Before you read this post , you should first take a look at my first imfamous post here: http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=78466. Now here's my update. Man!!! How naive I was when I made my first post!!! I recently graduated and joined a prop firm. Came into this firm all gung ho, feeling like the MAN, thinking I knew everything and shit and BAM!!!! I lose around 1000 right off the bat in a couple days. It's been approximately two months since I joined this firm and I'm on the verge of finishing off my first deposit of 5000. Below is a picture of my equity curve... <a href="http://img150.imageshack.us/my.php?image=equitycurveem9.jpg" target="_blank"><img src="http://img150.imageshack.us/img150/6/equitycurveem9.th.jpg" border="0" alt="Free Image Hosting at www.ImageShack.us" /></a> As those of you who trade know, trading can be a very humbling experience. You can throw all your hopes and dreams straight down to the toilet. I've been been getting ripped a new asshole trying to trade on a daily basis, LOL!!! It looks my goal of obtaining $200,000 in 2008 is all but improbable. It's possible, but highly improbable. My first goal should simply be this: survival!!! I have to stay in this game long enough to know how to play this game until i start to "GET" it. The advice I received in this thread was gold. I was an immature, naive dumbass blind kid, having a false sense of hope, ignoring all advice, thinking everyone was trying to get to me and put me to the floor. I guess I had to get my ass handed to me before I started opening my eyes. I had to get my ass pummeled to the floor, experience hungry non-forgiving traders taking my money away from me(like taking candy from a baby) to understand what some of you had to go through and what some of you were trying to get through to me. I apologize for my naivety and ignorance to all who I ridiculed and ignored. With that said, I have to ask you guys a question(preferably those who went the prop route and/or trade on an intraday basis). What did you guys do to start making money(6 figures or more) on a consistent basis? Share me and everyone else your story of the trials and tribulations when you first started trading and the key determining factors that contributed to your success, what you learned through this journey, etc. etc. It'll be a good weekend read with all this snow up in NYC!!!
When you say 6 figures, I hope you mean in a year?!?!?! Anyway I'll give you my quick story. After college I got a job like most kids fresh out of school, not knowing what I really wanted to do. Always had an interest in the markets in general. I went to NYC for vacation one year and went to the NYSE, talked to a few people and discovered prop shops. I ended up getting an interview at a prop firm, and got the job. I was already to move, when a credit card scam I was part of in my senior year of high school came to light and the position was no longer offered to me. So I had to stay in the Dallas area. Went back to work for an oil broker, still wanting to trade. I had saved some money from the job I was working at (10,000), so I did the unthinkable I quit my job to trade full time not knowing shit about trading. The only thing I had known out side of school was the oil industry so I decided to trade oil futures. To make a long story short, I lost my 10k in a month or so, maxed out both my credit cards, and eventually had to move into my parents basement, AGAIN! It took me a year to pay off my credit cards working two jobs, but while this was going on I was studying the markets, looking at charts, reading news every waking hour I had, and back testing. After about a year in a half, I had saved a little bit of money and so I quit one of my jobs to trade on the side. In my first year I made 7k trading part-time. After 18 months of that I once again took the leap of faith and quit my job to trade. My first year trading full time I netted a little under 50k for the year. That was in 2004. I keep rethinking my strategy and studying charts, trying to identify patterns. In 2005 I netted a little over 80k. 2006 was a great first half, I think I was up close to 90k. But I wasn't prepared for July till December. When it was all said and done, I finished the year over 300k. This year is going to be my best by far, already hovering around the 250k mark. Compared to some people I had a quick learning curve, but I did put in a lot of blood, sweat and tears. I'm just glad I didn't give up and its paid off. I still spend a few hours after the market closes doing things to improve my trading. This is a never ending learning curve. Hopefully others will share their story, we all start from different points to hopefully end up in the same place.
heavyhitter78... Awesome story bro. It's good to know that hard work can eventually pay off in the end. Thanks for sharing your story and wish you continued success.
my story pretty much same as heavyhitter78, wasn't too fun living with the parents when your single lol, but you gotta do what ya gotta do <img src="http://img444.imageshack.us/img444/360/picture1ra8.jpg">
Very nice indeed from around 25K to 425K in around 2 years. Congrats! many would love to follow your steps!
I Trade 4 Money: I just read your thread, it looks like you came across a bit cocky. Making $200k by end of 2008 is difficult but possible. You would have to play a lot of OTC stocks in order to get there which is very risky! High risks could equal high rewards. But I have to tell you something: having big dreams and goals is a great thing, don't listen to what others have to say about them (including me). I came to the US about 16 years ago with $8k in my pocket, very little English, and after all my friends and family told me not to do it because I would fail. But guess what I had big dreams (to become a rockstar!! ) and be rich. I was a high school drop-out who put together an advertising company at the age of 19 (after everyone told me I would fail), made some cash, saved up my $8k to fly to the US. I started working a $5/hr factory job for 6 months. During that time my English was getting better, so I went and got a job paying $7.50/hr. Since I was pretty talented with computers I moved on to IT/Technology in 1992. I worked 10 hours a day, went to school at night and eventually became very wanted on the market because of my certifications and experience. I went from making $40k in 1996 to $55k in 1997, $90k in 1998 and so on, until making 6 figure income. Last year I cleared over $300k including stock options and I own 4 houses now. Now the interesting part is that I really was interested in trading/stocks and started doing that in 1998. I opened my account with $1k at E*Trade and my portfolio went up to $200k by 1999. But I was a dumbass and didn't know anything about charts, TA, stop loss or trailing stops (I have a thread about this that you can read) I never hit the "sell" button and most of it went down the drain. In conclusion I just want to say: screw the naysayers who tell you it can't be done. I am a living example of someone who has done it. All of us can accomplish anything if we set our minds to it and work our asses off. All the pro fund managers from Merrill Lynch and such will tell you that you're lucky if you can make 10%/year on your money. Guess what: I just doubled my account in 3 weeks, took some risks but it paid off. So it is do-able! I'm back in action now and will take my account to new highs but this time I have learned my lesson, read all the books, watched all the videos and listened to all the good advice that can be found (especially on ET) and I am taking the profit along the way. Good luck to you!