Oracle: But you already know what I'm going to tell you. BuddhaTop: I'm not "an actual trader". Oracle: Sorry kiddo. You got the gift, but it looks like you're waiting for something. BuddhaTop: What? Oracle: Your next life maybe, who knows? That's the way these things go.
How this for sad turnouts. In 1923, nine of the world's most successful financiers met at Chicago's Edgewater Beach Hotel. Financially, they literally "held the world by the tail" -- anything that money could buy was within their grasp -- they were rich -- rich -- rich! Hear their names and the high position each held: 1. Charles Schwab, the president of the largest steel company. 2. Samuel Insull, the president of the largest electric utility company. 3. Howard Hopson, the president of the largest gas company. 4. Arthur Cutten, the great wheat speculator. 5. Richard Whitney, the president of the New York Stock Exchange. 6. Albert Fall, the Secretary of Interior in President Harding's Cabinet. 7. Jesse Livermore, the greatest "bear" on Wall Street. 8. Ivar Kreuger, head of the world's greatest monopoly. 9. Leon Fraser, president of the Bank of International Settlements. A tremendously impressive group -- right? Would you like to change positions with one of them? Before you decide, let's look at the picture 25 years later -- in 1948: 1. Charles Schwab was forced into bankruptcy and lived the last five years before his death on borrowed money. 2. Samuel Insull not only died in a foreign land, a fugitive from justice, but was penniless. 3. Howard Hopson was insane. 4. Arthur Cutten became insolvent and had died abroad. 5. Richard Whitney had just been released from Sing Sing prison. 6. Albert Fall had been pardoned from prison so he could die at home--broke. 7. Jesse Livermore had died a suicide. 8. Ivar Kreuger took his own life. 9. Leon Fraser also committed suicide.
Sheeesh, guess the old saying; A fat wallet never set a man free -- holds weight... PEACE and good-specul8tion Mav...
"But don't quit that boring yet maybe once in a lifetime job, selling software, or managing a development company, or even being a municipal employee, until you've really salted away enough that you can become untouchable." BWAHAHAHAAHAH......ok let see.....this guy is talking about trading not investing. So.....Keep your day job....keep that safty net. I cant belive people write this shit. First, with an attitude like that, I KNOW UR NOT A SUCCESSFUL TRADER. NO true successful trader would hold on to such an idea........its bul$*%. Second.....to save up enough to live off of while you are totally focused, not half ass into, but truly focused on trading is more like it. (Keep in mind that learning curves vary.) Third.....If you can not go into Trading, (now im talking trading for a living......not investing or "active Trading as definded by 30 trades a month",) with out letting go of ur "safty net" (JOB) then you will never make it,....PERIOD. You as a trader will never move forward psychologically, which is the key of every successful trader. When one raises share size, when one gets into a lossing mode, when one starts to excell beyound his/her's last goal,...the latter is all pyschological. To over come each curve ball thrown, each and every second of the day is pyschological. And another thing that kills me is the saying "ur only as good as ur last trade". NO SHIT. Even an MBA can understand that.....however....the latter phrase is not a negitive...its a positive because each and every day is new, clean slate, another chance, a new dawn, and a new trading day no matter if you won or lost the previous day. I have no Idea why i waste my time with this amature bullshit.....I guess it was a smart thing to get ET into Barrons.....Its a sell signal for me as the sheep flock to the site......I bid ur far well, all you 3rd shirt workers trading intraday, all you carreer people holding onto ur jobs and calling your self traders.......BWAHAHAHAAAHAHAHA..............im out.... clowns.
I think that most of the posters here at ET don't trade and or have blown up and are now bitter about it. but hey im bitter too because my thread got closed today because of relentless troll spammers!
If you consider loosing $1500 in Oct as being a real trader, then I guess I are one. Been trying to trade the DAX and it has been eating my lunch. Guess will go back to the ES. Am one of those with a real job but a lot of control of my time and the DAX early morning seemed suited for my schedule. Know of people making good money on the DAX, but I have not figured it out yet. Great to read all the posts.
I guess for a lot of people the fun of being on a site like this is no one knows who you are. It amazes me how much courage/rudeness people can mustard up when they are miles away from each other and nobody know who they are. It would seem to me that the top traders on this board should let their names be known. Open a site that only except real names, real addresses and start the education. Make it a secure site and people would probably pay big for it. Cut through all the bull that is out there. On another point I personally think you can trade part time and be very knowledgeable about the markets, software products and brokerage firms. The thing that gets me is a guy that has be trading for 6 months tries 6 different software products and gives a bunch of bad reviews. I also think that there is more of those guys out there then the pros. I personally would pay to join a site that had people using their real names, real address and cut through all the crud. Now that would be the ELITE TRADERS website.
Question I agree with part of what you say. The great thing about only having handles is that people may feel more free to open up than they would if real names are used. You do have to wade through a lot of bull, but the reward at the end can be worth the effort. Right now, I am just absorbing all I can.