For those of you who have been consistent at trading, how long did it take you to say "adios" to your then current job and proceeded to roll over and became full time trader?
I know you're asking for better people to answer, but let me answer how I intend to attack the question you're asking. I want to be in a position where: - Not in danger of losing home in a bad month - Requirements to live are very, very minimal - Not living in a major city, but outside the city by about an hour to two hours - Total monthly expense to live should be under $500, except for food. I'm just at odds with the gd cost of living in the US. It's becoming harder and harder to start a business without taking investment from someone else. I just don't remember it being so high. Suppose you save $50,000 in trading capital and have 10:1 leverage and are extremely, extremely careful about your trades. If you pull down 10% per month [very doable, in terms of short-term trading], you are still going to struggle with cost of living in any major American city. - Health-insurance is the worst, most difficult thing to overcome. - Property taxes - Gas [if you travel] - Rising cost of food - Rising taxes!! My #1 worry is health insurance. Catastrophic barely cuts it. You're looking at $300-$500/month expense for shitty coverage.
For me, it was after trading paid off all of my debts (at the time) and I had saved 1yr of all living expenses. Then I finally got confident enough to trade FT. I figured worst case, I go get another job doing what I was doing.
OP you need to make yourself comfortable with your dream I assume you have a dream, make yourself comfortable with the fact that you may not live to see it Would you rather give up, or would you keep the dream alive for as long as you are alive think about it
Although I am not there yet, my parameter for calling it quits are when I can: 1) pay myself as much or more than employment 2) paying myself doesn't hurt my growth Emotionally I have already called it quits, it's now just a matter of turning that into reality.
well, not to expose my financial health too much, thanks to my wife all my bills get paid. She works for uncle sam so health care is taken care of as is old age with retirement package which is one of the best out there. I am not worried about being on the streets.I am worried that I am just getting lucky as opposed tobeing good at trading.
Man, the results you posted in the P§L thread were quite impressive and consistent... What happened to your trading or self-confidence? I turned full-time when I was making about 5-10 K$ a month with a run of 8 months without a down week... At this point I was totally sure that my results weren't caused by luck and that if I would do it full day, I would make more... I was right at the time but the edge eroded since. I also had the possibility to get my job back and live in a country where social security system is great ...
When one has 2 years living expenses saved up and access to 1mil in capital (can include lev for capital). If u are breaking even after 1st year, you are making progress. Turning profit 2nd year, you are on your way to making a career out of trading.
If you want to become a daytrader, it's impossible to know when it's time to quit your job simply because you can't learn how to daytrade efficiently while you are working full-time for uncle sam. You must make sure you have 2-yr living expenses saved up and a lot of time to watch the screens all day - weekends included - The first year will be useful to learn how to break even. If you are any good, you should be able to see some small profits in the 2nd year. As far as big money goes, it depends on the trader. I would say 4-5 years minimum before you can think BIG. No matter what path you choose, if it's daytrading what you want to do, quit your job right now and don't waste time. If it's not daytrading, then don't quit your job because you'll have all the time to adjust orders via phone/internet any time during the day.
I assume you work for someone else? Buy a bottle of strong alcohol, drink triple the amount of what you would normally drink at a social gathering, go to your office and run around naked knocking everything over while the whole time yelling FU at your boss. After you do that you won't have a choice but to day trade.