I have the same quandary. I think I'm close, but would appreciate some thoughts from people that have made the move. My day job pays about 150k and i have a non-working wife and 2 kids. I'm 40. I'm a registered CTA and have traded accounts for about 3 years. I have about 750k under management of which about 1/3 is personal. I day trade mainly forex futues. USD, AUD, EUR and not much else. The odd CL or YM thrown in but with correlations these days, the AUD pretty much serves the purpose. There is no doubt that my work limits my trading and therefore I tend to trade Asia and Europe late at night. Last year was my best year ever but am wary of recency bias. Since becoming a CTA I've been reasonably consistent but have some big draw downs. 30-40% Any and all advice appreciated.
This interesting topic. I advise to trader......... why you ask for help on internet forum? You dont know who is who. I advice find real trader and ask him. Go to NY, London, HK, etc major money center and find real trader.
You want "real trader"? Let me tell you who the real trader is? I. I am the real trader! If you go to New York, London, HK, you find algorithm front-runners. They know nothing about trading. They know NOTHING, NOTHING. I experience the PAIN, FEAR, TEARS, HEADACHE, ANXIETY, GREED ...........every single day. The New York "real traders" never experience these things, the only time they do is the time they die. Corzine did it and blew up MF Global. Madoff did it and got himself into a gigantic ponzi. I, on the other hand, did it every single day! Now you tell me, who is the real trader? I or those software developers? oh, by the way, I lost $250,000 in the past 3 years, I have run out of money, so I won't be a real trader any longer. Back to job hunting. Got to find a regular job and put food on the table.
I'm also a CTA, and I think you can get by with up to 50% drawdown if that's what you had modeled, so if your model shows your dd at 30-40%, it's fine, but maybe a little too on tilt for discretionary trades in those instruments if you aren't using any models.
Seems to be coming true two years later. What platform are you using and did you develop any automation?
This humble, sentient entity,, along with the spirits of Eudaemon, The Comedian, Dr Manhattan, Ming the Merciless and the great Mokele Mbembe himself, wish to congratulate you In achieving this most important milestone on your journey towards total freedom.