Jump to content

Welcome to the new Traders Laboratory! Please bear with us as we finish the migration over the next few days. If you find any issues, want to leave feedback, get in touch with us, or offer suggestions please post to the Support forum here.

  • Welcome Guests

    Welcome. You are currently viewing the forum as a guest which does not give you access to all the great features at Traders Laboratory such as interacting with members, access to all forums, downloading attachments, and eligibility to win free giveaways. Registration is fast, simple and absolutely free. Create a FREE Traders Laboratory account here.

brownsfan019

Staying on Track and Pushing for More...

Recommended Posts

For those that are trading full-time, how do you focus yourself to stay on track? And do you push yourself for even more?

 

I'm at a point where I'm low on ideas to keep pushing and not get too comfortable in my current setup. I want to push for bigger goals.

 

Since we do not have a boss over our shoulders or quotas to hit, it's easy to become complacent and I do not want to get stuck in a "I'm good at this level" rut.

 

Just wondering what some have done to keep pushing for bigger and better goals in your trading business. What did you do to motivate yourself to go for even bigger goals? Is it just a matter of trading bigger size over time? Is that the simple and correct answer here?

 

Maybe the better question is do you just keep to yourself - good or bad - or are you accountable to someone to help you stay on track?

 

We've discussed having a P&L thread like this one at ET here at TL. Maybe something like that would help some here. I've thought about a blog, but not sure I want to put forth the time into doing it.

 

At times, I wish I had that quota to hit or know that a boss would be calling. Back to my times as a broker, it was simple - if I did not hit my #'s by the close of the month, I KNEW I would be getting a few calls... that was motivation enough to get it done.

 

As a secluded trader w/o a boss or quotas, it can be easy to fall into a trap of status quo when it may be time to reach for more...

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Trading bigger size is certainly the simple answer. Not neccasarily the 'correct' (or one correct) answer.

 

I would not scale up to aggressively but depending on your figures you should be able to double every few months. Most people have a general 'comfort' threshold. Pushing past that may require some effort.

 

I'd carefully look at risk of ruin figures (the single most important think you can calculate) and make sure you select a position size so that is negligible.

 

You must be doing great if it has become somewhat boring and mundane!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Once consistent in a method, I try to find "additional" methods with similar r/r and sizing abilities. I currently have 4 setups as opposed to the 2 I am very comfortable with. It adds some additional trades to the day and gives me the motivation to further tweak the parameters.

 

My motivation is to find the consistent setups to allow me to reach daily goals by noon, thus allowing the elusive "quality of life time: for other endeavors.

 

Time savings is my motivator.

 

Of course I have filled soe of that time with the battlefield game, ha!!

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Brownsfan great thread...

 

Have you considered diversifying across different asset classes and time frames? I have found that venturing into markets im not totally familiar with and devoting some of my time to developing an edge in that market keeps me on my toes.

 

Same with timeframes.

 

In essense my motivator is confirming the fact that I could go into any market on many diferent timeframes and make money consistantly. This to me is really important...

:)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Nice issue Brown... on my case I keep working on a second paralel proyect, for me its forex, so far still on research phase, couldnt start live trading for personal reasons, but having a paralel proyect t my regular trading gives me that motivation, on this case I have a 150 Millon target proyect wich will take me arround 5 years once I get started... It really opens my mind and keeps me motivated on my regular trading as well... thats my two cents, cheers Walter.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Interesting... I was at the Tokyo Grain Exchange today for business when I found out John Carter was speaking (total coincidence). I decided to attend his presentation today. One of the things he was covering was spread trading with commodities. Perhaps another type of trading is something that might be challenging?

 

John classifies the type of trading most of us here do as directional trading in which we bet on 1 direction of the markets. However there are other types of futures trading.. spread trading being one of them. Perhaps this may be of interest?

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I would definitely agree on looking outside your basic trading that you do everyday. Possibly look into longer term/swing trading in other commodities. There are so many markets, and with your skill why limit yourself to just two or three?

