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Are you a full Time Trader Or Part Time? 32 replies

Full Time workers... part-time traders... 4 replies

Dear Full time/Part time Traders – Thanks for your time and help 7 replies

for those who trade full time...

  • #1
  • First Post: Mar 15, 2007 8:53am Mar 15, 2007 8:53am
My goal in the future is of course to make a living off my trading. My question to those who have been trading for years and are successful,

did you add to your capital every year or every month from your job's paycheck? or did you just do a one time deposit of some amount and let grow from there?
  • #2
  • Mar 15, 2007 9:14am Mar 15, 2007 9:14am
First, u need to pay at least 1 years tuition.
secondly, hidden tax ahead.
.............................. Bottomline, it can be done just trade high probability trade setups and use Money management
  • #3
  • Mar 15, 2007 9:45am Mar 15, 2007 9:45am
Quoting don perry
First, u need to pay at least 1 years tuition.
secondly, hidden tax ahead.
.............................. Bottomline, it can be done just trade high probability trade setups and use Money management

Can you give an example of this hidden tax?
  • #4
  • Mar 15, 2007 10:52am Mar 15, 2007 10:52am
I assume you are coming from Demo correct? You've never funded an account before?

Fund a 2-5k account and expect to lose it. The day you trade your first live dollar is the day you begin the real psychological journey of the forex. In my humble opinion the forex is 90% psychology. Demo trading will teach you to spot the technical signals in the market and ideally train you to trade a system and stick to it. However you cannot test your own psychology until you trade Live.

Once you lose 50-60% of your first account, STOP TRADING. Analyze what happened and tweak your system. Spot the places where you deviated from your system and it cost you money. Teach yourself to be strict about your risk/reward ratio's and try to begin trading without emotion. You will be successful in the market when a winning trade feels exactly the same as a losing trade emotionally. You don't get overconfident in your wins, or revenge trade your losses.

So, research your losses and figure out what went wrong. Then refund your account and repeat. Ideally, at this point, you should be able to maintain the margin with a mix of wins and losses. Continue to analyze your losses and focus on sticking to your system. You will not need to add money to your account from your paycheck. You are either growing your margin with your trading or you are losing it. Adding money will not help the situation. If you cannot grow a 2k account you cannot grow a 50k account. I have seen the cost of training in this business cost people less than 5k dollars over the course of a few years. I have also seen it cost people up to 250k dollars. Most of that money only goes to show them that this is one problem in life you cannot simply throw money at.

Once your account is growing, putting more money in will be irrelevant. Focus your attention on creating wealth and growing Net Profitable Gains. You should know the percentage you have gained and focus on that number, no matter your account size.
The basis of a democratic state is liberty. ~ Aristotle
  • #5
  • Mar 15, 2007 11:05am Mar 15, 2007 11:05am
i've been trading live since august last year

i want to know how other full time traders grow their account..either just leaving it alone or funding it a little bit yearly or monthly
  • #6
  • Mar 15, 2007 11:08am Mar 15, 2007 11:08am
Quoting Vensik

Once your account is growing, putting more money in will be irrelevant. Focus your attention on creating wealth and growing Net Profitable Gains. You should know the percentage you have gained and focus on that number, no matter your account size.
that makes sense.

i understand as account growth, risk/trade in dollar amount grows....
  • #7
  • Mar 15, 2007 11:33am Mar 15, 2007 11:33am
I started my first account with $5k. I proceeded to lose 26% within two months. That was the biggest loss I've taken in 5 years of trading.

Once I got it up to $7.5k, I added $2.5k. Then I ran it up to $15K, but it took quite some time. Once I hit $15k, I added another $15. I've only made withdrawals over the past 3 years.

The key thing to remember when doing this is to have a good amount of trades. Anyone can make 50% in a few trades by being aggressive and lucky. What you want to do is to set an amount of trades you must make before adding, say 50. This will allow you to prove to yourself that you're consistent and not lucky.

