Bullverine, "our ability to forecast the past, makes us overconfident that we can predict the future," another psychological gremlin that you should be very wary of.
It's very simple...take a leave of absence or compile all your vacation time into time off from work to trade full time. However, that is only useful if you have covered all the basics as you stated earlier in the thread. Simply, you can use this leave of absence or vacation time to find out if you're truly prepared as you think you are. Yet, don't be shocked if you discover you really aren't prepared (most discover such after believing they were prepared). Thus, if things don't work out, you still got your job. Another option is to trade a market that doesn't conflict with your job. However, this option will limit your sleep and social life. Mark
Skydiving is great analogy. I am fearful of remaining in my current job until retirement. I can control my risk and not lose a lot. But I am unsure of all my trades and my accounts have just been treading water. In the near term I do not need the money. But what if I and the markets tread water for years? The decision to keep working or quitting (for me) depends upon what my near term time frame is compared to how long back up funds will last. Eventually I will hit some homeruns, but I have to eat until then. Thus, I continue working for now.
Sage advice, I did great trading options (swing verticals, calenders, month to month trading) last year and lost it all in Futures. This year, same thing, got crushed in Futures in Mar/Apr quickly switched back to my theta positive, modest delta, vega positive options trading and April finished out as my best month ever. When it is raining wear a raincoat, when it is sunny, wear sun bloc and swim trunks. Futures trading is not where it is at , at the moment. I was even trading with a very respectable trade room and they were getting hammered, not crushing losses, just death by a thousand cuts. They even knew it, yet they did not stop. I, too dream of quitting my day job, but what breaks my heart about these stories is that they are threads, always by people hell bent on day trading. Why is it always daytraders? I'm a positive person but ... If you can't take a two week vacation and paper trade or trade 1 lot and come back from vacation $1000 richer than when you left ... you don't have it together. Why not take 2 weeks, trade, make your $1000 and then just take a leave of absense and take 4 weeks? Education professionals do this all the time. Also, I'f you cannot make $$$ swing trading, or options month to month income trading .... you don't have it for daytrading where 1 bar is 1 5 minutes as opposed to 1 bar being 1 day. The impatience is equivalent to the incompetance, the self delusion. What? Is making 70% on a option spread not sexy enough? I'll leave my job when my trading income exceeds my salary, not a day before then.
I think you should give up deluding yourself that you understand, let alone are qualified to judge, being a trader or other traders. You're clearly better qualified for whatever your day job is.
True. Even with those ranges you can mange 1-2 ES points every day if you are any good. Decent living on 20 contracts, no? Thankfully we have the Dax. We also have energies which are less likely to contract, and even if they do CL and NG each offer one scheduled opportunity per week. Euro and British Pound always had better ranges than index futures back in 2004-5, Pound especially. If it gets really bad there is nothing stopping a proficient trader from taking the series 7 and moving to stocks with prop leverage. Even in 2004-6 conditions there were still opportunities in stocks. Yes, the "easy money" is gone for the most part. The goal is to profitably tread water for the next decade so the account is well positioned to put on size during the next crash... As an aside, if these are the market conditions, it is no bad thing to write DOTM puts and benefit from the premiums, and in the event of a correction / spike in vols the increased profit from daytrading will offset the loss on the options (if indeed they do not expire worthless anyway, as they should if the strikes and expiry are properly selected). If each month is as quiet as the last, then it is a nice income meanwhile. Do not overleverage while doing this. A proficient trader starting out now and grinding it out day after day will be in a position to retire after the next crash.
This is dumb, I don't know you bro or what you do but I have been there, I refused a MSFT full time gig in 86 to become a stockbroker (hence trade my own). Do not sweat it, wait a bit, show your true nature (like this post) and they'll surely can you or lay you off, or get two H1B's to replace you and still save $$$. Why hurry?
If you are in doubt, you shouldn't do it. Once you quit your day job you won't be able to go back to it, will you? You have to be 100% sure if you do decide to quit, there should be no hesitation. I suggest you just have to wait till you are fully ready.