 

I like what Walter said, explore other opportunities and decide on some sort of project and work towards that. Plus, I think a lot of money is left on the table when you simply day trade the ES.

 

A few ideas:

- currencies

- crude oil

- gold

- corn, wheat, etc. you could even trade options around these

- or a completely different style of trading aside from directional like James said earlier.

 

I think you should explore other opportunities to let your money work for you. You could still do the "grunt work" trading the ES everyday, yet have some "longer" term positions work for you on the side. Then eventually you could start a fund, and hire me haha just kidding :o

 

Good luck.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Some good ideas here guys.

 

I guess at this point I'm not really interested in getting involved in something brand new - be it forex, gold, spread trading, etc.

 

It's hard to explain... I enjoy trading the ES during the day, but there's not much to push forward to besides increasing size, which of course is nice.

 

I am a goal oriented person and w/o specific goals in front of me, it's hard to push towards something...

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites
For those that are trading full-time, how do you focus yourself to stay on track? And do you push yourself for even more?

 

I'm at a point where I'm low on ideas to keep pushing and not get too comfortable in my current setup. I want to push for bigger goals.

 

Since we do not have a boss over our shoulders or quotas to hit, it's easy to become complacent and I do not want to get stuck in a "I'm good at this level" rut.

 

Just wondering what some have done to keep pushing for bigger and better goals in your trading business. What did you do to motivate yourself to go for even bigger goals? Is it just a matter of trading bigger size over time? Is that the simple and correct answer here?

 

Maybe the better question is do you just keep to yourself - good or bad - or are you accountable to someone to help you stay on track?

 

We've discussed having a P&L thread like this one at ET here at TL. Maybe something like that would help some here. I've thought about a blog, but not sure I want to put forth the time into doing it.

 

At times, I wish I had that quota to hit or know that a boss would be calling. Back to my times as a broker, it was simple - if I did not hit my #'s by the close of the month, I KNEW I would be getting a few calls... that was motivation enough to get it done.

 

As a secluded trader w/o a boss or quotas, it can be easy to fall into a trap of status quo when it may be time to reach for more...

 

If you can find the right chat room, that might be just the thing. So far (in ten years), I haven't found the right one for me, but you may not be as picky as I am. Or locate traders who you think are on the same wavelength -- needn't be a mob -- and organize your own. Though if they tend to chat rather than focus on the market, you're better off alone.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I think increasing the size would be too easy for you, and wouldn't really accomplish anything for you. I say this because I understand what you mean, you want a challenge and simply adding size isn't much of a challenge.

 

Maybe instead you can try to find correlations with the ES. For example in the book Pit Bull, he found a correlations with the ES and traded that. He still stuck to his system but had that other correlation to look at as well during the day. I forget exactly what he used, but it was pretty cool and I doubt it works anymore since this is 20 years later, but the idea is still there. You're smart enough to find it, and it could be a challenge for you.

 

Once you find something like that, and you are still looking at the ES. You could make bigger financial goals to work for.

 

You may also want to find goals that aren't even related to money. Such as going through and finding inefficiencies in your trading and setting goals to improve that. Most people can only be motivated by money for so long, I know after a year of trading money doesn't motivate me anymore. But being consistent does motivate me, and the money just comes after that. You could try looking through some old Fortune magazines of companies that use various approaches to motivate their employees and see if any of that can be related to your trading. I know a lot of big banks and consulting firms do this since at the end of the day they all pay the same and it's the same work. But they have to find alternative ways to motivate their employees to do well and stay with their firm.

 

If that sounds too tedious, you could find something materialistic that you want. For example you could find a car that's completely pointless to everyday life but fun as hell to drive (or even a new home theater in your house). Then work at making extra profit on top of what you already make, to buy something cool.

 

These are all just thoughts, but at the end of the day I think you should find a challenge for yourself that still relates to your core business of day trading the ES.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

More good stuff guys.

