Surely you can understand wanting to get some indication of what one could potentially bring in as income if giving up another job. After all I'm not referring to a hobby here - I was asking about the prospect of making this a full time profession. I think you misread my post. I never said I was in MENSA or even tried to be. In fact the point was the opposite - that I'm not a genius.
%% And its not the speed/speedo that is the problem or even wiped out their account, B young; as long as you don't wipe out account when beyond young ,be alright, most likely.LOL. And its like JSOP hinted , could you lose 150K/200,000?? Actually I would/could have lost more than 195,000, but realized some one had to get some dividends it might as well be me. Its simply much more complex than it seems. IBD had GE listed as a top income dividend stock; surely buyers would buy @ 50%, NO not much @all. Good thing I seldom do counter trend......
Perhaps nowadays an obvious alternative better than trading: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ant_Financial
%% Good, full time is best, but only after you have been profitable for years ; don't quit , unless you are related to Bill Gates or M Zukerberg- they quit college.Its really good you are not a genius; as they say in Chicago, go slow like turtle + smarter you are the longer it takes. LOL-true. I don't put up with an ant in my home , but I thro food outside for ants=cool
I read that Ohio State did a very comprehensive study of the hospitality business which they completed just a year or two ago as I recall. They found that 60% of restaurants fail in the first year and 80% of restaurants fail within 5 years of opening. Point being, about any legal and ethical way of making good money is going to be very competitive and challenging. There's a high failure rate in doing something as seemingly innocuous as opening a bar or restaurant. Trading in particular attracts bright and intelligent talent. The really good traders are also driven and focused and relentless.
Beware of this statement. A lot of newbies may think they are super smart or talented but in reality are unaware of what their competitions are like.
An individual, retail trader has no competition...the market is absolutely vast. Just a single drop from it is more than enough to make him rich. I don't think he has to worry about moving and splashing and shaking up the market with his Huge...account. The only true competition for a trader...is from Themselves...their trading tactical plan, and execution and mindset and wisdom and foresight and calmness and open-mindedness and psychology and etc misc...and just how bitchy Miss Market can be to them, The other part of your statement is indeed correct, though. Many new traders think they've got this game all set, and mastered...because of their edge, or skill. -- But their account melts away like butter, or disintegrates it always seems inevitably. 2018 ET, ` If you're going to do something, don't just do it for the sake of doing it...aim to be at the Top 1%. Perform and achieve at a high caliber, better then everyone else's output. Study and plan and strategize how you will accomplish that, If you will just dick around with sparklers and firecrackers, then don't throw a party/or go to war...you should be instead formulating an Atom bomb, and studying poetry and art and love to equalize that equilibrium, ET, and all trading forums, is like WW2...I'm always wondering...who is that bomber plane...that dropped the Nuclear bomb on Japan, and in a split second...ended the war. -- Who is the Real deal talent, vs everyone else scattered and spread out sporadically randomly, You don't want to be a random soldier. Clawing and fighting away at a relatively dangerous and fruitfulless effort.
First of all, the game is NOT rigged provided you trade in regulated financial markets like stocks, futures and etc. Even in retail forex trading where there is a lot of cries of foul, if you stick with brokers that pursue a more fair, transparent and honest business model, you can still make money. So right off the bat, do NOT listen to those people who cry the game is rigged; these are the people who are not trading well and instead of focusing on finding out problems with their own trading, choose to blame others for their own problems. These kind of people exist in every single profession but are especially prevalent in the trading profession. Just as you suspected, 2) is to be avoided and 1) is to be pursued with caution. Within 2) though, backtesting software is still a valuable tool that you can use in developing your trading strategy/system which would be your bread & butter in making it as a trader. You don't have to necessarily pay for backtesting sites or software; there are plenty of good ones but absolutely make sure you backtest. It won't backtest EVERYTHING but it would give you a pretty good idea of how profitable your trading system would be. Bottom line: You CAN make money. How much money you can make is going to depend on your skill, mental fitness, trading capital and experience. Just like many of the posters said, DON'T start off with a goal of have to make certain $$ of profit, instead focus on learning about trading and developing trading strategy and take it one day at a time, one trade at a time.