Some brutal honesty with some truth... Ideally I would like to trade full time - although also have a stable income derived from a non-time intensive source. So if this constitutes trading for a living not sure. Trading for an income that does NOT have to pay the bills - creates a freedom that naturally assists good decision making - free from emotions and stress. So I kinda have to agree - if you have responsibilities - wife, kids etc - giving up the day job for full-time trading without an alternative source of income is going to be tough! I'm pondering this very step at the moment...
csaunders, actually I was trading from a mid 20s world-is-your-oyster perspective with, essentially, no responsibilities; the ideal. If you have got responsibilities, like family, under no circumstances would I suggest day trading.
Why thank you lazy. Just to clarify, I quit trading almost a year ago. This posting wasn't related to any recent event; just something I felt compelled to write as I was reading through the current spate of "want to trade" threads in Career Trader.
Virt, I'd say I was. I funded with $30k, but was prepared to sink another $20k in. Sure, that was essentially my entire net worth, but I felt I had the advantage of time on my side, so it wasn't as scared capital as it otherwise might have been. At my peak I was up low multiples of that amount, before I started to go downhill, so I don't think capitalization was the key problem (unless you don't think even that was enough, and you may be right).
Everyone seems caught up with day trading, but few seem to mention swing trading...I quite agree that daytrading is difficult and time consuming/intensive (it cost me some money figuring that out)...thats why although I may go down to 5min-30min charts occasionaly my main outlook is 4hr+ charts (if thats what you would consider swing trading?)....While the profit potential is greater if you manage to capture every tiny wiggle the market does...the work involved and risk/commissions makes it very unlikely you will out trade someone who takes a longer view and trades less (IMHO and IME -In My Experience-). If your goal is to average 1 point per day say, then you need look for 4 monthly trades of 5 points each. I dont trade 100% mechanical, while looking at 2 hourly charts of ES made 55points in 2 trades in past month with initial stop loss kept to 3-4 points per trade, the risk return ratio is far far nicer than aiming for couple of points per trade. Taking the longer time frame allows me the luxury of not rushing a trade because unless I take it within the next couple of minutes the window of oppertunity is gone, and I can peruse other markets looking for trades with all the waiting time I have. Anyways, that was my way of going from losing money to making money. My 2 rocks worth.
mmm - yes I wish I was trading in my 20's. I've been part-timing now for 3 years and been very successful. Although one sometimes wonders if one is successful because you are part-time.