Through some introspection I've realized my chief motivation for trading is selling myself this narrative where I fantasize about making phenomenal returns, turns a few thousand into tens of thousands, into hundreds of thousands and so on. The Psychology is a left over from the Timothy Sykes Penny stock marketing bullshit, it doesn't directly reflect in my paper trading though. So, my first option trade I made $1,650 off my $250(my first deposit) of an ORCL earnings release this past summer. I lost it all the next week, and deposited money trying to play earnings all summer with an account never lasting more than 2 weeks. The past 8 weeks I've been paper trading starting with an account of $2,500, and I had TD put it under the PDT Rule, I've Paid $1,800 in commissions and its down to $1,300. I want to go live again in March with $8,000 which is $5k excess student loans and $3k Tax return, is considering that insane. Also the market on has my undivided attention from 8-11am Mon.-Fri., how long is the learning curve in your experience?
Earnings are a huge gamble. You need a better strategy than just betting on earnings. A proper market education can cost as much as a Harvard mba. 250k is not unreasonable. Also ditch the paper trading, won't do you any good.
To answer your question, yes using student loan money to blow in trading is insane. Get a degree so you can get a decent job and worry about trading later.
Repeat that trade win 10 or 20 or 30 or so times to be happy and comfortable. You have the very basic idea down, but the devil is always in the details. -- and some, can never beat or match the devil. The market, or a trade, doesn't have standard business hours of only from 8-11am...a trade or trades can last potentially anywhere from 9:30am to 4pm EST. and if you can't devote that time to watching and monitoring the market...you might as well not trade. There is no fixed so-called learning curve. It's a rather ongoing process. -- it's kind of like exercising and working out and eating healthy and bodybuilding and supplements...you have to do it for the rest of your life to maintain that current status. The earnings game is always kind of generally a crazy gamble; try to explore other ways to make money in the market...that happens way more than just 4 times a year,...that's where the real money, or potential, is....imagine instead of just 4 Revolutions...you have 252 revolutions, Many people are so close to market riches, but yet...so far. Free Your Mind, as Morpheus would say. -- a pun to your ORCL trade. The only ultimate "Reassurance" you need is from Yourself, not from random bozos on forums who likely haven't made enough from trading to buy a Big Mac. Good trading -- Mazal tov, ET extraterrestrial...high five, Kim Klaiman
Learning curve is somewhere between 5-10 years. I almost guarantee you will blow out any new account. Don't waste your money. Focus on something else until you find yourself in a better financial position. Trading is not for 99% of people.
The key to successful trading is position sizing (well, in addition to good trading plan of course). Ask yourself how much you are willing to lose on any given trade and position yourself accordingly. When playing earnings, always assume 100% loss upfront. No matter how good your research is, earnings are unpredictable. As for the learning curve - ask yourself a simple question: how long does it take to become an engineer or a doctor (or any other professional)? Why people expect it to be any different in trading?
If you really really really want to trade, begin observing, reading and making copious notes. DON'T TRADE! Trading will become a distraction to your goal. Watch, listen, learn. Learn discipline and be 100% honest with yourself. After many years on trading forums I've figured out that BS artist will always fail at trading. Being a single person helps imo because one needs to originally be very focused and free of distractions. If you are inclined toward a heavy social life you may not make it in this game as distractions will slow you down. Once consistently profitable you could throw that rule away as in theory you will have a system and its just a case of following it. The heavy grunt years are the initial years, then it gets easier. Unfortunately, because traders are competitors, getting valuable trading information is like squeezing blood out of a stone. Regarding backtesting or SIM trading, it has its value in testing systems. It is nigh on useless for practicing trading as you will not feel enough pain. Some discretionary trading methods cannot be backtested unless you had a bottomless pocket of money for the equipment and data etc.
Learning curve is 10,000 hours on average for trading What you are doing with options is gambling and not trading. You are not even profitable on sim so why they hell would you risk borrowed money going live ? I've never known one consistent trader who has been long term profitable from buying premium Why do you think you will be any different ?
I feel you man - psychologists say the trading buzz is more powerful than smack or crack based on brain cat scans of Dopamine levels when trading. Maybe keep a journal on your thoughts to keep it in check and harness this drive in a productive way. The best way to treat an addiction is to replace it with another addiction.
You are a total idiot who should not be trading as you will blow up too much time and money. If you can not hook up with a winning trader on a peronal level who will help you, and few can, you have almost 0 chance in the foreseeable future. No paid gurus. Your "understanding" and thoughts are crazy weak.