TimRacette

IMO moonlighting is the way to go. That is go ahead and keep your day job, but begin to learn about trading and how the markets works in the evenings and on the weekends. For people completely new to trading I always think it's a good idea to start with a copy of the investors business daily newsletter and pick a few stocks to follow for a month to get a sense of how they react. It's typically easier to go from longer time frames down to smaller ones (day trading being the most difficult) so starting by placing trades off the daily time frame is a good option. As you begin to develop a system and framework for your methodology and begin to see results it's enticing to want to trade full time. If it's something you really want to try I'd suggest scaling out of your job in a way that allows you to do both, perhaps work two days a week (Mon and Fri) and trade Tues, Weds, and Thurs. The markets will always be there so there's no sense rushing into it. There's a lot that can be said for traders who have all their expenses covered and don't need their trading accounts to pay the bills, at least at the beginning.

Thinkorswim's Prodigio is pretty cool. Lots of advanced features, then there's Tickit which is another Chicago based firm.

Right on Tams, fully agree.

Scaling out of your positions may be a technique you may want to adopt. This does two things... 1. It allows you to lock in some profit which in the case the stock does end up selling off, you will most likely end up break even at worst on the trade. 2. It allows for you to hold the remainder your position longer, and helps keeps your outlook objective. It's really a win win. If you take some profit off the table and the stock continues to advance, you can still capitalize on the trade. If it you take some profit off the table and the stock comes back to stop you out, then you're loss is smaller. Be slow to exit winners, quick to exit losers.

I guess this thread is a bit old, but yes I agree with stock addict, trading for a living is just like any other entrepreneurial venture, it takes a lot of hard work up front, but pays off down the road. Since it is scalable though, many fail.

Assuming you're a part of the 99% then...

Pretty sure everyone's removed themselves from this thread update at this point.

Really, any career path that has scalable has a very low success rate. 1% of all the traders make 99% of all the money, the rest are simply perpetual losers.

“Trading provides one of the last great frontiers of opportunity in our economy. It is one of the very few ways in which an individual can start with a relatively small bankroll and actually become a multimillionaire. Of course, only a handful of individuals succeed in turning this feat, but at least that opportunity exists.” - Jack D. Schwager, Market Wizards For anyone who has started up their own venture or put money into a project in which they hoped to see a return you know, Entrepreneurship is about working hard now, to reap the benefits later.

Blowfish, how is the rest of "The Futures Game" I've heard mixed reviews, but have been reluctant to adding it to my reading list. This is my list of top trading books... Must Read Books for Every Trader - Traders Laboratory - Professional Traders Community

Haha, love that analogy MM, spot on. It's my opinion that focusing on the system is not the crucial factor. As much as having a statistical edge and trading system is necessary, the crucial points come from within us and our ability to detach ourselves from the money and trade completely objective. Not giving into the fear of losing money, or the fear of being wrong on this trade. Being able to follow a system to the T and set your impulse aside makes a great trader. Spend less time on the system, more time on detaching yourself from the money.

I've found my 2x8 "diet" pretty effective. 2 glasses of water before each meal, no food after 8p. Pretty simple, but it keeps me dialed in all summer.

Right on fireman, timracette@gmail.com if you wanna chat.

No doubt TW, there's a cool podcast series called Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders in iTunes. It's not directly related to trading, but has some great indirect insight towards what it takes to succeed in any venture. Trading is no different.

I use Infinity Futures for order execution and Thinkorswim for charts. That's been the best combo of low commissions + fast data feed and reliable customer support.

One issue I always like to bring up to wannabe traders is that...are you looking for passive income, removing yourself from the equation of a job, or are you looking for a challenging career as a trader with a learning curve as flat as a pancake, that is, you learn learn learn, but it doesn't exactly correlate with your account growing until a few key things click. All in all entrepreneurship is living a few years of your life like most people won’t, so you can spend the rest of your life like most can't.

Agreed MM, Napoleon Hill's Think and Grow Rich pulls from Richest Man in Babylon too.

You can't beat the market, just like you can't beat the game of blackjack, you can only outperform it for periods of time by manipulating the odds.

If anyone has read Fooled by Randomness by Nassim Taleb you may end up reevaluating your position on the predictability of the markets. Black Swan is Taleb's other book.

Ya managed futures is a whole other topic in itself, but managed futures vs owning futures is a viable option. if you want to invest I look to spot forex.

Ya I'm not sure Chippy, like I said if I place my stop mkt order at -8 I'm filled at -8.

No, I trade the Euro FX 6E contract and if I limit 1.450 I get 1.450, if my stop is at 1.458 I get filled at 1.458. In rare cases I've been filled on short covering for a pip worse than my stop, but that's the max slippage I've ever had 1 pip, otherwise no slippage on the Euro Futures. I know the E7 the Micro Euro has a lot of slippage because it's not as liquid. I'm on Infinity Futures.