RE> Usually good traders are drawn to other good traders ... and bad traders are drawn to others who can't trade. Spreadem - couldn't agree with you more, thats been my experience so far with the group here at my office location. I feel "very" lucky to be where I am at. J-
Thinking back, most of my friends who were very generous with sharing their trading systems etc were not good traders. However I did benefit from the camaraderie, we would all commensurate about our losses.... I must say, regarding profitable traders not sharing, I have had mixed experiences. Some were very tightlipped, getting information was like pulling teeth. However I have also met some very successful traders, money managers who were very generous with their advice and pointers. They would not share their exact trading system, but would offer good insights and advice on overall trading strategy. I find that most of us who trade on our own either from home or from an office, have done the 'office', 'prop' thing. and have now gone on to find what fits our style. But for others, trading in a 'Trading room' maybe a good thing. Its not a bad idea to see the various trading styles, also not a bad idea to move around every couple of years, so that you are exposed to many traders.
I know lots of people who are remote traders (obviously) and in-office traders. Generally, it comes down to this. If there is an office that YOU feel you benefit from (ie your bottom line), then you'd want to be in THAT office. I'd say that is the PRIMARY reason to trade from an office. I know people have left their office for the following reasons: too long a commute too many people asking questions of them need to be home for certain personal reasons privacy of their strategies One other reason that I'd recommend for people to trade from an office... you're technologically lacking. For example, if you can't save a program that has been e-mailed to you and install it, you better trade from an office. Other than that, trading from home works quite well. Just make sure that you have reliable connections and backup systems. You can work with other traders through I-net chat rooms that have a "select" group of traders that work with each other... make it audio chat so you don't have to type and read. Whatever you do, make sure you can isolate yourself from your family and interruptions. If you can't do that, save yourself some money and go into an office. I myself just DOUBLED my commute time. I moved my office to the other end of the house, so now my commute is 10 seconds instead of 5 (15 if I stop to pet the dog).
I myself just DOUBLED my commute time. I moved my office to the other end of the house, so now my commute is 10 seconds instead of 5 (15 if I stop to pet the dog). Gosh, that sucks Cash. I can relate. My wife wanted my old office for our child's bedroom. So I got booted upstairs. I now have to climb a whole flight of stairs to get to work! ::grins:: André
Besides the technological issues (a reliable ISP) and the distractions I felt that a quality assurance type environment could be helpful. Another trader and myself (a trusted friend) decided that we would divulge our specific trading methods and allow each other to critique us as to whether or not we stayed faithful to our own rules. In other words, he would examine my trades to see if I obeyed my trading rules and vice versa. After several weeks of this "disciplined trading", we found that the results of our trading improved dramatically. Before this experiment, I had the discipline of a two year old. The trading systems was a good one, my discipline was not, at that time.
I like trading from home. One of the biggest benefits of trading, imho, is that you don't have employees, office politics or the resident idiot who wants to talk every day. The only issues are that the family has to understand that there are no interruptions and that it can be a bit lonely at times. Elite and online trading friends helps with the latter.
I trade spooz and currencies around the clock. I had some backers put an office in the city where I live . It filled up in a day. Running an office and trading can be trying at times but i feel it is best to go some where to trade with other serious traders.
Running a small office with a handful of other traders works out as far as camaraderie. Boards like this one at ET are good, but I haven't found any chatrooms as valuable as sitting next to someone who really knows what he's doing. I brought in another trader friend, who trades at home, over to the office for a week to go over the finer points of daytrading. This guy really knew what he was doing; I mean he had the monthly statements to prove it. I paid him a small fee to critique my trading , my system, my whole setup. Most people would be surprise how certain environments like noise, lighting, and space affects your ability to be mentally sharp. The information that I got was very valuable and the money that I spent (invested in myself) was earned back in a week. I find that being in an office, my own office, has proved to be an edge because of a sharper focus with less distractions, and the best technology available.
I will say this about myself trading on the west coast and me being a night person, a couple days a week I sleep in and it does cost me money. I need the office as a routine to provide me discipline in this regard. I'm looking right now to change the situation, either an office or a different time zone.