You'd be an exception if you are: 1) Extremely well prepared and have done your homework 2) Have an aptitude for trading (eg. shown you can papertrade for profit) 3) Are disciplined enough to control your emotions 4) Have some smarts (doesn't hurt) Would that be enough to give it a try?
I say go for it, you gotta try it, but make sure that you have "plan B" ready should the markets not cooperate. tp
I read through the 20+ posts and didn't see where anyone asked about your expenses. Do you have a mortgage? Car payments? Credit card debt? Family; wife and/or kids? I think that facet (i.e. expenses & family) will play a big role in ultimate success or failure. Also, I'd strongly recommend that you find a way to come up with another $5K to start out at $25K so you can daytrade and not be stuck with just position trading. With 4:1 BP you'd have 100K to trade. I left my job voluntarily almost 8 years ago to trade and it's one of the best choices I made in my life. You never know unless you try ... good luck.
Enough? Hmmmm...... 1. "Well prepared" is relative. It's highly likely that whatever you think is enough, isn't. 2. "Paper trade for profit" and "disciplined enough to control emotions".... If all you've done is paper trade, you know NOTHING! 3. "Smarts"... about 20 years ago I asked a successful options trader who ran client money through our B/D, "If you tought me how to trade, how long would it take before I got good at it?" He said, "5 years or so". I said, "5 years? I don't know why it should take 5 years. I'm pretty smart". He said, "I was counting on that." (He didn't mentor me, either.) You won't know whether you have what it takes until you have made real money and survived at least a few attempts the market WILL make to take it all back. What any aspiring trader should do (a) trade conservatively to protect capital... "blowing up" even for small money in the beginning is not acceptable, and (b) trade small. When successful, trade bigger. Then bigger again. Your account balance will tell you all you need to know. You do have a head start, however. Your handle is apropos!
Well, we have about 1800 a month in expenses. My live in girlfriend and soon to be wife makes about 1500 of that. The extra 5k was actually something I was really thinking about. I see the pattern day trading distinction as a big advantage. But my thoughts were to force me to position trade and take on some of the learning curve before introducing margin risk. What do you think?
Good advice, can you (& your spouse) make all the payments now...after 6 mths? I really think you may be jumping the gun on getting into trading right away. If you feel a sense of urgency to get into the markets now to start making money I'm afraid you may be setting yourself up for disaster - if this is how you are thinking then you are already emotional. I would take previous posters advice and papertrade for at least 3 months before trying real $$. Trust me I'm talking from experience I wish I knew about et before I started and I would have saved $1000's There are some excellent stock pickers on this forum, check out the journals section for more on that. If you are going to trade right away then make sure you trade small size (100 share lots) and don't be too proud/ashamed to pull the plug for a while if you start to incur constant losses. This venture is in my opinion the most challenging venture a person will ever undertake. I like to think that I am always learning and the learning curve is virtually never ending in this business. Good Fortune in your trading friend.
"Prove your success before you ever touch margin in any form" would be my recommendation... but then, I'm old school.
Easy solution ... you're soon to be married? Then ask for cash for wedding gifts and you might raise the other $5K to get up to $25K. Just kidding ....... It's good that you might only have $300 (net) of expenses to cover. Now, next question I'd ask is how supportive is your girlfriend of you pursuing trading? How might she react if you lose a few $$ early on? Do you think she (and you) can handle the possible roller coaster ride that might ensue in the early days? Now, as far as position trading initially. I think it can be a double edged sword. Let's say you're long XYZ and we have something catastrophic occur (terrorist act, for example). The market might tank the next day and you could be up a creek. With $25K you could consider a hybrid approach where you use some percentage of your capital for position trading and the rest for day trading. That way you could (hopefully) make a few $$$ each day and watch your position trades and let those profits run a bit.
Have you thought about trading the E-mini S&P500 instead of stocks? Do proper research and pick the right instrument when you start. -Fast