Why would you want to work for someone else if you could make a good living trading from home, have loads of time off to do what you like, and go see the world instead of flying over it! If you are a pilot, you should have a decent bit of cash saved up, which you will need in order to make good money trading. You appear to have very little trading experience, especially daytrading, which is what you should look at if you want to limit your risk and maximize your returns. To make good money daytrading, you can forget about all the academic stuff, and concentrate on common sense approach in relation to time and money. You either want to make good money and have a quiet life, or you want the hassle of dealing with and answering to others - the choice is yours, but for me it is a no brainer! J_S
FWIW, having worked for large multinational companies in the past, and having dealt with most departments that make up an organisation, I can honestly say that the biggest problem you will face with any job, is, dealing with other people. Very few people are genuine, and no matter what you might think of someone, there will always be a side that you will know nothing about! The best decision I ever made was to walk out of a good paying job on the day of my 40th birthday, and I haven't looked back since - apart from a recent foolish episode of drinking, which I am glad to say is now over and done with. When you are on your own it is an entirely different ball game, and you need to have one solid plan made out to stop you from getting sucked in and wasting years doing nothing of real value. In hindsight, it is now easy for me, but when I look back, I was the biggest fool in the world, wasting loads of time and money on silly things like trading books, courses and private chat rooms. You need to be very careful with whom you associate and speak with, as with any profession that we choose, a lot will depend on who we know! For your information, it is possible to trade for no more than 1.5 hours per day, carry no overnight positions, and make between $500 to $5,000 (or more!) per day, depending on how much cash you have, and how good you are at handling boredom, for that is exactly how it gets after the excitement has died down, much the same as you described bout your pilot career. The freedom and time off makes up for it though - a small price to pay for a nice quiet and simple life, which you will never get working for someone else. J_S
Definitely don't listen to any drivel J_Smith spews out. Possibly one of the most full of shit (and himself) members on ET
I can relate to this somewhat. Here's my two cents. No fancy Bachelor of Finance for this guy. I paid my dues in the Canadian army slogging out there for a few years, then transferred my newly acquired skills to a nice well paid defence contractor gig. I became bored with my day job so I decided to take "trading" more seriously. It's always been an interest of mine. Been dabbling in the stock market since my teenage days. I even went so far as to pursue a Bachelor of Finance (evening) but stopped halfway with a Diploma instead once I realized that 90% of it was useless in regards to trading. In hindsight I would have been better served taking some Mathematics courses focusing on odds, probabilities etc. Oh yea lots of bullshit artist in this biz especially on this site. Imo Redneck and J_Smith are one of the few worth paying any attention to, even if they are incredibly cryptic . You'll get a feel for who's legit or not over time. A dead give away is if they're trying to sell anything Aka. Shill If I were you I wouldn't quit your day job. Use it instead to save cash. No curriculum will teach to learn how to trade, plenty for sale though. As for the degree all its good for is another 9 to 5 after 4 years of studying IMO. Best of luck to you.
I recently got a PM from an ET member, who asked a very simple question, nice and polite. He now has adequate information that will enable him to make good money daytrading, but, as he has been told, he must "stay on the bus". He is all excited, which is normal, but unless he actually trades with low risk at first, he will more than likely fail like most do. He has yet to believe that successful trading is 99.99% mental, as the mechanics are the easy bit, once set up with a sound and valid approach. It is idiots like profitloser that never learn anything J_S
Trading knowledge is different from trading skillset. Feel free to visit my thread : http://www.elitetrader.com/et/index.php?threads/trading-knowledge-vs-trading-skillset.298662/ I believe that : 1. Investments need genius mind 2. Trading needs trading skillset 3. Portfolio managers, Market strategists, Financial analysts need analytical skillset The first two are result oriented while the third one is more of academic in nature
In simple words...ability to control losses & making consistent profits ! Basically trading is a business...which involves human psychology more than technicalites. I "see" trading as a psychological game between speculators and common traders. Once i got this insight my trading approach has changed. I noticed some trading patterns from this viewpoint and created an open source intraday strategy for index futures/options: http://www.elitetrader.com/et/index...ay-strategy-for-index-futures-options.298637/