I have a good trading record, now what?

I have been trading now for 18 months and have established a pretty good track record over the past 7 months. I am up 16.43% over seven months time. (Thanks to ForexFactory, Jacko, James16 group, Peter Crowns, Mouteki, and Austrian Economic theory) That includes mistakes made using 5% per trade leverage at the beginning which I had to make back using 1% per trade leverage once I realized that was way too much risk. I incurred about a 5.75% drawdown because of that, and came back from there. I have been in profit 6 out of 7 months. So I actually have a higher win percentage and better risk/reward ratio than the record would seem to indicate. I now use only 1% risk per trade. I also accomplished this while long haul trucking 70 hours a week. My problem is that I do much better trading when I can devote my full attention to it, but I also need to make a living. I have a few thousand in my account, but its not enough to trade for a living. What should I do? Is that good enough to get an job/internship at a bank or prop firm? Are there any good ones for trading currencies in Atlanta? Or should I try to raise money and start my own fund? I feel a little green for that. Any input from anyone with experience trading for a company or a living would be appreciated. My record and equity curve are compiled and posted below in an excel sheet...also have the official records. Thank you for any input.

--cant you get sometype of computer hookup for your truck. ?
-- Write an ea assuming its consistent times and types of trading that you do. Being that you survived 18 months is amazing in itself. It took me 2.5 years to come up with a decent system. I say learn to write ea.. its fairly easy. MQ4 is very easy to learn. Ive offered to teach others to help individuals get over the hard bumps of problems but no ones ever taken me up on it as most want someone else to study for them and give em a free system..which I don't subscribe to. Most either think they know better because yahoo with a mouth talks a good game or don't relize its as simple as it is. Anything you can do mentally can be written in ea. Unless, your trading by art which unless your a savant will get you killed long term...Also, how many trades per month to earn your upside? Being 16% up aint very much with small sample size. As you know, you can have some bad weeks. This market goes through the cycle and sometimes your wrong.
Also.. raising money from others is not that hard with a good system but forex is a tough business at times and to make that jump could be mentally hard. People will line up and down the street to make good returns on their money.--but good returns. Most can't show the money. I made over a thousand pips last week. so what? It sure wasnt $100 a pip so you also have to have some big round things between your legs if you want to be sippin a drink off your yacht. . Contrary to all these folks on this site --- I have never seen one system yet on this site that makes any money consistently. Forex aint a cookie cutter type business. Very few mistakes can be made to have a good equity curve. Im in the middle of it right now and I aint moving out of my job until I have at least $1 m. in capital.
Also, I am not sure why folks want to "work for a firm" after a few good trades. do you want the firms capital ? If so, raise your own. If you don't think your good enough...they probably will dump you if you don't make em any money.

Check one of the nationwide wireless providers, then hook up a laptop. I know a few truck (and a cab) drivers that do exactly this to have relatively stable internet access. Even most truckstops these days provide wifi spots, so you could trade during stops.

If that doesn't work you could check into mobile. When I'm not going to be at home for a week I usually keep the trading app open w/ a remote access program that I can check from my laptop. I'm sure there are wireless/mobile platforms out there.

As for whether or not a prop firm is right for you, I don't know. I doubt they pay what you're making, but that's something to ask for separately since some people here have experience w/ that. There are downsides to that road tho. As for a bank, I doubt it that's an option. They're going to want ppl w/ a formal education in the industry.

If you setup your own fund you'll be subject to several legal requirements. You should be aware that there will likely be licensing requirements. It is not something to undertake lightly.

Of course mechanical trading is always an option too, as weezal said.

Not badly. I have the best result, it doubling of deposit in the flow of month. But for five years of trade, these were the first good results. An income goes out mainly 20% in a year from a deposit.

where i was going with your own funds is to work with the friends and family and not a public fund. If you use a small amount of lot/pip size, most folks will be eager to test your stuff out. When your making good coin for them;they will write a check -- no problem. partners are about trust. hell, look at the stock market right now; most are getting wiped out to a certain extent so no one really cares that your licensed to press a button. People pay for returns; not your education. I would just say though, that if you can manually trade and make coin over a extended period of time; your there. I say go mobile cell and keep your day job. I traded mobile for awhile until I got sick of it.I use indicators in m trading and don't have the visual thing going so it was easier for me to use an ea. If you have a good system; plow your own money into yourself. If you can drive truck and trade like you are; you seem to have the patience for this work.

Thanks guys...I should clarify, truck driving was my summer job that put me through school. I used a remote wireless card and laptop to trade on the road, but I still couldn't give it the full attention I'm able to give it now. I studied Austrian (free market) economics and have a four year degree, so the education should be ok.
I don't have a mechanical system...I trade price action, sentiment, interest rate projections, ,S/R, stop running, etc...whatever the charts are telling me. I'm up after hundreds of trades, so I guess my method is working, but the only consistent thread has been money management. As long as my money management is ok, I'll try any sort of trade with greater than 1:1 RR ratio.
I guess its a who-you-know type of industry. I'll probably just take my record and go bang on some doors and see what happens.

Eh... maybe. But if ppl start sniffing around you might get into some serious trouble if you're soliciting funds from the public. The cost/benefit ratio makes it a no-brainer. There are also some enormous tax consequences depending on which direction you go (and how it's all setup legally), so it's something you want to explore if for no other reason.


Yeh, that's been my impression too. Good luck!

impressive!!!

I saw your post here:
http://www.forexfactory.com/showpost...3&postcount=81

Like it and relate to it alot.
(I dont know you too well, so pse pardon me if this sounds rude/harsh ass)

Unless it was a cut and paste job, you sound like a pretty smart chap.
16% is pretty decent considering you're almost never at the screen.
At the same time, my mates who are at the screen can net that in 2 good days doing the intra-day.

What I'd suggest is to learn to position trade and learn to milk the strong trends in the daily. Possibly in commodities as well (check out a sugar chart will ya? J16 - Jacko would have milked this fella heaps), until you are comfy enough to either quit trucking or build up a FANTASTIC record. Then you apply to a prop house/ i bank.

Largely, it depends on your personal obligations. I have a mate that's obligation free, couldn't find a job when he graduated in 2008, and since then has run 3k up to 70k. This is a fantastic business if you devote your heart and soul to it. My 2 pips is that you'd nd a better % than 16% in 8 months. Sorry if I burst your bubble mate. Better to bite the bullet early.

What pple are looking for is a decent return per month and consistency. Prove these 2 and pple will take you in. "I CAN MAKE MONEY FOR YOU. GOOD MONEY" is what your record must communicate.

Alternatively, I MIGHT BE WRONG. You can always apply straight out. Let me know if you get in, cause I learn from my misperceptions too. I live in Asia, so that's how it is here. Maybe it's diff in ur neck of the woods =)

hxcjf what kind of a handle is that? I expect almost every other half decent trader on these forums has similar problems and would say they are under capitalised.

Would you really want to work as a trader for a bank? Have you done your Excel compound interest calculations?

By the way, Cyrus, now I have caught up with you, thank you for posting those James16 summaries recently...

Welcome. =)

There is a critical mass for both skill and capital.
When you have both, you will have power.
The power to go to a prop firm/bank/hedge fund and say, "would you like to hire me?"
and if they say, "no screw off", it doesn't matter, because you know how to make a good living and have enough capital to do so.

With the skill, the capital will grow.