Just because you don't view trading as a business doesn't mean it's not a business.. If im trading fulltime and paying my bills with the money I make then what do you call that?.. Only profitable fulltime traders know what I mean..We take things more serious then others.. It's no hobby to us. . And you said a real business has customers? Well we do have customers .. If I sell a future contract there are buyers (customers) on the other side buying my contracts..
It can be. You can start your own company and make invoices for the company you are working for. Your own company will pay you later your salary. This construction happens frequently, for fiscal reasons. But you can also start a company that will bill you each time you go to the toilet in your house. Then you will be running your own company too. If you really want to run your own company you just have to start one. What happens in this company is irrelevant, you will run your own business!
When you trade for yourself, your "customer" is YOU, the same as if you were a professional poker player or an independent gold miner. "Treat your trading like a business" just means to take it seriously, not like a hobby you dally with. It doesn't have to exactly correlate with a brick-and-mortar mom&pop store.
Does that mean if I go to the casino and be very serious, I will win ? Seems to me people are getting more desperate by the minute. First they try TA, then they try psychology, next they try positive waves, now they try seriousness.
You go all out to post like an idiot but I'll play along this once. Being serious means first and foremost figuring out if you have any chance of winning, not just once or occasionally but overall long-term. In a casino, the only games you have a chance of doing that long-term are blackjack and poker. The second step of being serious is realizing that you need to acquire a considerable level of skill, and that involves a lengthy and dedicated training regimen. So going to a casino unprepared and deciding only then to "be very serious" isn't being serious at all, it's being a fool, something I suspect you're very familiar with.
I think most fail cause they over complicate it so therefore treating it as a business will also over complicate it, I run a small business so I wouldn't trade if I had to put up with all that hassle. Which way is the market going ?? JOIN IT!! REPEAT REPEAT REPEAT!!! Trading isn't a Casino, the odds are big time against you there and if you start winning the cut you off anyway ( some brokers do to but hey ) I'm a short time guy so my spread / comms likely come out 47:53 against so it's 6% odds against me, but advantages to short term ofcourse like 80% win rate achievable so all good. My hobby does well, when I take it seriously I push too hard and take stupid trades, where as if I'm casually watching I'll take only the good setups, rather than must make millions in out in out in out all losers!
My hobby does well, when I take it seriously I push too hard and take stupid trades, where as if I'm casually watching I'll take only the good setups, rather than must make millions in out in out in out all losers! -------------------------------- that's a serious point! overtrading ruined me, too. on the other hand if I don't trade everyday, I see a lot of opportunities in hindsight that would have paid out very well, if I had only been in front of the computer that time. maybe take the middle way.
hm, after some trading experience i went to a casino and won some pocket money. in a baccarat game, i bet 60 consecutive times on player and everytime i lost i martingale up. so i was correct in a 7 up baccarat game at that particular casino the player side did have a slight edge. the dealer and the other players was looking at me funny and some laughed cuz i never changed my bet just my size, but in the end i won. over 60 bets it was 55 percent player and 45 percent banker win rate surprisingly consistent with the statistic of the other table that i watched earlier. after i was up rather significantly they changed dealers, thats when i know the jig is up and decided to quit playing.