I came here for advice and that is what I received. And I plan to follow it. I am enrolling back into University undertaking a Bachelor of Business Finance. I may get a double degree in another field, if it will increase my chances of success within the industry. I will also obviously continue trading throughout this. As I said, I am here for counsel, and will genuinely listen and take advice from those who are more knowledge and genuinely want to help. And that is exactly what I have done here. I am extremely thankful for all your responses. All of you. I hope to continue to see more of your input.
Donât let the perceived negative comments get you down, and realize that though you may misinterpret them folks here are sincerely trying to help you and pass on the fruits of their experience. Your passion and work ethic is inspiring, and I have no doubt that you will be successful. You remind me of myself when I was younger, and cockier, before the benefit of experience and the all-important occasional failures that help shape your character. I definitely second the recommendation of others to get your college degree though; you may be cutting yourself off at the knees before you even start without that as folks just wonât take you seriously. And, though itâs impossible to understand before you do it, you will learn useful things and your life will be richer for the experience. You remind me of a story I recall reading once about a young man named Isoroku Yamamato. As a high school student, he desperately wanted to qualify to attend the Japanese military academy, but his math skills were abysmal. He compensated by often staying up all night studying, forcing himself to stay awake by taking ice cold showers. He made it, and eventually rose through the ranks to command the entire Japanese navy in WWII. That is the secret sauce to success in life, the fire, and itâs not something you can teach. You have it. But with that said: be smart, stay in school, get your college degree, and recognize you still have a long road to travel and a lot to learn. Good luck to you!
Thank you very much for taking the time to respond. Your post is inspiring. Funny also, as I too am abysmal at Mathematics and hate it with a passion. Thank you again.
I know I gambled. If all you take from that story was that I "took a flier" and lost, then you're wasting my time. The edge on the ATF contract was there, the MM was not. They won the contract. I was quantifiably smarter than anyone around me and I had an edge. Hubris beats brains every time. And there is no alternative to experience. Stating that you have strong money management is bullshit. There is no way you're pulling 15x risk in a month unless it's pure-arbitrage. You're not being honest with us and certainly not with yourself. All this bs that you "work hard" is nothing but words. I see nothing to suggest you know wtf you're doing. I came across guys all the time in grad school when they were entering undergrad. The guys with the worst grades were always the most cocky and the "most driven to succeed". It takes some humility to do well at academics and even more so in trading. You lack humility and the academic component. I hope you have wealthy relatives. Let me guess; you trade FX?
You are welcome to believe what you want. I didn't come here to dispute my results or to boast. I am simply stating reality and asking for advice regarding my future. This has nothing to do with the validity of my results. Yes. I trade currencies, indexes and commodities (gold, silver and oil). This is all my broker allows me access to. However, I am very eager to diversify into stocks, once I gain more capital.
I made $600k the following year and bought a H1 Hummer and a townhouse. So yeah, you tell me about my edge, I am all ears, Jr. IIRC I spent ~200k on my AMEX Platinum that year. 100% organic growth. The last asshole (one of the biggest earners here) that called BS on that statement lost that bet. I sent him the AMEX card. I was 22yo. I am in disbelief how you you can be so completely egotistical and it be so utterly unfounded. I am speechless (well, now I am).
Also, if you're curious to know HOW I trade, I will obviously not divulge that information in any specific manner. I use Technical Analysis. I do not trade fundamentals, nor do I trade news. I simply trade the market's reaction to news, and stay out of the market during high impact news. I do not try to guess where the market is going. I let the market tell me which direction it has the highest probability of going in. I do not second guess it, or pretend that I am smarter than it. I trade what I see on the charts. Price action. I do not use any indicators, as they are all lagging. I trade purely on what the market is telling me. This is where staring a the charts for so long has been beneficial. This is has all been said in the original post, on the first page.