 

Some ideas to think over. I may look at some sort of additional revenue source to go with the trading I am already doing. We discussed some ideas in this thread and maybe that's where I need to take this ideas.

 

Or I may set some goals as James suggested with certain things. That would give me a few things to reach for.

 

Here's a TOTALLY ABSURD long-term goal... become an owner in the Cleveland Browns. I know, totally crazy and would require vast sums of money. But... where there's a will, there's a way... ;) You only live once, right? :hmmmm:

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Certainly aiming high is a good way to go... not for everybody, it all starts in your mind... but embracing a high level project creates the motivational conditions to do that extra work, be it adding more volume to your regular trading, wich its not easy, or adding a new trading platform to your menu...

 

But I am convinced that if you are going to do it just for doing it, it doesnt happen, you need a good motivation... but it sure breaks the rutine, its exiting, thats my research experience on forex so far, I am very exited ¡¡ its taking me more long than planned but its going... cheers Walter.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Does it have to be trading? How 'bout real estate, backing a business of some sort, maybe heading up some philanthropic project to make your community better..these are all things that could fill your need for setting goals, and at the same time be something different from trading so as not to "burn" you out.

 

FWIW

 

Stephen

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

I have a soft spot for real estate. Guess now is not the best time to start scaling in! I really should be scaling out but London seems to be holding firmish. A subject for another thread.

 

If you are really confident that your intraday strategy is on track why not trade more contracts as your account size grows. Basically risking the same percentage? Exponential growth is fearsome. Simply averaging 2 ES points a day and risking 2% of a 10k account starts making millions in less than a year (from memory easy to crunch numbers in excel). Of course most people hit psychological walls as they trade more contracts on each trade. Still there's a challenge for you. I always used to have a longer term ambition to trade 100 cars (ES) without emotional overload. Of course have rules for taking chunks out so you can buy the Browns!

 

How about setting some capital aside for swinging some other instruments? Go on, I know you want to from your contribution to other threads :)

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

BF-

Going tp probably resurect this thread- but hey, it is a good one for more people to chime in on. By now you probably have figured out what else to do in order to get your mojo flowing.

 

I think the goal is to be successful and accomplish the things you want to do. For example- my goals are:

1. Eliminate all college loan debts of my wife and myself (mine is now gone)

2. All cars paid for (my truck is now paid for)

3. Make my Mortgage-- a thing of the past.

 

You may already be there- if so, congrats- owning an NFL team is surely a larger goal than my own at this point in my trading career. After completing 1 through 3, I would like to pour money into the house and making it the way we dream of, saving for kids college education and having disposable income to not "worry." The freedom of no boss, no job- no quota, is an always prevalant mindset.

 

Other than that- I personally just want to live, want to escape the rat-race. But I'm a faily simple man- I drive a plain jane pick-up, live in a modest home, my tastes are more Timex than Rolex.

 

Maybe time is your answer: meaning, you trade enough to be satisfied one week or two weeks a month, the other time- you travel, play golf, scout NFL team members- whatever suits your fancy. Their is nothing in life more valuable than experiences of things you have lived, places you have visited, sights you have seen! With a nice balance of money and "living life" life itself can become very rewarding.

 

Remember: I have never seen a casket with a vault in it!

Sledge

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Alright Sledge... you did it - you resurrected this thing. And good for you. I hadn't noticed this thread until now.

 

Brownsfan, if making money trading is easy for you - and if you're bored, here's something that will consume your time until you die: Become a philanthropist.

 

Do some anonymous research and find a group that could really use some help in some way, then work your butt off and help them. The hardest thing in the world for regular Joe's and Jane's to accomplish (particularly non-profit organizations) is making money. If it comes easy for you, then find a good cause and exert some of your talents on their behalf. You could even do it anonymously if you're not interested in fame and status. You won't have to look hard to find a need for your talents.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Honestly, I think the time is right for you to put into a plan of action to run a hedge fund or CTA. Look at where you want to be in a few years, and make goals to get there. That should be your focus, and you will figure out how to get there.

