I have been a bank trader for 10 years and recently was laid off due to regulations. As I consider my options, one thought I had was to sit at home and trade my own money. There are clearly pro's and cons to this. One of my concerns is getting lonely without anyone to talk to. My question to those of you who are at home all day trading, is this a problem for you? If so how do you cope with it? Feel free to private message me. I am curious about this career path. Thanks in advance. Jay
A lot depends on your personality and style of trade. There are chat rooms to join and forums to participate in. Forums can be problematic and most posts are for laughs and not for serious dialog. At the moment, I make my living trading. My trading style tends toward checking my positions once a day up to once and hour. That leaves me lots of time for other activities including volunteering where I can also socialize, run errands for my wife and hobbies. Trading from home will test your personality in a number of ways but it is a great adventure if you fit the mold. Good luck.
Trade for two hours in the morning then go do whatever you want. Lunch, golf, movie, family, friends ect.
That gets real old, real fast. After a couple of years you start climbing the walls and you could swear the fridge keeps calling you. To OP, depending on where you live, you can rent desk space on a floor and be among like minded individuals with no commitment. In NYC, there are quite a few shops with excess space looking to get filled. If you want to stay home, there are numerous squawk services and trading rooms and skype groups to get your interaction.
Just a question. What makes you think that you will be able to be profitable trading at home versus at the bank where you enjoyed obvious edges? As for your concerns, I would actually suggest joining a "prop" firm and get into a group of experienced traders. It sounds like you have the capital, so you would not be entering as a naive fresh grad newbie. You can also look for trader groups at these firms or even make a post in hook-up forum.
Im a CTA trading from a home office. It takes a while getting used to not having anyone around you( especially if you have no one living with you). But in my case I have a pair of dogs(dachshunds) that keep me entertained, and I usually have one of the busines networks on(CNBC or Bloomberg) for extra entertainment. Plus I do have a couple of trader friends who I talk to thru skype or yahoo msgr to share market analysis and commentary( not all day though). Then my girlfriend calls at least one during the day and shows up later after im done trading(usually around 2-3pm) Just make sure that when you're done trading for the day that you don't stay holed up in your home. Go out and do something, enjoy the outdoors(weather permitting), or go to the gym......JUST GET OUT OF THE HOUSE AND ENJOY LIFE. (DO NOT SPEND YOUR FREE TIME LOOKING AT MARKET CHARTS, NEWS, ETC. !!!) Your brain needs to think about other things besides trading or you will become very bored and depressed. Any psycologist will tell you this...... If you don't create some fun away from work hours, you will go mentally crazy.
to me its the ultimate lifestyle. live in a nice stress free place and trade from your office with a nice view. work or play whenever and however you please.
When you trade at home its on your own time and your own money. When you manage your own time there is an opportunity to be as social as you want with the time you spend not trading. It is really a matter of dedicating a solid amount of time every day to meeting new people and building a tight circle of friends. It takes time and effort but by working from home you have a better shot at it than working at a bank.
Hydroblunt, This is a fair point and I have questioned what part of my strategy was benefitted by being at a bank vs. not. And of course, trading with OPM requires a different risk profile than trading my own money. Fortunately my strategy isn't capital intensive and liquidity isn't a problem; research, however, is.
Pick the time frame that suits you. Maybe more than 1 TF per day. Good advice above in mixing outdoor activities with trading even if it is a walk around the block. The problems really arise if 1.you are not profitable 2. Don't enjoy your own company and get bored easily good luck