I recommend addressing your account equity curve in advance. What will you do at various equity/time points? What if the account hits $30k? $20k? $0k? And what if it hits $50k? $100k? When will you take money out? How much? You get the idea. The only time to discuss these possibilities is right now, at the beginning, with your wife. The both of you need to have a 100% understanding on the money plan. Once you work it out, get it down on paper, frame it, and hang it in your office. This lovely document will help ensure continued happiness in your marriage
Great idea about framing it will definitely do this. I was thinking Constant Risk and no withdrawing from trading account. Joe
The question i thought you asked was what are good long term investments. Are you looking to trade , day or swing , for your source of income ? What is long term to you ? 1 yr ? 10 years ? Do you know the historical returns of stocks and what they've returned the past decade ? Do you know that bond funds can down in value ? What is your experience ? traded stocks or commodities before ? Do you understand fundamental and technical analysis ? What return to you expect to get on your long term investment ? Do you realize that you can lose money doing this ? Have you sim traded before ? No need to reply to all. Just off the top of my head and something to think about, IMO. And yeah, if you're looking to trade you absolutely need the support of the wife. and when you tell her you've lost money 3 weeks in a row, she'll tell you 'don't worry , you'll make it back soon". Make sure you got that too. good luck in whatever you do and best rgds jas
Not very good at the quoting techniques of the forum so interlaced the answers after your questions. Thank you much. Joe
Update on partnership with wife. Had a long serious chat with her. We agreed to 40,000 initial starting capital no margin for the time being and no usage without mutual approval. Since the risk plan is constant risk, blowing up the account means total failure and no second tries. There will be no capital injection on the account no matter the outcomes unless the capital is doubled to 80,000. Should this occur we will rethink the strategy to determine if it was skill or luck. Constant Risk actual percentage has yet to be determined. Undecided between .25% and 1%. More updates on this later. Joe
Joe, Would like to ask you a few questions about your technical analysis tools. What kind of charts do you use ? Do you use indicators or lines ? Which instruments do you prefer? Good spirit you are displaying, I like what ive been reading. FoN
You can't trade without a margin account! Your trades will take 3 days to clear, by then you may miss significant moves i.e. experiences and you can't grow without them. Market waits for no one if, your aim is not lose money you chose the wrong business. I know of no trader making a living or trading full time without margin. I thought you are looking for a career not supplemental income. However manage your risk i.e. spread it out and don't risk more than a piece at a time.
Hi Freak, I mostly use daily charts, I find them to be the most reliable. For precision I will go to much smaller timeframes but the bread and butter comes from the daily. Don't use indicators just lines, lots of lines. I monitor the morning for stocks doing big gaps before the open and try to position myself for a trade, particularly those moving on big news, perhaps after reports, basically trying to see what's in play offering superb volatility and/or opportunity. Also trade SPY from time to time, have also studied Forex pairs, they both have good price action but a much lower volatility than stocks. Have also traded futures but they require much smaller stops due to the leverage they carry. That about sums it up, hope I did not leave anything out. Joe
Understood and knew about the three day clearance. In fact some brokers won't let you short without a margin account. Thanks for your time. Joe
Instead of going it alone join a prop firm and get some training also experience and if you can trade out of an office, it will make your initiation much easier.