I quit my job and skipped education to pursue Forex fulltime!:) What now?

Picaso · Aug 12, 2008

FX,

Excellent insights on some not usually touched upon aspects (learning/unlearning/relearning, wanting to work too hard and too fast, how much tiredness and isolation may affect your trading...).

Thanks for sharing and best trading,

Jorge

Johnny · Aug 18, 2008

Thank you very much for writing this FXAnalyst.

It is definitely helpful.

Best regards,

Johnny

Quote from FXAnalyst:

As another experienced opinion, the input in previous posts should be heeded basically.

The challenges I've had with Forex are as follows...

1) Learning to trade dangerously(without a good system) and having to undo the bad habits formed. Solution? Find a good mentor who is trading consistantly with success or on the verge, or at least read material compiled by successfull traders. Personalize a good, proven system that fits your lifestyle. There are others that will teach even for little or no charge just to help their client base or in my case I share ideas to help become more practised with them.

2)Not being able to focus on trading due to distractions. Solution? Cut back on distractions and interuptions. Trading fulltime is a sensible goal because it's important to be able to focus but realistically, diversified income is more sensible while one learns. That's why I've survived long enough to learn how to trade well enough, by having other income streams to get through the learning/unlearning/relearning curve.

3) Impatience. Solution? Recognize the problem and don't try and get it done too fast. I prefer swing trading and find day trades while hunting for swings. I came from a background where working hard and fast made it happen. Trading is not like that. It's more like hunting where you have to wait for and stalk your quarry and when closing to the time you pull the entry/exit trigger sometimes move fast.

4)Trading as an individual and not spotting trades due to lack of focus, tiredness etc. Solution? Trade with other compatable traders if you can find them. I recommend using a chatroom or text messeging system. I personally contacted over 100 traders in different forums and in person, and now have two contacts that I compare notes with often during the week. We send one another trade alerts to examine which helps lessen the chance of missing good swing trade entries and exits. I still envision having a group of traders to correspond with in different time zones so if one is tired to think well then someone else isn't. This aspect of trading has been the most difficult though as traders are often too different in their analysis. If teamwork fails then a simple workable system that one can perform as an individual catching 3-5 day or swing trades per week is what to work for.

Hope that helps. And in summary, if I had known at start what I know now in terms of how challenging it would be, I probably would not have started trading if I had to end it all today, however I anticipate it paying off well to make up for lack of progress in the initial months. Time spent? Just over 3.5 years. It's only for the last 2 that I've had a fair idea as to how to trade well. The last challenge has been to polish my system so that I do it by habit so even when tired or distracted the good habits are there. The Forex market has no mercy so don't expect any. It's kill or be killed, eat or be eaten. It's about redistribution of weath so if you have a good cause to support as well as youself, you will have sufficient motivation for taking from the big corporate interests to support your own local interests. If nothing else Forex Trading will help one understand themself and the world we live in better and if that is good or bad may be subject to debate. I think it's good despite the price many have to pay. All the best.
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leo11 · Aug 22, 2008

In my humble opinion I would suggest you go to school and study this in your spare time. Open a demo account for fun. I quit my job in 1981 with 8 kids because I made more money in trading than working. Beginners luck. I was back to work in 6 months. I am trading at home now and have been for 2 years. The 8 kids are gone and I have 20 grandkids but it has been very difficult getting into profitable trading. It cost me more than a Harvard education would have. I wish you luck and hope your learning curve is better than mine was. We can pursue this topic further as this is not even a decent summary of the last 27 years.

increasenow · Aug 22, 2008

I would run fast towards CME Globex Currency Futures...they are totally regulated and transparent pricing and the quotes are "always the same"...hmmm...nuff said...I am sure many will agree to this...

candles · Aug 22, 2008

central park:
You think that making a living out of trading is impossible, I take it?

If so, what are you even doing on these forums?

leo11 · Aug 22, 2008

I agree with your opinion on the cme contract being superior to the forex. I have a couple of forex accounts that I trade but prefer the futures. They are regulated and you don't have to take the spread into consideration. I only trade the forex so I have an actual record of filled orders to back my trading record. I have traded currency futures for many years and am much more comfortable with that.

leo11 · Aug 22, 2008

I'm sitting in the middle of the Arizona desert making a living doing this. Don't think it is easy though.

increasenow · Aug 22, 2008

Quote from leo11:

I agree with your opinion on the cme contract being superior to the forex. I have a couple of forex accounts that I trade but prefer the futures. They are regulated and you don't have to take the spread into consideration. I only trade the forex so I have an actual record of filled orders to back my trading record. I have traded currency futures for many years and am much more comfortable with that.
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what CME Globex Currency futures do you mostly trade?.Euro?Yen?CAD, AUD?SFranc?

leo11 · Aug 25, 2008

I trade all of them but am most comfortable with the euro because of the high volume compared to the rest. I don't really exclude too much in my trading. I find if I don't have a lot of diversification that my requirements for a trade seem to deteriorate a little. I traded five year notes today, gold late last week and have done the bonds, hogs, cattle, grains, and softs. There seems to be a few "excellent" set-ups if I look at everything and if I just trade EC and ES (like I have done) that I try to force the market into my trading plan. As you know that is suicidal. I try to have a minimum of 1 trade off of the daily charts, 1 off of the forex, and 1 intra-day. I had 4 today off the daily charts but they all lost their set-up so just got the one intra-day trade on the FV.

Johnny · Oct 11, 2008

Hey guys,

I ended up following Sarvise`s advice on studying up on the books first. Makes sense.

Since life happened to me as it always does, I did not get started fulltime until roughly 5-6 weeks ago.

I will be reading full-time until next year. In january I will start watching the markets and probably start papertrading in february.

I think I will be starting out with Globex Futures rather than Forex. Volume and open interest seems like tools that could give me an edge. Also, the liquidity is probably more than good enough

Regarding books I have to mention the two that have really stood out so far; "Trading in the zone - Mark Douglas" and "Enhancing trader performance - Brett Steenbarger".

Not that I`m in a position to make recommendations yet, but I`m sure traders of all levels would benefit a lot from those two.

I see some of you guys mentioning mentors. How and where did you get one? I don`t think it would be any use for me to get one until I get started trading for real, but I`m curious.

Has anyone had any positive experiences with joining a trader for real-time trading online?

Best regards,

Johnny