My advice -- if you're not going all out for it, forget about it. A 10% commitment just won't get it done. In your case it may be a smart decision to limit the damage there. "If it doesn't work" . . . what does that mean? How many hours are you willing to put in, how much money are you willing to lose, how many opportunities are you willing to sacrifice to achieve your goal? For 99% of those who attempt to trade, you WILL NOT be successful at this after the first year; if you happen to get lucky to hit your goal and think you've got it made, THINK AGAIN. If you're still around after 24 months you'll have already gotten used to idea of just sitting down in front of a keyboard and hitting BUY and SELL in order to make a living. And what if market conditions change? What then? How many daytraders out there who've earned a great living in the past few years have gotten their clocks cleaned in the past 6 months? Are you willing to go through that learning curve once again, carrying all the excess baggage of "what used to work but doesn't anymore"? In my opinion the traders that are still able to thrive in this market are the one who have been trading for more than a decade. That's the one be-all-end-all secret to succeeding in this game: experience. That's basically my answer to anyone who comes to me for trading advice -- it all depends. Depends on how much you already know. Depends on how much pain you can take. Depends on if you really deserve to make money in that market, in that stock, in that situation. It's an answer I give with a straight face and steady eye. An honest one. So if you're not willing to put in the time, money, and effort to build up that backlog of experience we all fall back upon to get us through the tough times, then just let the whole thing go.
I used to feel like a slave, and then I found a job I actually like. My only gripe about where I work is that I'm not in charge of the decision making. But I've also come to the conclusion that my employer wouldn't be successful in the way I want to be successful if they didn't have some expertise in making intelligent decisions. So it's a balancing game, and I'm not so upset when my ideas get shot down, because I can see how things evolve and learn about management itself. Too many jobs are exploitative, is my conclusion. It comes from the top, too. If the guy at the top is friendly, then the whole culture is friendly. I don't feel like a slave, so much as I feel like a paid consultant with a real opportunity to make a difference within the organization. So, to relate this to the OP, ... whatever you do, do it slowly and be careful and calculated about it. It's too easy to think every place is a shitter, but I can guarantee you not every job is terrible. And, on the trader side of things, if you decide to trade for yourself, take it easy and slowly. Remove as many stressors from your life as possible.
I am going to give those who consider quitting their job a different perspective. Here is my story. I have resigned from my job a few months ago. It was a well paid job which allowed me to live a middle class life. The work hours were not the best and I had to work on the weekends and holidays. The politic was worst and I wasn't the type who knows how to play the game. One day I was provoked and I couldn't take it anymore. I immediately wrote up a resignation letter and quit. To save money, I moved back to live with my parents, only to find out that they have financial needs that I wasn't aware of. As they get older, their medical expense goes up. With their medical needs in my mind, I gave most of my money to them to help them out. I blocked myself away from all my friends that I used to go out with, since I couldn't afford that middle class lifestyle anymore. I couldn't afford the dinners, the movies, the drinks, and the Holiday parties. With my stupid obsession with trading, I used the little money I have left to trade forex. I would be happy to break even and to just preserve my capital. Now I am desperately searching for a job. I would be lucky to get a job that pay 60% of what I made before. Would I agree that quitting is the best thing that have ever happened to me? At this stage, I absolutely could not agree. Would I likely to succeed in trading? Not likely because I have less than 5% chance of succeeding. Which means, I have only less than 5% chance of making anywhere from $0 to $30K per year. I have less than 1% chance of making it big. Is the risk:reward there? PA BTW: I am not trying to be a naysayer, but I just want to make sure that those who are considering to quit their job know what to expect.
In a few years, you may want to visit this thread (that is my advice to you, maybe it's a little too much for you now, but you will appreciate it years later): http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=186377
Jmho. Before you quit take a vacation-week two weeks whatever- let your boss know what's on your mind- end if the vacation think hard and make up your mind whichever way you want- even though u indicated u r bent upon quitting I ve been active trader for just 5 years and only recently became profitable- very profitable in fact - but the early starting years were bad- I went through same things that you are going through except I had good education and couldn't get a decent pay. I was married and saved up some and started day trading- losing that hard earned money mine and my wife's was pretty bad- lost of damage to self esteem etc etc relationships suffer too , health , social life etc I was just lucky that my wife stuck thru it all and after repeatedly blowing out the account I finally made it- Now like others have said it doesn't feel like a job- wake up at 6 am west coast put in first trade around 6 45 7 am couple of more trades and done pretty much by 11 am - sometimes I just stick around longer and then off to lunch with wife - pick up kid from school play with him and then take a nap - and do whatever afterwards I would say " do whatever u want to but give it your best shot so that even if you fail and look back later on in life you don't say - I could have done better"
Would be "Trade-At-Home" Dads/Moms have little grasp of the unlikeliness that a new trader will ever be very longterm, lucrative. A bad job is better than unemployed at home, searching the jobsites for work...
"Would be "Trade-At-Home" Dads/Moms have little grasp of the unlikeliness that a new trader will ever be very longterm, lucrative. A bad job is better than unemployed at home, searching the jobsites for work..." It can be done and its relatively simple too _ if you are successful then you would know what I am talking about. Only problem is spending all the years finding your edge and then how to trade that edge-I wasted 4 years on that not including 6-7 years part time but when you eventually become successful you know its not that big a deal. If it werent a zero sum game I d be willing to teach him everything I know. It ain't exactly rocket science.
You don't have to teach him everything, you can tell him the most important thing in trading. How about tell him 3 words about trading? I will know if you really made it by the 3 words you utter.
come on, you don't believe that statement, do you? trading is to make money, not preserve what you start with. Use a little common sense.