Exactly! I have seen postings on ET about 10 years in a row losing money, also about people who wiped out their account, sometimes even more then once... But if people are reading selectively they will never see these postings.
If only requirements in trading were high IQ and number crunching LTCM would have never gone out of business.
%% I agree with about 95.95%% of that, trend true type.My variant perception is some are not cut out for working for some one else ; so go for it, if true. A big problem with trading/investing, one can lose much, much more, like 95% more money than any job. Easy to gross 150K, 12 months, but just to warn you how tough it can be; trading is the only business I know where traders brag about breaking even[which is almost always losing] LOL.
Its definitely viable but you must be correctly capitalised and know what you are doing. If you only have say 50K and are clueless about your trading edge then you will obviously fail at making anything close to 150K a year. But if you have 500K together with a robust trading plan and also the emotional robustness to execute your plan properly then averaging 150K a year is possible. How long it will take you to develop that robust plan and the emotional control needed is anyone's guess. Lots of pitfalls and traps when it comes to trading profitably. But the time needed will definitely be measured in Years.
First of all, 46 is NOT old. This is the first mentality that you need to be in before you begin anything especially trading. Trading is ageless as long as you are willing to keep an open mind and learn from the beginning. There are people who are in their 70's and 80's and still trading and are doing very well. Second, trading is VERY different from programming in that it takes a completely different way of thinking. It is a lot of analysis and decision-making in where you have to be not afraid of making decisions based on incomplete information, things that you just don't know and confirm and be fine with the consequences, good or bad, many times bad. You have to be able to say to yourself "oh it's just another transaction" after you have lost several hundred K's of dollars after having done everything possible to salvage the trade and then pick yourself up and move on to your next trade. And lastly, it is absolutely essential to be flexible. This I find is the no. 1 skill to have in trading in that you are fine with the market going either way and be able to adapt and trade with whatever direction or lack thereof that the market is in. If you are comfortable with all these, with some practice, some learning, trading would be a very rewarding career, not just financially.
Sounds like me. Sounds like a question I asked myself. Sounds like me. Sounds like me. The answer is yes. This is DEFINATLEY not me, nor should it be you. Don't try to jump into this bit and expect to be making X amount of dollars per year out of the gate. Rather, see what you can do for the first couple of years and work it up from there. In trading, controlling your emotions is a lot more important than proving your level of intellect with an organization like MENSA. In fact, it is completely irrelevant. Don't trade often, trade smart.™
I appreciate all the thoughtful replies. It's honestly kind of what I expected which is why I asked the question. I found myself doing a lot of studying and wondering, "is this really going anywhere?" I think I would love it if there's a reasonable chance for success but busting my a$$ to learn a complex profession only to find out it's hopeless because the game is rigged is something I'd prefer to avoid. I noticed too there seems to be two parallel industries related to trading: 1) The actual industry that makes money on trading/investing. 2) The Trading Sales industry that makes money on convincing people they can make money trading (this includes educational sites, "backtesting" sites, scanners, etc.) I am highly skeptical of #2 above since it would seem to me if anyone had a great tool or strategy that actually made money they would have no need to try to sell it. It would be much more lucrative to just use it to make money in the market. Of course the basic skills like charting, learning the vocabulary, etc. may be legitimate but I can't see ever finding an actual strategy or even powerful analysis tool that's both successful and available to the public. That, I suspect, is what separates the winners from the losers. Can you formulate your own successful strategy? If you're able to do that, do you have the market access necessary to implement it (e.g. after hours trading)? I've come across quite a few stocks that jump by orders of magnitude between close and open. Would I ever have access enough to take advantage of that or the information necessary to know it's even happening? These questions are the ones I don't have the answer to for myself yet. I will probably keep toying with it for a little while to see if I can come up with a strategy that tests out but I'm not going to go on wasting time indefinitely. Thanks again to everyone for the replies.
New traders that just have to make >$150,000 per year are just about guaranteed to lose > $150k. If your in it only for big/quick/easy $ your far better off getting a second job. Now if you have at least $750k in a trading account already and have made some decent profits from investing/swing trading while working than I would say it may be worth considering . At least this way you have a fighting chance, even as slim as it is, at least its possible. You would have to make a 20% ROR to hit your target - no small feat to sustain over the years. IT experience will not be of any help in trading - except in running your own back office apps.