andrasnm: I have followed your posts for some time and you appear to be a knowledgeable day trader. You say "I made and lost a lot of money it's time to say good-bye and try different things. What have your losses been due to? 1. Having a system that no longer worked in the market environment that it was in? 2. Not keeping the usual stops and giving back weeks or months of profits in a few days? 3.Using massively increased position size and giving back profits that way. 4. Trying a new strategy on the fly? In a nutshell since you have a solid understanding of the markets I'm wondering is it that you are not able to master the discipline end of the game / total mental aspect or something else?
But credit card companies do take high risks. There was a time when getting a credit card was not easy. Now they hand them out to almost anyone. They have obviously decided that volume of transactions is more important than creditworthyness, so they keep the interest rates high so that the honest but undisciplined pay for the defaults of the crooked or unfortunate. If you have found a place that is not a free market and you are able to get 16% without much risk, good luck. If I had I would have kept it to myself as it won't last long if the word gets around.
based on the efficient tendency of any markets, i would imagine any business is highly competitive and cut-throat.. although personally i am an IT professional, I have been in businesses such as retail, and import/export.... but trading is still the most attractive since: 1. unlimited potential..... system development, advisory services, even fund management, all in my dreams. 2. no customers (so far) to deal with, no inventories to worry about. 3. flexibility.... the global 24 hour market. work anytime you want... (although at the present i am squeezing every minute i have.... typical for any business at start up stage).
"1. Having a system that no longer worked in the market environment that it was in? 2. Not keeping the usual stops and giving back weeks or months of profits in a few days? 3.Using massively increased position size and giving back profits that way. 4. Trying a new strategy on the fly? " In 1987 I dreamed/slept commodity futures I never cared to trade stocks. I had a series 7 but noone wanted to talk stocks. So I read a book from Stanley Kroll, he made some money in sugar and retired. So I got my series 3 and started to look for 'gamblers' The leverage the futures offer was intoxicating and the speed the trending market can make a difference in a persons bottom line. Obviously even if it goes your way, pyramiding and limit days can make a "bad hair day" Only after a break and major wins and losses in soybeans I turned to stocks, only because Bob Kanter the president of ETG talked me into it. I had many personal problems during my trading with ETG and I had problems trading independently. There was a window of opportunity before decimalization to scalp ETF's based on interest rates but he never let me trade ETF's - despite my contract never mentioned them dictating what I could trade. I went somewhere else and for a short while I traded ETF's very successfully. (decimalization ended that !!!!) In summary trading is very difficult. Of course the poster pointing out the obvious pros (no inventory, no customers, no marketing) are all true except you have to ask yourself - if I only need money and skill why is there no more millionaires there. Why are more in RE ??????? (answer: RE offers even a higher leverage than futures and even 3-0% down) so you can either make money or foreclose, in finance you go broke easy !!!)
agree with your post. In real estate the discipline required has similarities and differences to trading. In buying an investment property to be prudent your must do your own due diligence before buying the property and check income and expenses,neighborhood,structure,potential environmental issues,vacancy rates for the type of real estate your buying,ect....... Once you own the property you must manage it.It is a much slower pace than trading and think its closer to investing. The interesting thing is in NY metropolitan area, many investment properties that had decent cash flow the owners survived even in a declining real estate market.But the invest ment properties that had negative cash flow and the owners were going to "double there money converting the units into condos"....... All in all I think the second to second discipline required to trade the market few people possess,where as the real estate market does not require the same discipline and so far in a quality location the old deadly traders saying "it will come back" seems to hold true. P.S I have been more profitable in real estate investing than trading ,but I attribute it to a rising market . luck and one good buy 15 years ago ,not any great skills.