Understanding that trading is like starting up your own business, you may run risks of losing all your capital at one mistaken trade. At the meantime, those who make up millions of dollars from trading are seemingly getting fewer than ever before since the rise of program trading, which make trading much more sophisticated. Why do you all guys still consider making a living on trading??? Do you all have a deeply rooted belief that you can beat the market? Questions appears silly but I really like to know how you all here think.
I think if all you have is a "belief that you can beat the market" then you are in trouble. You have to post results consistently before undertaking it on a fulltime basis, and have a solid operational plan together on all levels, from strategizing, risk control, and money management.
If you can lose all your capital on one mistaken trade then you should not be trading in the first place...
Right if you are willing to take such risks as "losing all of your capital on one trade" means that you also inherently have the belief that you can "get rich quick on one trade." Then you have to question whether this is really serious or even a career for you, or is it simply a high risk/high reward endeavor where you want to go for broke. If you made a trade such that you could lose all of your capital, I'm guessing that the rewards would be off the charts compared to your current situation as far as salary goes. If you do hit it big on this trade, what do you do next, quit trading and move onto something else? You need to ask yourself these questions, or else you'd be better suited dropping your startup capital at the casino or racetrack.
Isn't this given??? Why would you trade if you are not sure whether you can beat the market or not...unless you are a moron or just looking to get rich quick by gambling(instead of trading)???
Listen to Jim Cramer!!! Watch TV get rich. Booyah skidaddy! Cramer says to be in at least 5 but not more then 10 stocks at any given time in different sectors. Do not overuse margin. Do not buy "all at once". Always take profits. Cramer is a clown, but his overall logic is sound.
That's a fact. One thing I learned from the day job is that if you don't have a process in place, you're prone to shipping a product with bugs and defects. Trading for a living is no different. All work is a process. If your process is well-defined and repeatable, then you'll ship a higher-quality product i.e. make money consistently. If you treat trading like an art or a hobby (your process is ad-hoc/chaotic), you might make money some days, but you won't make a living at it.
Please provide documented proof that the dollars from trading are 'seemingly getting fewer'. As more money enters the market, quite the opposite actually, esp in futures.
thanks for you all patience and opinion. I am such a newbie that i raised such a stupid question. I may have conveyed wrongly the idea that I would like to trade like gambling. I understand that trading is a consistent activity, which involves a strict control of risk. Losing all captial on one trade is just a an abnormal example. Anyway, sorry for that. I wonder if you all have any underlying principle with constructing your trading system.