Why Trading Should Not Be A Career Choice

Discussion in 'Professional Trading' started by michaelscott, Jun 14, 2007.

  1. Captnkirk

    Captnkirk

    I hope you do well in the airplane business. But having spent about 35 yr in it I will give little of you own advise. The most profitable part of the industry is the airlines and they have lost more money then they have made. We have two sayings one , If god had meant for man to fly he would have given man more money. Second you can make a small fortune in aviation if you start with a big one. While you're in PHX go to the desert they have a lot of inventory there to lease.
    Like most have said it takes time to learn a new trade/skill so bear that in mind. Anyone who archives success works hard for it and that may not be measured in dollars. Trading is not the end all for me it's more a part time addition to my life. That may change in retirement but we will see.
    good luck
    Kirk
     
    #31     Jun 14, 2007
  2. On a website such as this, you never see the unsuccessful traders. Since they were unsuccessful, they are not around here to tell their stories. So you have the successful guys on here telling their story, but the dead men tell no tales.

    ___________________________________________________

    LOL as I send this to the SPEC LIST. Of course Mr. Scott is being, well lets just say humbling.

    However, being a City boy from NYC..I call BUL#$@@ that most individuals on this site are successful... In fact, this site is if not one of the "Funniest" saga's to read, it attracts more "Dirt" than a Dust Devil.

    Of course, these are my humbling worlds.

    E
     
    #32     Jun 14, 2007
  3. Any REAL trader does not care
    - whether it's a bull or bear market
    - about the state of U.S. economy

    I'm not sure you are a trader if you think the opportunities are dwindling.

    There are always opportunities to make money in the market....always.




     
    #33     Jun 14, 2007
  4. If this bull market continues I will make money on the way up. If the conflict in the Middle East gets much worse I will make money going long crude.
    ____________________________________________________

    LOL, Day trader thrive on VOLITITLY.....Day traders are a small % of the trading world. HedgeFunds do not "THRIVE" on Volitilty, neither to most moneymanagers. VOLITITLY kills option traders as well, which most leverage is played in options.

    Volititly requires HEDGES which require more capital usage. This seems hardly "Good" for the 'Trade".

    Only individuals trading 5g of their own money, hedged 1:5 or 1:10, if you can get that now adays for intraday, other than Forex, Love "Volitiltiy".

    SOES bandits still holding on to the limited "Market" trends of the 99 bull.
     
    #34     Jun 14, 2007
  5. Joab

    Joab

    Educate yourself and adapt...

    I've been in this business for 27yrs the players change but the game remains the same.
     
    #35     Jun 14, 2007
  6. Lucky for us - they just invented this thing called "shorting". WOOO HOOO!!!
     
    #36     Jun 14, 2007
  7. The biggest reason why traders fail, obviously IMO, is because the majority are under capitalized relative to their expenses. When you "have" to perform every month just to pay your bills, mortgage, loans, food etc it can greatly promote emotional swings and huge trading errors.

    The advice I give... when new traders ask me is... if a 10% annual return doesn't pay your expenses and then some you are most likely under capitalized. One thing that most fail to understand is the cost of living rises every year, therefore if you have a $500K capital base and you make 20% in the year, you shouldn't be withdrawing all of the 100K, because you want to consistently try and work off a higher base. Basically, 50K in 2007 is worth a lot more than 50K in 2008 and 2009, baring some sort of crazy deflationary environment.

    Now most here will think I'm nuts because a well educated individual probably makes at least $75-100K a year in the corporate America and that would mean $750K-1MM capital base to achieve the same income trading but unfortunately you need capital to trade.

    Can you achieve 50%, 100%, 200% a year.... SURE, but that won't happen over night. Either you need very small expenses... a great wife that will support your ass or you need to be properly capitalized.
     
    #37     Jun 14, 2007
  8. Cutten

    Cutten

    You're talking about piking, not trading. 2000-2002 was my most profitable period, the volatility provided huge numbers of opportunitites to make money.

    You are also making the classic error of short-sightedness, thinking that "trading" is just being long US stocks. From 2000-2002 you had great opportunities in commodities, forex (dollar fall was just getting started), interest rates, emerging markets, hell you could even scalp and make a killing.

    Trading is totally different from every other business in that there is *never* a dry period. There is always a bull market, and a bear market, somewhere in the world. I can take every year since I started following the markets, and show you at least one market that boomed massively, and one that had a bust.
     
    #38     Jun 26, 2007
  9. downtrending markets? i profit the most in downtrending markets.
     
    #39     Jun 26, 2007
  10. Pr0crast

    Pr0crast Guest

    what he said.
     
    #40     Jun 26, 2007