I can understand what you mean, and that has been my approach over the last six months. I really do enjoy trading the markets, the solitude, etc and I can only hope that I can continue to adapt to the market conditions and consistently take money, but my concerns are very similar to yours. I am in no rush and am very happy to take the advice of others who have been there and done that. The markets won't be going anywhere soon, I hope
Some of my swing trades are real short in duration anymore which is making it more of a grind. A lot depends on the stock and how much I get "up" early on and then where the overall market is going. If I can build a nice cushion (i.e. profit) I'll allow more leeway before bailing. But if it's a smaller profit that seems to not be increasing much as we move up (down) then I close the long (short) position to protect whatever profits I have. I do pull out excess money from my account and allocate it to other long term accounts as I have opportunity to do so and to allocate to living expenses. I think I'm most comfortable starting each year in the low $100's which allows plenty of buying power.
Hi james , i think you really need to find some backing for your system . If it was futures you could probably find some cash but with FX i'm not so sure. You can always trade small for a couple of years build a record then pitch up and some prop firms / small hedge fund . If you have good returns low draw downs high sharp ratio then you should be able to get some interest. I live in london also , madia vale , work in the city for a trading software firm , i think you need to be on about 20k a year here just to live so to save up 50 would take some time . good luck , if you need any help shoot me an email : writetoneil@hotmail.com .
James- I would recommend at least $250,000 in trading capital before you give up your day job. Your biggest risk is simply that your strategy/edge will stop working. Since you have been able to trade while working, why not just continue doing so until you have built up your capital base. It shouldn't take that long if you can earn 5% a month. You are only 21 and have plenty of time. But if you can get a prop firm to finance you, you may only need to put down 20 thousand dollars.