Funny you should mention IBM. They were the ones that won most of the outsourcing contracts. I was working at Visa on the IT side.
Yeah I started this post when I was at my lowest point. Really felt frustrated. Thought it may help to get everything out in the open and start dealing with reality a bit. Thanks for the advice
The most I ever made on one trade was 6%. My average was about 1-2%. Those percentages were based on my leverage usually 2 times capital.
I agree. I titled this thread out of pure frustration. The hardest thing to come to grips with is the time I spent learning about the market. Walking away from the time I spent would kind feel like a true waste. I know I had to take a shot thats just the type of person I am. Didn't want to always think what could have been. Me and my family have made a lot of money in the market so I can't be mad at it. It is time to reevaluate and make changes though.
I wish it were a joke!! Not totally as bad as it seems. I have enough money to last me about a year of doing this without having to make any money trading. My girlfriend is also supporting me. If this doesn't work out I get another corporate gig and swing trade on the side like I was. I also feel I got a bit of a bad break. Ever since the crash in Feb I've been bearish on the market. The day I start trading YM it goes on a run that hasn't been seen in 100 years. A statistical anomaly if you will. I get caught with too big of size on the wrong side and my stubbornness and disbelief cost me dearly. I'm not making excuses but I think I would have faired better under normal market conditions.
Arghh, I would do whatever you were doing be4 if I was you. And pick up couple books on trading while you on your new job. I just don't get why. $100k from a corporate job + money from swing trading- thats like almost risk free.
This is all wrong. You have to totally re-orient your mind to what is happening in the here and now when trading futures, not what you think, or feeling like you got bad luck, or whatever. *** You can either learn how to trade using a one-lot, and scale-up from there, or continue BS'ing around here. Your choice. Jimmy Jam
flipflopper, try go back to stocks for now if it's working for you. Making 300 trades long/short and trippling your account doesn't seem like luck at all and I think you should continue to do it. Why stop doing something that works and do something that doesn't? The future market is different in that it's an index and has underlying components, and that means it's going to reverse against you much more often than stock (ie. underlying cancels out each other). Also, the daily range of index has been at its low point for many years and that means it is going to reverse against you even more. If you do index, you might need to do fades and it's not the easiest thing to do. I think it's not wise to throw money at it especially you're doing well with stocks. If you need more leverage with stocks, try go prop, or find a broker that let you use the new Reg-T margin, it should help. I'm not too familiar with it, but heard that 6-8x leverage is possible with diversified portfolio, depending on the so-called Value-At-Risk of your portfolio...
These helped me... Trading for a Living http://www.amazon.com/Trading-Livin...8380827?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1179943261&sr=8-1 Trading in the Zone http://www.amazon.com/Trading-Zone-...8380827?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1179943342&sr=1-1 Both stress these three things: Your trading plan must have a positive expectancy. Money management rules will kill, hurt, or save you. A professional has control of is psycological self. An amateur does not.
Yeah, it was. I have read too many books on trading makes things too confusing. Need to focus on only a few setups. The corporate gig was draining. I was up at 6:30 PST to trade. Left for the office at 9 got there at 10 worked/traded till 1 left the office at 7 got home at 8 had a quick snack for dinner then hit gym and straight to bed to do it 4 more times that week.