Thankx... all I know it is damm hard to trade and have a full time job as well. I am at my laptop at a startbucks at 5:45 am PST m-f trading...then go to work at 8:30am , and fortunately I can still trade, but these turn into long days, about 11-12 hours of work. it is my dream to trade full time for many different reasons
Well, it's just a matter of basic math. -- No sage advice or wisdom is required here. Do you generate enough from your trading account to replace your current employment work income? For many, many traders...they will never reach this level, or capability. The smaller your trading account is, the much more aggressive (and skillful) you will have to be with trading. The larger your account is, I wouldn't say easier it is...but you can take it slightly easier with the aggressive, ambitious style of trading. My trading account was tiny when I first started...so I went all-in with options on each trade. Now, I'm a multi-millionaire currently writing a book about my inspirational journey and life and trading account. My new trading academy website in development will show you, and people like you, how you could become like me. Make Trading Great Again 2018...High-Five`
What about keeping your day job while trading the daily timeframe. With your good paying day job combined with trading gains you could potentially build up substantial capital in a few years time.
right now the answer is that I am generating approx 25% per month trading income compared to my regular incomwe. My goal right now is not really how much money I make, rather how well I am trading. Am I following my rules? Am I journaling? studying? over trading? etc....
My My goal is to trade on my day off during the week and most days I'm home by 130 so I can trade and keep my job! Making money in the market is not that difficult but one must be prepared to follow his plan! That's been my killer in the past and until you have 100 percent confidence in your system there is no way you will follow it
The paradox of trading successfully is that if/when you arrive at a method that works for you, you'll see that it lies more on the side of simplicity than being complex. The enormous hump is re-wiring your brain to work out a solution. The key for long term success is just finding a method that is structured and consistent, and can deal with a dynamic market. Once you do that, it's all about scaling to determine your net income. If you feel confident with your entry and target points and are getting consistent results, scaling up over time won't be an issue. The hardest part is getting your brain to interpret things differently. The market is counter intuitive and the lessons we learn in life work against us when interpreting market behavior. Your best bet is likely to save enough so you can take time off to do it full time. You want to immerse yourself fully into looking to understand the market and work on a solution around the clock with few distractions. It's a ton of trial and error with noting what looks promising and what doesn't in crafting a solution. You can use the simulator to work on getting a solution before testing it out with real money to slow the draw down. You said 11-12 hours is a long day, but if doing it full time, you'll have to ramp it up to 15 - 18 hour days if your goal is to learn as quickly as possible, and doing that, it can still take years. Doing it part time is going to increase the learning curve because your brain power is splitting its focus. You can also ask around in your family if anyone is currently trading full time. If there is a successful trader in your family, definitely seek guidance from them as that will cut your learning time down by lots and you won't have to reinvent the wheel. At the end of the day, you'll have to measure your performance over time to determine if it's something you can do, just like with any field. You'll have to factor in opportunity cost- is it better to stay on your job with a good salary and benefits or take on the risk of full time trading? Making a decent salary with health/401K/pension benefits is nothing to dismiss lightly.
The hardest part is learning to follow your method and from my own experience keeping focused on what you are trying to do! But if you allow yourself to stray away from your plan you are re enforcing bad habits and they are extremely hard to overcome
Try Swing- Trading instead, and use some of your vacation time and sick time for day- trading, that way you can keep your regular income from your job, and test your trading system in real-time. It is nice to fancies and dream about day trading; however, reality tells us that, it is better to have a bird in the hand than 10 in the bush!
I keep hearing that its almost impossible to make a living wage by day-trading. Also that long-term traders make more money per year than day-traders. I am told daily that day-trading forex is suicide and the market is rigged. Day-traders say its a terrible, lonely, boring, mundane and badly rewarded job. So, making money as I am from long-term forex and index trading, the worst thing I could consider would be to have to work at such a shit job full-time.
I know of a few that make a killing day trading and it comes down to mastering ones self ad not trying to impose your will on the market! It can be done a friend of mine on et. turned a hundred thousand in to three million in a year day trading only one stock so to say it can't be done is completely false