Hi, a modern thread dedicated to everyone who made it past 2000-2002 and 2008-2010 and even all the gang who survived (1987, Recession of 1989-1993, 1997 Asian Contagion), what got you involved with Trading and when did you make the leap of faith from your regular job to Trading Markets? Were you in Finance, working as a C.F.A., Hedge Fund, Accountant, Engineering or Science major? I feel inadequate when I read the posts and see the formulas you guys are making. To anyone who was not involved with Finance, what and when did you get bit by the trading-bug? Most don't realize we paid the tuition rate of imploding once or twice. I blew up once, I hated myself and worked so hard to get another grubstake. Really, what caused you to get this game deep in your veins knowing this is what you wanted to do for the rest of your life? I love it, I know most of the traders who enjoy and never met anyone who hated it! Most traders new to the Game would love to know how you made the transitions from part-time to full-time trading. I know I am highly interested in how you did it, were you nervous and scared are full of faith in your ability? Did you have any family or kids to care for, what did you base your model of income needed on to get by? I still have a friend who lives a very tight life even after making enough to quit trading, he can walk away from Trading he loves his job like most of us here.
I came to trading cause I was looking for scalability of doing something while not being tied to any particular geographical point. Had successful business which was not tied to any location either, but it wasn't as scalable as I wanted.
Cornix, I watched a "House Hunters" episode of some Trader who was looking for a massive house in Columbia, his price range was $750,000 USD looking for a new place to kick back, he has no plans of staying in Columbia for years, he said his next stop might be New Zealand or Japan, with his Forex and Futures Trading income, he can live where he wants. The guy was a really smart French man, spoke five languages, finance degree and ran other businesses at 29 years old, where else but Trading can you pick up stakes and move to a Third-World Country and leave like a mega-god? Thanks for your story, it brought back the "Foreign Exchange Trader Looking for a new home" episode, I would like to try the East Coast once, tired of getting up at 4:30 AM PST to catch a edge. Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!
i come from academia did not like the fact to stay employee forever still single, i am 36, speak 6 languages, travelled around the world (doing scientific research) love maths and in science people dont let you see what they did, so i preferred moving to finance where i am doing VERY interesting maths, having lots of fun and money traded for about 5 years before coming up with my models built an web app called dailystockselect it s having more and more visitors, i love Nassim Taleb... i am a happy guy
Consciously decide to become a full time speculator, before acquiring any worthwhile knowledge of the game? One of the more absurd public notions related to the world of financial market speculation.
Dr. B, I do recall people in 1996-early 2000(before the meltdown in April 2000) who quit their jobs and made a couple stock buys, did not watch the Nasdaq or NYSE data. I heard something that made me freak, two of the church-ladies said "Trading is so easy, all you need to do is up a Market Order at the Open and sell it at the Close or two days latter. Was it Paul Tudor Jones who believed people without information and only taught by him could outperform the professionals? I heard conflicting reports about his actual return, Mr. Tudor Jones had a way of making a intro, showing up with his Turtles in a cool helicopter. How did you integrate in the Game or were you a professional analyst before trading full-time? Hope everyone is doing well and no family fights, my family was crazy, twelve kids with all their kids fighting over petty family things happening over twenty year ago, those fights are what give me hope we can gain a edge over other traders by moving forward towards the future and forgive people, true traders don't carry all the mental baggage angry people do. We are different, we can make money by beating Market Makers because we respect the Markers more. We know our stocks, tweak our Systems to adjust our wrongs, I think that' why we make money is we are not like the manic Mr. Market with our bright outlook.