....the amount of time consumed setting up a trading plan, watching markets and trading, especially futures. Am mentioning this as I'm having a rethink whether I wish to spend the next few years buried in my computers watching markets morph. There is another world out there, a real world of relationships, going out, exploring other opportunities and lifestyles but trading is such an intense focused and lonely road am not sure I wish to sacrifice my life for it. I've learned a lot the last couple of years about new trading strategies when setting up algos for trading futures, and I may take some of this and go back to trading a couple of select stocks, where I can set conditional orders with my broker and leave it at that. With futures, I need to have my computers running 24 hours a day and be constantly alert to a number of issues such as computer or modem glitches and even IB who glitch, I've noticed often their data feed goes down.
Some years back I did a lite study of "what if", what if I never went into day trading and commodities, just stayed with long term stocks. Just very conservative estimates have me at seven times what I have accumulated. All the years of losing money and more importantly years of behind the screen. I never recommend for anyone to become a day trader, even with a mentor does not mean one will become a profitable day trader. To me, all the big money has been long term stocks and using weekly bars all the better.
For all the time and effort it must take to become profitable, and all the work and stress that must go along with staying profitable--- it's hard to imagine how daytrading could ever work out to be a better deal than even a below average normal job. No security, no benefits, no access to credit. If you can make 4x your work salary or more, then it is probably worth pursuing, but with the knowledge you will have to return to work if the results don't last. Otherwise it seems a waste of time.
Most folks don't understand that becoming a retail trader is essentially starting their own business without knowing or ignoring the fact that most businesses do fail. Just important, most underestimate the time required in the beginning, underestimate the costs involved and underestimated that the income level will be losing or breakeven at best in the early years. This is not per se a trader issue...its just a typical entrepreneur issue involving folks that decide to work for themselves via starting their own business. Most are just ill prepare to be an entrepreneur. Treat your trading like a business...not a hobby. P.S. I'm not saying successful business owners will make the best traders. I'm saying that successful business owners will be better prepared to become a retail trader in comparison to the typical retail trader dreamer.
Most people I know wish they were traders. I suspect most traders wish they had a [below average] normal job with security, benefits, and access to credit. The grass is always greener on the other side of the fence. Traders I know, including myself, don't trade because we worked the numbers and trading had the best return for the time and effort. We trade because that's who we are.
Against all that is taught in school, more signals, trades and time doesn't generate more money for retail trader. It is the opposite, less signals, trades and time, providing well backtested method provides more profits and QUALITY of life. Much less stress and less risk. When you think about the RISK, it is ballistic when one is day trading. Say you risk $100 per trade and do 15 trades in a day and you had a breakeven day. You had to risk $1500 bucks per contract plus 15 commisions.
You forgot 15 bid-ask spread and/or slippage ... bid/ask spread, slippage, and commissions, are the negative edge any strategy has to overcome before just breaking even. I have found it much easier to make these as small as possible vs my average win & loss size. I day-trade CL (automated), but average win ~ 60-ticks & average loss ~ 50-ticks.
Sorry. No time to post. Restaurant Impossible is starting. Tabatha Takes Over and Bar Rescue too. Damn it I'll need to catch Car Lot Rescue, Shark Tank, Hotel Impossible, and Kitchen Nightmares online. Honestly, can a new forum be started titled "Investing"? Trade On!