This is my 10th year of day trading futures full time, I make money consistently but I am losing motivation, it is a very lonely profession, there is no real excitement, I am relatively young in my mid 40's, I feel like am I wasting my life looking at screens all day waiting for a setup. Shouldn't there be more to life than this? I see so many people all around me on TV, in magazines doing amazing things, engineers, medical professionals, journalists heck even hedge fund managers running billions. Do other full-time profitable traders feel this way? What keeps you motivated and in the game?
I live close to world class skiing, hiking, biking and climbing. One hour flight time to SFO. At 1pm I am out the door, but with phone and iPad. I'll admit that I couldn't do it for as long as I have if I were a spec/futures guy. Trading vol keeps you sharp.
Trading is still enjoyable as everyday I get to get up solve new puzzles and get paid for it. Dest listed activities, I play guitar, train martial arts, run and ride, go to the gym, read a lot and visit with friends and family. Trading should be part of your life...not all of it.
family is number priority... spend time with them. what are your goals? if the trading profit will support achieving those goals then you should have enough motivation give. money has to serve some purposes... at some point, more consumption won't bring more happiness... but giving will.. count your blessings everyday but help your less fortunate fellow human beings.
Trading is ever-changing, and for me, that is exciting. Everyday is different. I enjoy learning from current events, political events, and economic/business events, in the US and from around the world! I enjoy the daily freedom to spend time on my terms... I wake up wanting to trade, but I don't need to trade. Like the others, I have several non-trading hobbies too. At 1pm pst, my opportunities for making money are over for that day. Screens off and life with loved ones, friends, or solo, magically happens, and I'll add, without many, if any, money concerns.
Strange question... what keeps a profitable trader going... I am in this game for the money. I kind of enjoy the style of trading that I am into (futures scalping), but there is always something that I would enjoy even more than actually sitting in front of my trading desk (BBQ, cruising around with car, playing Battlefield, hooking up with a hooker...) But if you have a certain lifestyle you need the cash to keep coming. I do not know any other job that I could do where I could make the amount of money that I make with trading, especially in relation to the time that I invest every day for it. I try to keep it short and simple on most days, trade the opening, maximum until lunch time and thats usually it. Sure the 2 or 3 hours in front of the screen are sometimes a bit boring, loneley,... but if you get compensated big time for this, who cares ? People do such shitty jobs all around the world, work their ass off in stinkey offices with stinkey bosses, work on dirty construction sites and much worse, all day long for sometimes less than 50 dollars a day. A good trader can easily make thousands in a few hours. After the 2-3 hours of work, you go and enjoy your time with friends, cars, hookers and other fun activities. So where is the problem ? Could it be better ? Not for me. I think this is the PERFECT way to live your life. I doubt that those who complain about the trader lifestyle are really profitable. If you are profitable and still complain then I suggest to reduce your trading hours and increase your exposure a bit... work less, make more money, have more fun.