When your done trading do you leave it?....reallly leave it? Do you have a life outside of trading? Do you notice that your perspective strengthens when you realize that trading for yourself is just a job and not gambling? ES
When I leave my office I leave all thoughts of trading behind. I focus on my wife, children and (of course) golf. When I first started trading I was obssessed, thinking about trading every waking moment. It's necessary, I believe, when first learning any difficult skill. I needed to be completely immersed. But there's a limit to how long I could live like that and maintain my sanity.
You are absolutley correct. I find it hard to get back into researching a new edge in depth and emmerse myself into new projects as completley as I did earlier. I understand the market better and do not need to go through the discovery process over and over again, but it is necessary for me to always be researching new edges as they never last forever and I want to be as efficient with risk as possible...so there is always better methods... I have discovered that my perspective increased when I became schizophrenic...lol. Work is Work and Homelife is HomeLife. ES
Can't imagine trading for a living... I have full time, non-trading job. Thank you, Jesus. I just do monthly/quarterly bets, with options on the RUT, for now. "Set it and forget it." Not really. Even doing what should be a fairly "hands off" approach to trading/gambling... I am always checking. Market closed. OK. In 1 hour, futures open. What is /TF doing?? What is it doing???? ...and now... I have cut back some on the compulsion. Does it really matter what /TF is doing? Becuase the market will do whatever the hell it wants, tomorrow... and there is nothing you can do. Hard to leave it behind. Just turn it off. Must be a miserable, tiring existence, trying to do this minute-by-minute, every day... and trying to a make a living from it.
Not really... Eventually, the house wins, no matter what game you are playing in the casino. Goal is to get in, let your winnings ride for a while, if you're lucky, and hopefully, get the hell out with more than what you had going in. Stocks, options, bonds, forex... pick your "game." Do it long enough... you're not going anywhere. Unless, it is buy and hold, for 3 decades or more.
You are wrong, some of us have been doing this for decades or more....it's not 'luck' it's pure skill. I do not expect someone who isn't fully in it to understand this though