download or open an acct at Thinkorswim and learn to use the platform,spend the next 6 months charting djtransports,spx,30 yr treasuries..eur/usd,watching the uvol/dvol comparison graph,....learn how to hand chart the ES on a 30 minute time frame ,go back a few weeks and pull up the data on a 30 minute chart,transfer it by hand to graph paper and continue for the next 3 or 4 months...these exercises should get you familiar to the point where everything looks the same ,mundane ,when you are able to recognize that,you should be able to recognize when they are not,you should notice that the uvol dvol chart only has about 4 patterns,you should notice that when one instrument is reaching a supp or res that a like one slows down or stalls or is still going strong......the charting will give you a few different ways that an instrument approaches goes thru or turns early when nearing a trend line,the market profile will show you how the market gyrates around a daily value area,the several mrkts you watch should show you how they affect each other..these are simple accurate ways to look at the market,don't waste your time with indicators yet if at all,become familiar with the markets first so you will know what you are looking at...ignore all the talk about losing..you need all the steam you can get.. .don't even consider putting on a real trade until you are comfortable at guessing what's next and seeing it happen..new traders are anxious to get rich..start dreaming about new cars,vacations,the day they open the acct...don't dream...just do the exercises above..and eventually you will have learned by osmossis..if you are good you will have years to make trades..if not you will anxiously lose your acct
This is your big mistake. To make it in this business, you need to be passionate about trading, not about making money. Big big difference. You lost the battle before it even began.
The two aren't mutually exclusive. It's like saying you can't be a pro baseball player cause you want to make big money, even though you may be passionate about the game as well. Although it looks like the OP is only using trading as option because he doesn't like his current job. I suggest baptism by fire. You want to be a trader, then jump in and let the market teach you.
What you are describing is not a career. It is for most intents and purposes a hobby. A career would be if you took steps to start portfolio managing for a fund.
With this history of yours of passion and energy and overcoming obstacles in adversity, I would not look to get into trading. You sound like the perfect sheep. You most likely wont listen until you see it yourself, but thats how the markets work. Actually this could also be a troll just to generate traffic for ET
journalist to hedge fund manager: if i had a $100 million i'd retire hedge fund manager to journalist: that's why you'll never have $100 million
To an extent I agree with the above. A good trader needs to detach themselves from the fluctuations of the current account value. The less making money is on ones mind (to pay recurring and everyday expenses) and the more one can focus on executing the trading plan perfectly and as a result the better the performance should be over time. IMO anybody who hopes to barely accumulate enough capital so he can grind out a bare living will have a hard time, since one will be tempted to abandon their plan in order to make ends meet more often than not. To the OP: take your minimal required capital to quit your job and then multiply that by 3-5. That will yield a more realistic number that will allow for inevitable drawdowns and unplanned personal expenses. When you start trading real money, be sure to reread the "Market Wizard" books and "Reminiscences" about once a year, for 5+ years. As your experience grows you will keep on finding new gems in the interviews that you previously overlooked.
This is pretty ironic actually. When you read Market Wizards you will read stories of people that took the last $2K they had and went for it (Richard Dennis), people that blew $500K and borrowed from their friends and family and finally made it, people that wondered if they could feed their family some months but still persisted, etc. I don't remember any stories about people quietly saving up $6.7 million and then barely tiptoeing into the market at 60 years old earning 10% over 5 years. Not saying it is for everyone, but let's be real here. Practically every story I have seen about these famous traders starts with the guy (or girl) on a near shoestring, busting ass and taking names and making money through blood, sweat and tears, often blowing out a few times on the way. You aren't gonna make it trading for a career just dabbling around on your spare time. Full immersion is required, and full commitment. Either you have the stones and the commitment to succeed, or you don't. Besides, it you're gonna fail, which is worse - saving up a ton of money and then blowing it all, or taking a shot and being out $10-$100 thousand after giving it your best effort? Now, trading as a hobby is fine and probably recommended for the OP, but if you really want to do this as a "career", let's understand what it means to do that. It is probably a better idea for the OP to swing trade on the side, build up some capital and develop some other career options while continuing to trade along the way. Many otherwise challenging careers can become fulfilling if you have a large side income, and then you can do stuff you really WANT to do full-time plus have the trading going on as well. That way he has options and doesn't feel "stuck" in the unfulfilling engineering career he is in now. But I would still suggest giving it a shot over doing nothing, stagnating in the engineering career waiting to experience layoffs, age discrimination, and your youth pissed away for corporate overlords that will exploit your free time as much as possible. Just a thought
unless you have another 7 years of your life to learn this game to get up to par.. I suggest you take the knowledge that you already have and build your own company. My grandfather worked for nasa and narf as an engineer then went out on his own started a company and did really well.. your never dead end until you tell yourself your in a dead end.. your perception becomes your reality.. If like going back med school and needed to get 3 more credits to get into the school so you quit.. you do the same thing with trading.. its a waste of money and your time and you are going to endanger your family if you have one.. its addicting like gambling when you dont know how to do it... it has and will ruin lives.. you want it all? freedom... to trade.. protect your families interests.. keep your job as security.. become an investor.. create your own strategies for long term investments.. at least if you fail at it.. you wont lose it all just underperform the market..