 

Think big.

Share this post


Link to post
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.
Note: Your post will require moderator approval before it will be visible.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.


  • Topics

  • Posts

    • Thx for reminding us... I don't bang that drum often enough anymore Another part for consideration is who that money initially went to...
    • TDUP ThredUp stock, watch for a top of range breakout above 2.94 at https://stockconsultant.com/?TDUP
    • How long does it take to receive HFM's withdrawal via Skrill? less than 24H?
    • My wife Robin just wanted some groceries.   Simple enough.   She parked the car for fifteen minutes, and returned to find a huge scratch on the side.   Someone keyed her car.   To be clear, this isn’t just any car.   It’s a Cybertruck—Elon Musk's stainless-steel spaceship on wheels. She bought it back in 2021, before Musk became everyone's favorite villain or savior.   Someone saw it parked in a grocery lot and felt compelled to carve their hatred directly into the metal.   That's what happens when you stand out.   Nobody keys a beige minivan.   When you're polarizing, you're impossible to ignore. But the irony is: the more attention something has, the harder it is to find the truth about it.   What’s Elon Musk really thinking? What are his plans? What will happen with DOGE? Is he deserving of all of this adoration and hate? Hard to say.   Ideas work the same way.   Take tariffs, for example.   Tariffs have become the Cybertrucks of economic policy. People either love them or hate them. Even if they don’t understand what they are and how they work. (Most don’t.)   That’s why, in my latest podcast (link below), I wanted to explore the “in-between” truth about tariffs.   And like Cybertrucks, I guess my thoughts on tariffs are polarizing.   Greg Gutfield mentioned me on Fox News. Harvard professors hate me now. (I wonder if they also key Cybertrucks?)   But before I show you what I think about tariffs… I have to mention something.   We’re Headed to Austin, Texas This weekend, my team and I are headed to Austin. By now, you should probably know why.   Yes, SXSW is happening. But my team and I are doing something I think is even better.   We’re putting on a FREE event on “Tech’s Turning Point.”   AI, quantum, biotech, crypto, and more—it’s all on the table.   Just now, we posted a special webpage with the agenda.   Click here to check it out and add it to your calendar.   The Truth About Tariffs People love to panic about tariffs causing inflation.   They wave around the ghost of the Smoot-Hawley Tariff from the Great Depression like it’s Exhibit A proving tariffs equal economic collapse.   But let me pop this myth:   Tariffs don’t cause inflation. And no, I'm not crazy (despite what angry professors from Harvard or Stanford might tweet at me).   Here's the deal.   Inflation isn’t when just a couple of things become pricier. It’s when your entire shopping basket—eggs, shirts, Netflix subscriptions, bananas, everything—starts costing more because your money’s worth less.   Inflation means your dollars aren’t stretching as far as they used to.   Take the 1800s.   For nearly a century, 97% of America’s revenue came from tariffs. Income tax? Didn’t exist. And guess what inflation was? Basically zero. Maybe 1% a year.   The economy was booming, and tariffs funded nearly everything. So, why do people suddenly think tariffs cause inflation today?   Tariffs are taxes on imports, yes, but prices are set by supply and demand—not tariffs.   Let me give you a simple example.   Imagine fancy potato chips from Canada cost $10, and a 20% tariff pushes that to $12. Everyone panics—prices rose! Inflation!   Nope.   If I only have $100 to spend and the price of my favorite chips goes up, I either stop buying chips or I buy, say, fewer newspapers.   If everyone stops buying newspapers because they’re overspending on chips, newspapers lower their prices or go out of business.   Overall spending stays the same, and inflation doesn’t budge.   Three quick scenarios:   We buy pricier chips, but fewer other things: Inflation unchanged. Manufacturers shift to the U.S. to avoid tariffs: Inflation unchanged (and more jobs here). We stop buying fancy chips: Prices drop again. Inflation? Still unchanged. The only thing that actually causes inflation is printing money.   