Once you realize that you have an edge it changes everything. it is not until you find your own edge that you can begin tweaking that edge and or trying new ways to scael and or execute better on your edge. If you sit down everyday and think.. oh man i hope i make money today then you do not have an edge. if it stresses you just thinking about trading then you dont have edge. If i lose 5k by following my systems edge it hurts way less than losing 500 outside of my system when i do something dumb or on a whim! stick to the plan! I would say to figure out what you want to do in the mkts. that is your first task. just slow down. figure out where or how you want to fit in and then focus on just that one thing over and over and then expand it. there is enough money in every single futures market to make an incredible living why get bogged down with thinking about world or trade domination. BABY steps. i ran my system in demo for 6 months straight adhering to risk principles and i had a friend i reported daily results to which kept me honest but if i wasnt honest then why am i going to do this trading by myself in the first place. what are your weakenesses the mkt will find those and exploit them. You see this often when you are in a trade and you think.. crap.. they have me trapped. then the mkt runs even more against you and you say wow they are trapping everyone now ! and yet they dont stop the selling and you are long and you are in a trance connected to this losing trade even more now and then finally you think. holy shit this could keep dropping what it its a flash crash a 1987 what the hell is going on here. you search news you look at other mkts you arent thinking rationally at all at this point and so you finally click. . exit all at mkt. BOOM! the algos see that and guess what .. they run it the other way immediately and why? Because they know you wont sell at a small loss because you are human and it hurts and it hurts and deep down you want to feel good. so the more it hurts in the trade the better it will feel to exit when you do.. like holy shit i lost a ton of money but i am out now.. it feels great then later that day you look and it puts in an acute onset of mild depression because you were right but you lost! if you get out at a loss of 10 dollars you move on if you get out at a loss of 100 dollars you are happy you got out if you get out at a loss of 1000 dollars you are happy you got out but verey upset at what you did. for me it is about how much work is going to be involved if I am wrong and lose a lot to get it back TODAY! and how much opportunity cost is being stuck in this loser costing me over the next 3 to 4 hours. there is no right or wrong anser for all of this but define what and where what time fram you want to trade in and do just that and do not stray from it. once it clicks you will know it and then finally you can work on nuance moves and postion sizing to make more money with less risk. It is not easy you are playing against the smartest people and fastest machines in the world who have unlimited margin and information and everything they do is small for them when everything you do is huge for you. do you see the difference. it is humongous. Good luck.
30. Big state school for undergrad and grad (masters, dropped out from phd) Yea I've read about the arithmetic thing too. Good thing it's very trainable. I guess for intraday you need to be able to figure out the risk real fast to determine how much to size in/out
STEM degree? It's hard to convince people that you are smart unless you either went to a top school or have a STEM degree. Not really. The main reason to ask brain teasers or basic math is to check if the person has brains and can think under pressure. Risk/exposures/sizing are/should-be all automated in one way or the other, you almost never gonna see a trader trying to figure out what his exposure is by hand (I say "almost" because just this Monday I had to figure out my deltas by hand because our servers went down).
Only reason to do math in my head fast is to quickly convert $'s to shares. However, I suck at it so much, i end up doing it in excel or typing in random share amounts in the trading app to figure out the dollars.
My guess is that you will have a tough time differentiating yourself for a position that will pay you a salary up front or for a position that will set you up for a career (vs a churn 'em and burn 'em place). You are old (not completely malleable) and don't come from an exceptional background (like an ex-Navy SEAL or someone who has just completed their PHD in neuroscience). Your returns on your IRA are meaningless. Your best best is to network and find someone who will take a chance on you. An example of this was my nanny's last employer was an IT guy, but his frat brother had started a multi-billion dollar stat arb fund in FL. A decade after they both graduated, the frat brother suggested he come down and try out working at the fund. (and that's how we hired our Nanny - at their going away party 7 years ago).
I find that I do surprising amount of mental math, but usually when I am off the desk. For example, I went for a solo hike w my dog right before the lockdown and I recall sitting in the tent in Adirondacks doing a bunch of simple math about the impact of buybacks.
Happy to talk, but we don’t take deposits. Feel free to reach out via email if you have a good track record and are looking for capital, technology, coaching, teamwork, and quantitative tools. It sounds like things are going well. Good trading.
Sceptastic, as you will probably not be able to get a salaried position at a prop firm, the obvious answer is to find a part-time job as a scientist and use the extra time to grow your trading account and lift your spirit. I am a chemist, did the same type of thing and was able to find a job that allowed me to work 3 10 hour days, one on Saturday so I still had a nice income and 3 days a week to pursue the market. You also may find a job that allows you to work a half day, maybe with later hours so you can trade the open every day.