QUOTE]Quote from Dustin: I know quite a few very successful traders that I talk to regularly. Many of them are $1M+ traders. You know how many of them trade primarily futures? Zero. How many of them trade primarily U.S. equities? All of them. The futures and commodities markets are the toughest games out there. It's like taking on Tiger in golf with only a putter...why would you do that? fwiw you are following my footsteps. I also went from community college to SFSU and trading was my only income the whole time. [/QUOTE] Dustin is one guy I would definately tell you to listen to!
FGBS wow that was a great post. I haven't really considered nor looked into automation. Being in school still should i register for computer classes? Any literature i can pick up on programming for trading. Really good post thank you for your insight.
any degree is better than no degree at all because if for some reason for whatever reason he was to not be able to trade or not make it, then what would he do? choose a useful degree first (imo alot of the basic business degrees are very very BASIC and really reall common) so you will have to differentiate yourself by possibly going to grad school. or learn a trade like electrician they make ass loads of money and job is stable as hell. or dental hygienist if you are a girl (they make there own hours and make a respectable amount of money) certainly enough to trade on the side.
Automation just opens a new world. It lets you backtest ideas it lets you setup signals that do not come prefab with trading software etc. Since you have done a bit of trading you know about certain patterns that work for you. Try and think of the complete rules for this strategy. It will be completely programable and you will not have to sit there ages waiting for the signal instead you can be reading up on financial news and have a sound signal when your 10 bar moving average crosses your 40 bar moving average and the rsi is above etc etc etc. You then still have the choice to trade and if you recognize this works all the time then eventually you can program this trade completely and you can look at other things or if you get a kick out of pressing the button lets you do that too. Pretty much all trading software come with a programmable api or at least a feed to excel so look into what would be most useful. Excel VBA would be a simple start but maybe more core programming language would be a better start. Maybe look into it here on the automated forums about which language would be most useful and yeah if you can follow classes for free at university thats awesome. Gluck
I would say do read books (the bestsellers) just to know what the masses are reading/learning....it will help you to figure things out. Do get a degree, stable job or start a business. when I was about your age (20-21) I started my own business, then a couple years later I got into trading...for the first two years I was so addicted to trading that my business has suffered a lot (I couldn't devote as much time to it because of all the research, sleepless nights etc) I blew up my account a few times, but I always used extra money for trading (that I would otherwise spend for new designer shoes) I never risked money that I needed for living....after losing 20k in one day I had enough, took a break for almost a year, went back to my business...in the meantime I was still following the market, did my research, had the screens run all day in the background...then slowly (without being addicted) I was back in. I'm profitable now, but l still run my business which is luckily more profitable than my trading...I'm lucky that I always had it as an option....think about it, don't put all your eggs in one basket
I will expand on why I think stocks are easier than futures. To me, stocks are the most basic and inefficient instrument in the marketplace. Many great traders will agree, and even firm owners (Don Bright) included. The reason being that one or two large orders can really affect the way a stock trades over the course of a few minutes, or even hours. It's not unusual to see something move 10%+ in the first 10 mins of the day, only to turn and drop 5% minutes later. You will not see this kind of volatility anywhere else. Granted you will give up liquidity for volatility but for newer traders that shouldn't matter. Not only do moves like these (and many other setups) happen almost every day, but the chart patterns are consistent enough to rely on. You only need to be good at a few setups to make a great living. All you need is a good scanner, some creativity, many charts, and lots of screen time. Regarding automation, I agree with everyone telling you to learn programming now if you have the time. Once you learn to trade well, you will want to automate.
I often wonder if too much education could hinder profit. Have you guys ever thought about this? Do you think it's possible, the less education you have could actually be a benefit to trading FOR YOURSELF? Do you think it's possible you either have it or you don't....meaning the ability to understand the mechanics of wall street - and how to make money from the street, you are born with?
Yes, I think this can come into play as you'll second guess everything and start thinking too much. Easy to develop a case of analysis paralysis.
It doesn't take high intelligence to be a successful trader. But high intelligence is not a hindrance unless you make it one. K.I.S.S. Discipline Stops
books: i read TONS of them before i made the career switch to trading. i still read books, watch videos, etc. when i can. i didn't use that as a substitute, but as a supplement...there would be situations, setups, etc. that i'd read about, and it would click in or be reinforced when i'd see them happen in realtime or actual trading. stocks v futures - different strokes for different folks. i'm not a huge size trader unless i get a really specific setup (no, i'm not detailing it) where several different events happen, then i'll size it. but the reason i prefer stocks is because the futures crowd is smarter or has more money backing them, and i like playing in the pool where i feel i have a competitive edge. that's certain kinds of equities...you'll never see me play in the CSCO/DELL pool...although i did take a SPY trade 2 days ago in the afternoon, about 1:45 or so? oh, i'm looking for the tubbs market books (from 1930, out of print) in pdf form; anyone know where to get it?