It is for the most part - although that doesn't make it much easier - knowing your risk parameters and living through them is not the same.
You are down 80K this year, what has your PnL been in previous years. If you don't want to mention your previous PnL, did you at least make more than 80K in profits previously? What i am really asking is, is this 80K loss from previous profits on from deposited capital?
I agree on the engineer type. If I had to hire traders I would probably hire musicians, philosophers, artists, etc...
This is where numbers get blurry - a fair comparison would only be across similar leverage/size imo.Just think you make 30% on 1M and you loose 90% on 200.000 - is that good or bad? good obviously since you've made net $$$ but bad when it comes to trading ability or confidence. Anyway - my worst year was 2015 with -585.000 and my best year was 2008 with 1.2M - last year I made 283.000. Since 2015 I've significantly reduced my $$$ in the market.
Boston is a fun place to go to school. Riding the T is good enough; no need to own a car. Maybe you get lucky and the younger one goes to an in-state college. If one or both decide on becoming a doctor or a lawyer, the $300,000 per could easily double. An undergraduate degree is like a high school diploma unless it’s a STEM degree from a top school. You need at least two degrees, a bachelors and a graduate or a professional degree, to be competitive for higher paying jobs. Better keep hustling. The tuition bills may continue for another 8 years.
I'm not familiar with your trading style, and I'm sure you already know this, but selling premium is a negative skew strategy... Lots of small gains, but infrequent large losses. Is that what accounts for your losses? If so, you may just be going through a rough period. Market behaviour has definitely changed.
When confidence is shot the only thing you can do is trade smaller size until the confidence returns.
Yeah, we get attached to profits and don't want to give them back during a drawdown so we can end up breaking our rules. This is counter productive and normally means we miss out on further profits.
The day did end green 418$ the reversal helped a lot. The wheel strategy (definitely more investment than trading) lost ~ $2700 (SLV, EEM and EWZ were biggest losers, on EEM/EWZ alone I'm down $18.000 for the year) The pairs trades made $3187. Remaining Margin/Buying Power: $308.000
Not every major. Engineering grad school is usually free and includes a small stipend. Unless one only qualifies for the master's program and won't do TA / RA. It's one of the few departments that actually brings in money for the school.