Here's what I'm doing cuz I'm in similar situation. I paper traded before I knew what I was doing. I could trade $50k demo accounts into $350k-$500k in one night trading the night session. It doesn't translate. I have lost near $50k real money after learning many trading lessons. I currently have $40k expendable.. but of course it makes no sense to expose all of this given my record. Instead I have 10k with my broker. Soon I'll be working 12 hour shifts. This will give me a few days off per week to day trade. Once I accumulate enough via trading, I'll quit my job. TRADE THE MOST MINIMUM SIZE POSSIBLE TILL YOU ARE LIKE A ROBOT TRADING. THEN MOVE SIZE UP SLOWLY. The last week I was on vacation, I day traded. I was positive on the week till friday. Trading on vacation sucks, but I know that I am close to profitability.... I would find part time employment while I traded on my days off if I were you. In 6mon-1yr you will know if you can day trade for a living. Isn't as hard as most people think, just a 100% complete trading plan that contains an edge.
"You work in finance (sort of). Why would you want to jump out of working in finance* to... work in finance?" Because I don't want to work in "finance", I want to trade. I just want to be in front of a screen all day either making money or losing money on my own strengths/weaknesses. It fits my introverted and capitalistic nature. The problem with being in compliance is you get labeled "the compliance guy" and it is very hard to transition out of that, especially on the buy side where I'd be going up against traders with buy side experience without the compliance label for any open positions. "First off, This forum is an absolutes waste of time if you intend on becoming a successful trader. There are some experienced guys still in here but most have disappeared over the years. This forum is full of people that are negative, bitter, and wannabes. There are some gems, but the crap covers all that up." I knew what I was in for. I do appreciate the real advice I'm getting from those trying to help. I know everyone says that you shouldn't expect to make money for at least six months, and a year is being even more realistic, but I do at least have an advantage there with my wife that is willing to be the breadwinner while I try to break the learning curve. I know success is never guaranteed in trading no matter how long you do it. "Can you trade futures?" They may let me have a futures account, but my only problem would be finding time to trade during the day. Also, I've found that our system blocks data feeds, so I'm unable to trade forex at work. I'm sure futures would be the same. "You should also read the story of Marty Schwartz in Pit Bull. Great book." I actually did read it and enjoyed it. Love the Market Wizards books too.
Let me ask you a question? How do you expect to succeed by giving this a go a few days a week, while there are firms and other traders who are going after the same slice of pie that you are. However they are devoting multiples of the time, brainpower, and technology to go at it? This never made sense to me...I think it is highly improbable for anyone to make it in this business unless they treat this like a business and not a part time job. Just my opinion!
So... what you are saying is that you want to be a pretend trader rather than real trader, right? Because putting down $20k deposit == pretending to be a trader. Don't give us this bull crap about "introverted and capitalistic" - you want a short cut: just say so. Why are you not in a sales&trading analyst program in NYC rather than doing equity research compliance in FL? Because you failed exploit the opportunities that might be open to you; And now you are once again doing the same thing: trying to be a pretend trader rather than working towards being a real trader.
tradergator, are you allowed to trade futures? i'd recommend trading Kospi during evening hours while holding onto your current job.
OP, as you can see by some of the replies trading can take its psychological toll on people. People worry to much, don't be afraid go for it. You mentioned you don't want to scalp but you want to trade your 3m support/resistance strategy. My advice to you is to keep your mind open about strategies as you may find that executions in the live market are different to demo account. For example for a true scalper demo trading is meaningless, at some stage you have to go live with 100 lots, start small limit your daily loss. Don't rule out learning true scalping, as this is high frequency and intensive it will make sure you know your execution platform inside out before learning other strategies. It is also possible to earn $300+ per day fairly easily. It will get you used to all the ECN's, all the nuances and you will learn valuable 'tradecraft' that you can apply later. If you get your outgoings down to the minimum and grind out $3-4k per month this will take care of the basics and you can build from there. My advice would be to get in touch with a prop firm that has an office in NYC, try and find one which teaches basic scalping strategies to get you started. You can fly in from Florida, stay for a week or two hit the ground running. Then you continue as a remote trader. When you get proficient at scalping then you can start trying out your own strategy. Anyway by that time you will be in a new world, a world where you will be sitting at a screen for 7 hours a day - believe me after a couple of weeks of this your opinion of trading will change, some people cant do it, some people thrive in it. If I could stress one thing it would be to join a prop firm that has profitable traders and has a good reputation. It is vital that you learn from other who have trodden the path you are about to take. on the subjective of part time trading or trading evenings. might work for some people but didn't for me. This is a minus sum game that requires you to have the edge on everyone else at all times to stay profitable, imo you need to be full time to do this. imo you need to be ready willing and able during US market hours as a minimum. just my 2c's good luck
Thanks. This is really helpful. I'm really just not that familiar with rebate scalping. From what I know, it's all about being paid to add liquidity, placing orders all day to collect. While this may be profitable, it doesn't really sound like what I want to do. If it helps me get better in the long run though, then I will definitely keep an open mind. And I agree that this is something that would require all my time to be successful which is why I'd have to quit my job. Trading part time against professionals is not worth it.
Okay, I didn't realize your depth. Attempting automation by yourself is tough and it's excellent, imo that you experienced that. You can trade equities, but I think forex and futures are more ideal for aggressive growth. Put your money into longer term equities once you have allot to play with. Trade high volume spike stocks or whatever, but I think most of your money will come from futures and currency. Have you developed a discretionary trading ability? PM me if you want one person's opinion. Quitting is your choice, I hope you do not have an expensive living payment. With your degrees you probably won't have that much trouble getting back into the workforce. What about an unpaid leave of absence?