The 123 guy is a lunatic. There are handful of successful traders here and to get anything out of ET you're going to have to discern who they are. https://www.elitetrader.com/et/threads/hiring-and-managing-traders.276469/page-2#post-3840915
For many of the experienced commenters here, I am grateful for your dedication to sharing insights with someone like myself—a novice in trading stocks. However, I'd like to clarify a recurring theme in many replies: skepticism about my abilities or suggestions to avoid what I've been passionately pursuing for the past year and a half. To address these concerns, I want to emphasize my current situation: I am 18 years old and deeply passionate about trading. I firmly believe in the immense value of gaining intense exposure and rigorous training early on, especially in extremely volatile market conditions and rare unclear sentiments that define pivotal moments in history. As the proverb goes, "The best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now." I am eager to immerse myself in the realities of trading, whether as a full-time retail investor or taking suggestions from institutional investors. If not now, then when should I pursue this? Should I wait until after college? If so, what role does college play? What lasting impact can college offer me if any that influence the rest of my life? Sure, I attend a college that offers a prestigious finance program, with its yearly ranking being top 5 in the nation. But then what makes me different than my peers in my class? Perhaps one day, 25 years from now I have the potential to make it to a higher social class and explore a new set of financial and social dynamics. What is my plan afterward? I will be 43 by then, do I really have a chance to compete with other elite young traders who quickly rise to the top? Every precious moment in time would be my opportunity to foster growth, and I am dedicating my life to it. I hold immense respect for the knowledge and advice shared here. My aim is simply to articulate my mindset and the driving force behind my decisions. Should you choose not to support me, I completely understand and wish you to refrain from further engagement. Thank you for considering my perspective.
I am busily earning $$$ from day trading. At times, I'd chit-chat in the forum. You can ask specific questions in the forum.
Think about this, say you wanted to be a heart surgeon: you would need to go to an undergraduate school 4 years, medical school another 4 years, then a residency anywhere from 3 to 7 more years. Even if you had a mentor to start with. Time/experience can't be rushed, no matter if you had someone guiding you or not. Helps sure, and goals are great but you still got to put in the time. Even then don't count your millions before you (maybe) earn them. If you don't like hearing this, based on your reply to prior posts, then it is obvious you only want to hear what reinforces what you already think and are not open to hearing all viewpoints. Fine.
I understand your last sentence, and let me reemphasize my step to achieve this again: I want to optimize my time efficiency. Consider asking any heart surgeon if spending over 15 years learning "essential practical surgery skills" is truly necessary. If they affirm, they may be upholding tradition or aiming for profitability through referral programs. It's crucial to delve deeper into why achieving a doctorate takes so long, the organizations involved, and how creating a doctor shortage could benefit "credible medical associations" financially. It's not just about the fundamentals; understanding their motives and historical support is essential which plays the same part in the stock market, the exact reason I am asking for any clarification if anyone is willing to help. Or, I will take on my own path completely, and I am by all means not afraid to do so.
Gamers rate proficiency on hours played. I would equate a gamers and traders screen time needed for proficiency. In D1 you probably need 2K hours in front of a screen to have any chance. The MD-specialist is a poor analogy. Liability dictates the years of training.
Love your enthusiasm and passion. You have a shot based on that.. Listen to Poopy.... Go to college, study the markets, read as much as you can and get a job at an IB... Make your millions and then go out on your own..Anything else is punting
With futures you have to overcome the spread and comms. Starting small with MES with a 9% annualized vol-figure is difficult. Costs: $1.00 for comms and $2.50 in edge loss as a price-taker (all-in). You're going to have to average roughly a point on each round trip to reach break-even. FWIW, I know a guy who keys off of a aggregate VWAP figure (in stocks) in ES and has a four tick target on 10-20 trades a day. I could never do it, but he makes 7-8 figures each year with 100-200 lot average size. You would need membership rates to make it work. Higher frequency trades in futures are nearly impossible if you're short-banked. I am a pessimist due to needing to overcome the spread. A price taker in equities has a chance as the costs are essentially nil. The issue there is the PDT rule. Equity vol is exploitable, especially in single-name (stocks) but the learning curve is high.
This has ChatGPT written all over it. You don't even know where to put paragraph breaks. For fuck's sake, kid, stop the madness. Have you ever engaged your brain and written ANYTHING original? Probably not. This is for you...
There are no legitimate shortcuts. A mentor is the way to go, but either they are sht or cost prohibitive. Regardless, a top-down approach is best. Teach specific edges w/o the student possessing a deep knowledge of the market in question. Nothing to unlearn. Imagine the competition you/we/all of us face from inst-players. Say you've spent a few years in a finance gig and you somehow get a shot at a L/S equity fund. When asked about your best idea for the quarter your reply is "support and resistance".