, when you go thru the posts on here and other sites always have Word or notepad open and cut and paste til you can’t stand it, make trading your thesus.

    All the information you need is out their, but you must be willing to look under every rock.

    Regards,

    Bruce Hawkins
     
    #115     Jul 15, 2003
  6. dbphoenix

    dbphoenix

    Great post.
     
    #116     Jul 15, 2003
  7. Some of the 'smartest' people in the world fail at trading, and some complete 'idiots' are millionaires. Unfortunately the only way to know whether you 'have it' is to try.

    Take your nest egg of $XX,000 and make a budget.

    1. Buy some educational programs (Get one in the $2,500 range and one in the $800 range). Study them, then use the classified section of ET to exchange/lend them with other traders for other educational programs. This will greatly speed up you basic background knowledge of markets, indicators, money management and so forth. When it starts to sound like everyone is saying the same thing, then you've pretty much heard it all. But remember education does not make you a good trader, it just helps you to not be a stupid one.

    2. Divide your trading capital (whats left after your educational investment) into ten chunks. Keep one, open an account, and give the other nine to another trader you can trust ( like me! :D ) with instructions to only give you another portion when the first one is gone and you know why it's gone, and what to do differently, and have demonstrated you can make money on a simulator. I strongly recommend the e-mini futures. You can open an account for as little as $2,000 and trade. The ES has all the action you need, and you won't be left trying to chase /analyse the latest and hottest stock. Just keep your eye on the one chart and learn it's behavior.

    I think there is much more risk for a newbie who puts $10,000 in a stock account and starts trading lots of 100 shares than for a futures trader who puts $2,000 in an account and trades 1 lot down to $1,000. Once you reach that point the broker will shut you off, and you have to go to your friend and get another $1,000. If you put your whole wad into an account, it is so easy for a newby to get excited, increase the position, hang on, and before you know it, your $10K is now $5K!

    Once you learn to trade the ES successfully, increasing your size and diversity will be no problem.

    3. Keep trying. If you divide your shots up, and keep going between your sources/resources, simulated trading and real trading, hopefully before you've gone through all ten of your 'shots' you will start to see some success.

    4. Attend a Money Expo or Online Trading Expo or something like that. Not that you will find the 'grail' there, but it will open your eyes to all the different ways of looking at the market. All this helps to develop an 'attitude' about market behavior.

    Hope this helps,

    kp
     
    #117     Jul 15, 2003
  8. Yep.

    There are relatively simply systems that work, but are
    fricken hard as hell to find. They are buried under a HUGE
    mountain of trading myth and BS that is floated out there
    by thousands for people.

    There are relatively complex systems that work, but take
    forever to develop.

    In both cases... you have to spend your time somewhere.



    peace

    axeman


     
    #118     Jul 15, 2003
  9. :) :p :eek: :( :cool: :confused: :D :mad:
     
    #119     Jul 15, 2003
  10. :D
     
    #120     Jul 15, 2003