As Vikana posted earlier these boards are MUCH better than real people who are probably not as knowledgable as some of the folks on this board. Elite's a great way to stay in touch with the human side of trading. I've had several jobs in the past and this is probably the single best way to make a living. Yes it's tough but so is clocking in at 8:00 and listening to a boss and dealing with co-workers, half of which would rather be on vacation than being at work.
That's the way I've always felt. In an office, I've found myself "jumping on" something based on "office momentum". This is not the best way to trade and can lead to overtrading - not a good thing.
Ultimately it comes down to personality. I don't mind being home alone. Some of my friends would go nuts without people around. I do think for younger traders just starting their careers it is better to be in an office.
Amen! I found it extremely important to get dressed as if you were going to an office. This took me a while to "figure out", since I'm in California and it's pretty early in the morning when the market opens. But having breakfast, etc. prior to the 6:30 open has made a difference for me.
To me, the enjoyment of trading comes from focusing my mind on the moment, experiencing a state where 2 hours goes by and it seems like minutes. Just seems harder to do in an office environment, although I've never worked in one. I discovered this board and I think its a great way for home-based traders to interact with others without all the negatives.
I completely agree w/ all the positive sentiments towards being home based. Stress from the market is better than stress from the man or stress from a dead end job. The bunch of traders together model, as far as I can see, is structured around guys all using the same basic strategies, w/ some variations but not a lot. Prop traders, ibankers on trading desks etc., are mostly playing the game the same way and so they can relate to each other, encourage each other, rip each other, and generally benefit from a competition charged environment where there is not a fear of being copycatted and where the group generally has the same good days and bad days if skill levels are equal. But for those of us who have developed our own style, the group thing loses most of its benefit right there. I don't want to give the guy next to me the nitty gritty of what I am doing (the strategy outline is only the tip of the iceberg). I wouldn't want him on my jock if his own plays started going bad, and I wouldn't want the temptation to glom onto His method in the middle of my own down streak either. A friend of mine's father is a retired economics professor who runs a small but lucrative consulting business. He has a sweet thousand square foot office built on top of the fully detached four car garage behind their house. So he has a totally professional environment combined with a one minute commute. That's what I call having your cake and eating it too (and what I'd like to do maybe five years from now when we build).
I've traded both in an office environment and now from home. A lot of the advantages and disadvantages (commute/no commute) have been mentioned and are all very valid. My decision to go from office to home was primarily due to: 1) Cut costs. I already had the equipment at home for after hours work so why pay double. 2) I had learned most of what I could from the folks in the office. 3) The office as a whole traded a different style from me. Most of the traders were fairly new and began to emulate the office manager's and firm's style of trading. I did so as well for awhile, but that style was just not for me. I did have people around to ask questions as I was learning the rules and software. I did witness a few different styles and strategies (just didn't fit my personality). It was an overall positive experience. I know now it just wasn't for me. If I had it to do over again I would have stayed 6 months vs. 10. However, you will make/lose just as much money from home as in an office. Footnote: I've been doing intraday trading for almost a year (was your typical bull market end-of-day 'genius' before that). I still want to quit every other day but keep coming back. Office/home doesn't make any difference there.
I've been trading for more than 3 years now, always at home. Part of the reason is the fact that prior to that I had spent 18 years at a major corporation, and I know well the great percentage of time that gets wasted when a bunch of competitive people get together to "work." I have studied various techniques, acquired several trading systems and developed my own approach to trading (mostly futures.) I'm pretty happy with the result, which is always evolving and improving. It puts food on the table and then some. I considered joining a firm like Bright, but I could not justify the change because futures give you plenty of leverage. However, I think that having a way to also interact with other traders is very useful. It was here, at Elite, actually, that someone sugegsted that I join Woodie's free chatroom at Paltalk. I go there often and like it. At the same time, it would be good if there were more environments like that: free real-time exchange of trades, news, ideas. If anyone knows of another good chatroom like that, please let me know.
we are located at the the end of our messages since many of us wish to meet other traders? Perhaps one of the posters here lives in your town or near enough to you so you can occasionally meet for a drink and talk trading? Here, I'll start: Hartford, CT