Been trading seriously over a year and a half now, have made it a full time job. It just isn't fun as it used to be. I don't even get excited watching the markets open. Social life is deteriorating. The everyday grind is overbearing. I don't have energy / motivation left to go out, like in the old days. I get bored talking to people, so I stopped initiating conversations. Am I aging? Body is still in good shape. From those who have gone through similar experiences, how to fix? This feels like one big energy drain.
How much are you earning now relative to when you were feeling better? Are you happy with your trading results? Several times in the past I've felt the same way about trading. In retrospect it was merely my disappointment on my trading results, and once my p/l starting moving higher again, the desire to trade came back.
I understand some of your "pain" so to speak, but mostly because I am in my late-40's and it does have something to do with age no matter how good of shape your body is in. Trading from home "remotely" can be very difficult socially. All of the symptoms that you describe are quite normal for anyone that has been in the business for awhile. No one really can understand what "we" go through except for another trader, or perhaps someone in a similar high stress occupation - - - not someone that is parked in a cubicle somewhere who is just going through the "motions" and their livelihood doesn't really depend on every trade they execute. Thus, I would suggest that you have simply "come back to reality" as opposed to the "giddy" feeling that you felt when you were just starting out. That having been said, the above poster does speak the truth. I P&L on the "upswing" can usually improve one's mental outlook. Also of interest is where you are located . . . I am on the West Coast and it is a Bit$% trying to stay disciplined and hit the sack "early" every night in order to get up before dawn and be "ready" to trade. In other words, if you are located on the East Coast, you really have a much greater advantage socially, as well as professionally. Also, if you have a family to deal with and you trade from home, it is very easy to get distracted with family "issues" which takes your focus away. Try not being so hard on yourself. But make sure that you continue to do your "homework" and plan your trades. In the end, you may have finally come back down to "reality" - - - but a positive mental outlook is still very important, nonetheless. You might also wish to try changing your "time-frame" from pure scalper to a "pump and dump" position trader. That might be worth a look.
In addition to the points mentioned i.e isolation with emotional strain, difficult to distance mood from P&L, daytrading becomes a grind that everybody tires of sooner or later - by the time you can do it you don't want to do it anymore. Also the emotional ups and downs are daily. Wins become routine - if you put some items on the counter of the local hardware store the owner doesn't start whooping and high fiving his wife as you buying is what is suposed to happen, i.e. it is routine. There are other things missing, peer recognition, identifiable competitor. There are of course many benefits. I found that lengthening my timeframe to going back to trade the accumulation ramp dump cycle in stocmks improved my quality of life and same gain for better controlled risk and less stress. I can go out and do something else if the mood takes me and still make money while a I am away from the PC.
A long long time ago my uncle looked me in the eye and stated matter of factly that he doesnt work jobs he does not like. This was many many years ago way back when. At the time, I was much younger and didnt understand what he meant. I was just happy to have a good paying job and thats all I wanted. My youthful energy could work any job so long as it paid a good wage. However, times have changed in my life. Money is not everything, but doing something that I am happy doing is most important. When I am doing something that I am unhappy with then I "lose face" The moral of the story is that if you dont like what your doing then its time to move on... There are probably different ways you could change things up such as get yourself a treadmill and walk or run on it during the day when taking breaks. However, if you dont like what you do despite different variations then you should move on and dont look back. Your 20s leads to your 30s. Your 30s to your 40s. It all goes very fast and one day you wake up looking back and thinking that your quality of life really sucked...
OP my name is Original (I signed up this name in 2008 and no one took it till I came) I am one of those asses people don't like cause I like to tell the truth........sometimes YOU CAN NOT YET TRADE and make money year and a half is not enough to master trading if you can keep pushing, or quit and be a 90% that fail lie to yourself if you must, but some of us fukers on ET have a 143 IQ brain you know kind of hard to lie to me
Hello, I had quite the same feeling in february-march while I was at my all-time best average days( not really big for traders but really great compared to my friends, relatives...). My girlfriend was doing "not so cool" health exams and I was like "what is the purpose of doing what I do?". I really didn't like trading anymore( but continued to do it anyway), wasn't seeing my friends a lot...and really got depressed. Finally, everything is fine and life is beginning again in spring.Sun is rising, nature is beautiful, days are longer.... I agree it's quite different than your case since it was driven by an external cause but here's a few things you can do that worked for me: - Go practicing sport everyday, preferably one sport you do for a long time and makes you remind of youth feelings( don't know if you know what I mean ...). Hopefully, you will meet friends. - Go out a lot to the cinema, bars just to talk to people. -Learn something new in trading. For me, it is options. So much to explore. - Don't worry. It's normal to lose interests in things you love at times, but after a few times, your passion comes back, sometimes more than ever. You will then realize trading is the best job around. Good luck.