i am wondering, just was it that got you interested in the markets and trading ?? for me, my economics professor, from the chicago school of economics, ( no i did not go there, he did) planted a seed when he spoke of the insane money in the derivative market. THEN--i saw the movie "wall street", THEN i met a werid gann/elliott astrologer dude who actually traded his own account---- it was 1990, the best of times, the worst of times---- that is what got me into this infernal game. how about you ?? all the best, surf
Wanted to be a laid back english professor and travel / write books in the summers, 'o captain my captain' and all that jazz. Woke up from utopian academic dream to realize most liberal arts professors are a dime a dozen and generally treated like dirt until they get tenure. Happened across a copy of 'The Investment Biker' by Jim Rogers laying around a buddy's dorm room sophomore year. Said to self, "making money by thinking, now that sounds like a sweet gig." Read lots of books, interned with a stockbroker at Raymond James, read about Soros, decided stocks were for wimps, got into futures, scored commodity broker gig after graduation, quit broker gig after three years to go solo, switched back to stocks after realizing they fit style/profile a little better, and here we are in late 2002.
the challenge. Worked in law, met a lot of traders and saw a large opportunity to make more money....... Besides, itâs a game where the only person you can blame is you!
stuart from ameritrade convinced me. actually, i used to own a company which wrote software for realtors. it was doing well, but technical support was such a pain in the ass. people would call me with questions about word for windows or other applications i had nothing to do with. and i had a crooked partner so the company went under. then i was trying to figure out how i could use my software development skills to create an application that i could make money with, but wouldn't have to sell to anyone. simultaneously, i read an article somewhere about computers and the stock market. so it came together. i have completely immersed myself in it ever since. at one point, my software was designed to price out the black scholes option formulas and do all kind of stuff with that. but i lacked the self discipline required to take both sides of the spreads, straddles, etc and lost everything buying calls on NT as it withered into nothing. it was like, "why should i spend an extra $500 to buy the put side of my setup? i know it's going back up." -- a true beginner. and i became permanently spooked of the options market. now i trade long and short in the stock market. i have the software to find plays and the discipline to execute them. thanks for asking this question. it made me think a bit as i had forgotten how i first started trading.
1. Wouldn't let me into med school because of my age, so became a professional bowler. Got tendinitis and had to quit. 2. Had a friend with a cool gig... replacing whole life insurance with "buy term and invest the difference". The "difference" was initially annuities, then mutual funds. Business grew into Life/P&C insurance and auto/equipment leasing. 3. Heard about Value Line futures in '83. Dropped everything else to become a trader and RIA. Still haven't made $1Mil in one day, nor $10 mil in one year. All other goals accomplished... only a few regrets, and they mostly have to do with women!
complete accident. In mid 1996 I was working with the mentally-ill. The job was rewarding as far as helping people improve their quality of life, but it was dissappointing to see the damage done by buracracy. So I left. And a week later I broke up with my girlfriend at the time. With no job and no woman, I went on a 4 week party/drinking binge. One day I was talking to a friend of the family and she was telling me about her sons who were bond brokers in NY. At first I wasn't interested but I called her son, he told me to apply for a brokerage position to get my series7 ....worked that for a while and really started to like the way the markets move...the excitement...but I hated dealing with clients who never gave thanks for making them money...but hated you when their statements showed any sort of loss. So in Fall 2000 I had enough money to pay bills for a year and enough to open a daytrading account. This was probably the worst time to do it. (When you're a broker you develope "L.O.D" long only disease). I took some hits in the beginning...came back..and well 2 years later....here I am.
Tell us, how does it feel to have evolved from working with the mentally ill to trading against the mentally ill?
well, I have yet to have any other trader jump around in public, screaming that the FBI AND CIA is after them......and I haven't had a gun pulled on me in a few years either