I created a basic model for anyone out there who is consistently profitable every month and has been successful at trading for a long while now. If you haven't made your country's average full-time working salary whilst trading yet (in a 12-month period) then you're nowhere near ready to call yourself a consistent trader. Now, onto a basic model: # Trading careers, if you do your research, seem to last about 10 years, at which point you become a veteran and stop really 'pushing' beyond the limit and increasing size heaps. This means it's about only 1/4 of the length of a normal career. As a trader, your light shines very brightly but burns out quickly. # So for a career to be 1/4 of the length of a normal career (40 years potentially) you need to, AT LEAST, at the MINIMUM, make 4 times your countrys average salary. Anything less is a failure. If your country has an average salary of $50k, then you should be MINIMUM making (after split, prop shop desk fee and costs -- but before tax) a $200k salary a year trading # Risk factor, you have zero skills after that. You may be eligible to trade for a hedge fund, but it's a different ball game still with limited players. This risk factor is actually higher than you may think. It may take 5-10 years to get anywhere decent in a job if you left trading after being in the industry for a decade. Now your $200k salary needs to be a $400k year-to-year salary on average. # Final number... you need about 8 times the countrys national salary to financially and risk/reward justify your trading career. Now that you think about it like this, I hope more people are inspired to finally accept the reality that not blowing up after consistently trading for 3 years means its time to aim for the stars and keep reaching higher and higher. Of course, if you're just happy making a slightly above average wage, then by all means keep doing it. But you can only be happy doing the same thing for so long before you really start getting curious and want to take on a bigger and stronger beast.
and this. and please,s0mmi,dont`t post frequently,as i`ll be following your posts and i`m very dumb to internalize something fast.
S0mmi, It seems to me you are making many assumptions, that lead you to wrong beliefs. First, realise that it is really recently that trading has been "democratized" , thanks to online trading, where the capital barrier to entry has been decreased. So whatever "truth" was there, is not necessarily there again due to technology. Second, recognise that there was a time where it was "cool" for a trader to take hard drugs - I mean at least coke, ...; where it was "cool" to have as a "girlfriend" and even "wife" a hoe or former hoe; where it was "cool" to eat whatever as long as it tastes good and looked good. Obviously, unhealthy lifestyles lead to performance decrease, and all type of problems. Nowdays, should a trader adopt a very healthy lifestyle, be extremely discerning where one put a dick into ( spiritual effects), ... a trader performance should actually increase with experience. Now, regarding career options : nowdays there are online courses - these used not to be so available for any subject. So a trader can actually plan over 10 years a career shift to whatever they fancy. Actually, myself, having had no education in finance will certainly look to take some courses on economics or finance or quant finance or statistics and may be programming. And will certainly take up some gigs with some supra national organisations depending if I really want to be bothered with formal settings. So the best for people, is obviously to really look to what they love doing, plan and do what it takes. Also, who knows what technological changes will come that will change things again. just a viewpoint.
The potential of making money in trading market in limitless but we should not be such a greedy person to make more and more money all the time. I have a target in my mind that If I will reach at $15000 per month level, I will not make more efforts.
** Hey friend. If you would like to read a post where I answer lots of personal questions about trading and how I got successful and other patterns I noticed in order to make money (and things from my prop shop) you can read this thread I made: http://www.aussiestockforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=26564 ** I also post a picture of my PNL curve, explain different methods people use to trade the same spreads (opens your mind a little), and also a pretty complicated example of what the 'big guys' ($3-5 million plus a year) do naturally, which they developed over time, which we are completely oblivious to, in terms of protecting their position and hedging through uncertain data announcements etc. ** Also read the last post here (my post) where someone asks me questions about trading a specific spread product. Its not entirely specific to this one spread, just naturally opens your mind a little more: http://www.aussiestockforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=26127 - Hi and thanks for your reply. Actually, your post summarizes up and backs up my argument and probably re-enforces why my general model of 'how much you should aim for' is more correct than just 'aim for a decent living and stop'. - What will trading conditions be like in 10 yrs? We dont know. Will it be heavily taxed? Is your strategy going to die and take you a long period to adjust? Lots of uncertainty. Why not shoot for the stars now? - Thanks for your insightful post. The purpose of my entry is just a general idea of inspiration. Many people walk into trading thinking making $1000 day is good money. However, its nice if you guaranteed the cheque in your hand every day. Unfortunately, we fight so very, very hard for little pennies. There is extraordinary risk in what we do. And youre only going to be very hungry and very motivated once. -- I agree with you. We shouldnt be greedy. But let me tell you, the people who are the top 15% of every prop firm in terms of money-made, did not get there by just being happy with what they make initially and take small baby steps to increase. -- They were aggressive and took chances and opportunities to scale up their size, leave more money in their account, work out a logical way to take on more risk, and go from there. The point is that most people who aim for $15,000 a month usually find enough hunger satisfaction at like $8,000 a month. If you really want to land at $15,000 a month you want to be hungry enough to get to $45,000 a month. Youre going to swing sometimes, and you need that level of tolerance. -- Then you'll find when you finally get to a $15,000 month, your next month is only $11,000. Then the next is $13,000 -- then the next is $17,000 and the month after that is only $4,000. This game is risky, so aim for the stars and you'll land on a nice comfy cloud that makes you happy financially.
Plus I make enough for retirement. Plus I make enough for health care. Plus I make enough for 12 weeks of vacation a year. you need to make about 300k a year.... don't be a loser... be a winner!!! #winning
Yes, i always have plans when am trading in the forex market. I try to make the both short term and long term targets so that it become easy for me to manage the short term requirements and the long term requirements.
Yes, i always have plans when am trading in the forex market and i work for my predetermined target which is realistic and reachable.