That is an awful lot of pressure to put on yourself. When I started trading I had no additional income, although I had enough money live off of for a quite a while. Let me tell you that the pressure of watching money go out, predominantly in living expenses and trading costs, was very difficult for me during my learning phase. It affected my trading immensely and in a way I did not fully fathom at the time. During the year I took to learn to trade I wasnât loosing money in the market but my living and trading costs ran up to about $75,000. It wasnât until I started doing some freelance work aftermarket and bringing in some income that my trading really improved. I was no longer worried about meeting my needs through the market. Interestingly, shortly after I began working again, I found I didnât need to as I was making more in the market. I was single at the time. I canât imagine the stress of having a family to care for. Isnât there someway you can find some supplemental income to relieve some of the pressure.
For the work I do, Seattle is in a high-tech slump. I've never gone this long (8 months) without an offer. Seattle is going through is highest unemployment in 5-years and the internet/high-tech category is the hardest hit. Even if I do find supplemental income, it can't interfere with my trading hours. For now, that's 6am to 9:30am PST. Most jobs require me to be in the office so I guess I could get into their offices before 6am and trade until 9:30am then work until the end of the day. But I'm an ethical person. Using workplace computers for my own personal trading is a no-no in my book. Or trade at home until 9:30am then travel to work but most jobs are 45 minutes away. I would love to work for some private trading firms that might be in Seattle to develop their trading software. That would be sweet. Yes, there's pressure to put food on the table and I've recognized the pressure. I can't ignore the pressure or lock it up in a box. The pressure becomes the reason for living. There's a saying, "Customers don't interrupt your work. They are the reason for your work". In the same way, my family is the reason I trade. Besides, it's my passion and my childhood dream. Follow my passion and it will work, somehow. MGB
re: TradeRX It's hard for me to take advice (Keven Calhoun's website) from someone who consistently has an adolescent attitude on this board. Sorry. MGB
I hope you didnât take my story the wrong way. Iâm not suggesting you get a fulltime job or that you do anything that requires a prohibitive amount of time away from learning how to trade. Iâm not implying that you should have a backup plan either. I imagine you can realize your dream and meet your responsibilities without having to do as I had. I only wanted to convey the idea that my trading was affected by stress which I had dismissed at the time. I empathize with your situation as well as traders who may be thinking or attempting to trade for a living right off the bat. I just wanted to mention my experiences and the importance of feeling the freedom to learn and make mistakes without incurring additional consequences beyond the loss of capital. For some traders, like myself, alleviating the feelings of necessity allowed my to proceed to another level of efficacy. Hey, will you look at that. I just graduated. I'm a Senior Member. I guess that means I know it all, huh. Wow, I'm so impressed with me. Wait 'till I tell Ma.
MGB, that's OK with me. But I personally never reject good info because I don't like the bearer. Good luck. tradeRX PS Watch out for NVDA!
>But I personally never reject good info >because I don't like the bearer. I agree. However, for lack of time one can't explore all info in this life for validity so often measure is taken based on who the information came from. Some sources lend more credibility to the info than others. I believe this would be what MGB meant. JB
tradeRX, someone who consistently has an adolescent attitude on this board Your suggestions regarding Ken Calhoun, along with occasional others, show a glimmer of thoughtfulness, reasoned response, dare I say kindness? Unfortunately most of the time it's the CACHINGO crap, along with the $$$$$$$$$ nonsense, rubbing it in when you purportedly do well and another doesn't, etc. It's almost like a Jekyll and Hyde personality split, with Hyde unfortunately being dominant. Anyway, you would not be so easily dismissed as you are by most on this board, if you tried to tone down the boastful rhetoric and aimed more towards contributing and being helpful. Say, what indicators you use to trigger your perfect entries and exits with NVDA? How you manage to brilliantly hold thru all the wiggles, assured in your knowledge that they aren't actually reversals? Or maybe you simply follow Thunder 'n Lightning's calls and have no real strategy of your own? Fess up, cut the Bulls of Steel garbage, and you'll have alot more credibility. Otherwise you're wasting your (and our) time posting.
Hi MGB, My initials are also MGB and I am in the same boat as you are. I am a high tech guy and I will be unemployed tuesday. I have dabbled in trading for awhile and I am going to try doing it full time while I wait for the high tech world to turn around. I am on the east coast (outside of Boston). I used to trade options before the tech bubble burst and I made a decent profit. That was before I could even read a chart and now I understand it was mainly luck/knowing the techs from friends who worked for them and hearing the buzz. I plan on playing stocks with large daily ranges (like nvda) and also breakouts until I learn more. I have ordered several books so I can learn about ecn's and routing as well as more on swing trading. I have ordered the following books to get up to speed: Financial Freedom through Electronic Day Trading The Master Swing Trader: Tools and Techniques to Profit from Outstanding Short-Term Trading Opportunities, The Stock Trader: How I Make a Living Trading Stocks I have been rereading the following books I own: Technical Analysis From A to Z - by Stephen Achelis Technical Analysis of Stock Trends - by Edwards & Magee Martin Pring's Introduction to Technical Analysis -by Martin Pring I have a datek account and I have been using quotetracker. I was going to get esignal but I think I will go with datek for awhile. I build my own pc's and I picked up a 17.4" lcd so I can run a dual monitor setup. I have learned a lot from this board and have a few questions: 1. Nobody seems to really describe their trading techniques - ie what are your chart settings etc. Right now I have been watching nvda this week using a 1 min chart with Parabolic SAR (.02, .2), MACD with histogram (8,17,9), slow stoch (5,2,3), and RSI (9). Out of those indicators the macd and SAR seem to give the best information. Why doesn't anybody want to talk about their setups and what indicators/timeframes they use? Anyone? Bueller? 2. Screening/Scanners I would like to look for other stocks that have large daily ranges like nvda - can anybody recommend a decent scanner? I have tc2000 on the way but I don't really want to pay for the data service. Does anyone know if it will work with datek? Datek's realtime scanner is pretty limited (I use it to look for breakouts). 3. Since I haven't started yet should I go with IB or just stick with datek for awhile? Thanks for you help. Garet (MGB 2)
>I plan on playing stocks with large daily >ranges (like nvda) and also breakouts until >I learn more. Unsolicited opinion, so value it as you will... It's a BIG mistake for new traders to start out on the volatile stocks like CIEN, NVDA, JNPR, etc, etc.(ESPECIALLY NVDA). Pick a nice slow big cap and learn the basics of routing and behaviour. Trade a hundred shares for a month or so at IB and get an education on the CHEAP. When your learning it's not about winning it's about not losing. CONSERVE YOUR CAPITAL!!!!!!! JB PS: You'll thank me later
Turuk, I welcome all advice. I am paper trading now while I watch nvda etc. until I learn the ins and outs of ecn routing etc. I have traded stocks since 94 but I was always long ie holds of at least two weeks or more. Intraday trading and swing trading is new to me. I can see that those nickels and dimes saved by getting the best execution have a whole new meaning when you are going after a 50 cent swing etc. When I traded options my holds were generally no longer than two days - basically swing trading options- monitoring them realtime strictlly buys and selling calls. When I start I will be very overprotective/conservative with stops. Garet