Between 2020 and 2022 alone, 40% of all money ever created in history appeared overnight.   That’s why inflation shot up afterward—not because of tariffs.   Back to tariffs today.   Still No Inflation Unlike the infamous Smoot-Hawley blanket tariff (imagine Oprah handing out tariffs: "You get a tariff, and you get a tariff!"), today's tariffs are strategic.   Trump slapped tariffs on chips from Taiwan because we shouldn’t rely on a single foreign supplier for vital tech components—especially if that supplier might get invaded.   Now Taiwan Semiconductor is investing $100 billion in American manufacturing.   Strategic win, no inflation.   Then there’s Canada and Mexico—our friendly neighbors with weirdly huge tariffs on things like milk and butter (299% tariff on butter—really, Canada?).   Trump’s not blanketing everything with tariffs; he’s pressuring trade partners to lower theirs.   If they do, everybody wins. If they don’t, well, then we have a strategic trade chess game—but still no inflation.   In short, tariffs are about strategy, security, and fairness—not inflation.   Yes, blanket tariffs from the Great Depression era were dumb. Obviously. Today's targeted tariffs? Smart.   Listen to the whole podcast to hear why I think this.   And by the way, if you see a Cybertruck, don’t key it. Robin doesn’t care about your politics; she just likes her weird truck.   Maybe read a good book, relax, and leave cars alone.   (And yes, nobody keys Volkswagens, even though they were basically created by Hitler. Strange world we live in.) Source: https://altucherconfidential.com/posts/the-truth-about-tariffs-busting-the-inflation-myth    Profits from free accurate cryptos signals: https://www.predictmag.com/       
    • No, not if you are comparing apples to apples. What we call “poor” is obviously a pretty high bar but if you’re talking about like a total homeless shambling skexie in like San Fran then, no. The U.S.A. in not particularly kind to you. It is not an abuse so much as it is a sad relatively minor consequence of our optimism and industriousness.   What you consider rich changes with circumstances obviously. If you are genuinely poor in the U.S.A., you experience a quirky hodgepodge of unhelpful and/or abstract extreme lavishnesses while also being alienated from your social support network. It’s about the same as being a refugee. For a fraction of the ‘kindness’ available to you in non bio-available form, you could have simply stayed closer to your people and been MUCH better off.   It’s just a quirk of how we run the place and our values; we are more worried about interfering with people’s liberty and natural inclination to do for themselves than we are about no bums left behind. It is a slightly hurtful position and we know it; we are just scared to death of socialism cancer and we’re willing to put our money where our mouth is.   So, if you’re a bum; you got 5G, the ER will spend like $1,000,000 on you over a hangnail but then kick you out as soon as you’re “stabilized”, the logistics are surpremely efficient, you have total unchecked freedom of speech, real-estate, motels, and jobs are all natural healthy markets in perfect competition, you got compulsory three ‘R’’s, your military owns the sky, sea, space, night, information-space, and has the best hairdos, you can fill out paper and get all the stuff up to and including a Ph.D. Pretty much everything a very generous, eager, flawless go-getter with five minutes to spare would think you might need.   It’s worse. Our whole society is competitive and we do NOT value or make any kumbaya exception. The last kumbaya types we had werr the Shakers and they literally went extinct. Pueblo peoples are still around but they kind of don’t count since they were here before us. So basically, if you’re poor in the U.S.A., you are automatically a loser and a deadbeat too. You will be treated as such by anybody not specifically either paid to deal with you or shysters selling bejesus, Amway, and drugs. Plus, it ain’t safe out there. Not everybody uses muhfreedoms to lift their truck, people be thugging and bums are very vulnerable here. The history of a large mobile workforce means nobody has a village to go home to. Source: https://askdaddy.quora.com/Are-the-poor-people-in-the-United-States-the-richest-poor-people-in-the-world-6   Profits from free accurate cryptos signals: https://www.predictmag.com/ 
×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use.