I'm at the point where I could live off of my trading, but I still work part-time. It's not for the money, it's for the other things I derive from it, mainly social contact. Being a full-time trader from home is an extremely lonely profession. It fails to provide certain necessities that we've all become accustomed to, such as having someone to talk to everyday. Forums and chat rooms just don't cut it for me.
  • #8
  • Mar 15, 2007 11:46am Mar 15, 2007 11:46am
Quoting hilmy83
My goal in the future is of course to make a living off my trading. My question to those who have been trading for years and are successful,

did you add to your capital every year or every month from your job's paycheck? or did you just do a one time deposit of some amount and let grow from there?
Hi Hilmy83,

I went the papertrade route years back, and saved my capital at the bank, than I made a one time deposit and went "live" and That account blew up!!
I did not know how to handle real losses! (Reason I am against virtual $$ accounts)

So I added more, and started to trade very small with real money this time, using my account as my "Savings Bank'' so to speak, I made deposits ,and those, along with my account earnings, I was able to get back to my original deposit, with far greater appreciation and respect for the market. Since than I've not made another deposit.....though for over a year, I didn't make a withdrawl either ( maybe 16 months )
Yes, I trade Full Time... Trading is my only source of income....it is a tough road....though well worth it.
Proper Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance
  • #9
  • Mar 15, 2007 11:53am Mar 15, 2007 11:53am
I'm at the point where I could live off of my trading, but I still work part-time. It's not for the money, it's for the other things I derive from it, mainly social contact. Being a full-time trader from home is an extremely lonely profession. It fails to provide certain necessities that we've all become accustomed to, such as having someone to talk to everyday. Forums and chat rooms just don't cut it for me.[/quote]

Dopey....I Agree with you here! Though I am full time, no outside work....I agree with your statement!
Proper Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance
  • #10
  • Apr 4, 2007 2:05am Apr 4, 2007 2:05am
Quoting hilmy83
My goal in the future is of course to make a living off my trading. My question to those who have been trading for years and are successful,

did you add to your capital every year or every month from your job's paycheck? or did you just do a one time deposit of some amount and let grow from there?

If you can do so, deposit money that you will not miss from your everyday living day expenses. When you see that you have developed a successful trading pattern, then add money whenever you can.

I was a hugh stock market trader and transfered some of my funds to the forex when I started several years ago. When I noticed that I was making more money trading the forex, I put all of my discretionary money into the forex and did not take it out for a few years and watched it compound over and over.

Good Luck
  • #11
  • Edited 3:01am Apr 4, 2007 2:10am | Edited 3:01am
[quote=Vensik;245043]I assume you are coming from Demo correct? You've never funded an account before?

Fund a 2-5k account and expect to lose it.

This is not wise advice... you should NOT expect to lose it. This should be discretionary funds but never expect to lose it. This bad advice came from someone that is still using a London demo account.

Good Luck
  • #12
  • Apr 7, 2007 9:35am Apr 7, 2007 9:35am
Quoting Dopey
I started my first account with $5k. I proceeded to lose 26% within two months. That was the biggest loss I've taken in 5 years of trading.

Once I got it up to $7.5k, I added $2.5k. Then I ran it up to $15K, but it took quite some time. Once I hit $15k, I added another $15. I've only made withdrawals over the past 3 years.

The key thing to remember when doing this is to have a good amount of trades. Anyone can make 50% in a few trades by being aggressive and lucky. What you want to do is to set an amount of trades you must make before adding, say 50. This will allow you to prove to yourself that you're consistent and not lucky.

I'm at the point where I could live off of my trading, but I still work part-time. It's not for the money, it's for the other things I derive from it, mainly social contact. Being a full-time trader from home is an extremely lonely profession. It fails to provide certain necessities that we've all become accustomed to, such as having someone to talk to everyday. Forums and chat rooms just don't cut it for me.
I agree. Most of the jabber on forums is just that. I would like to communicate with anyone who is a full time trader. I do not trade the forex market, because the spreads are too costly, or in the case of Oanda, the leverage is too small. I only trade the Euro-FX on the CME. I trade an average of 200 RT's per day. Sorry, but I am not interested in talking with newbies. You may have heard, "it is lonely at the top," and that is true. It is so hard to find others who share and understand my experiences.
  • #13
  • Last Post: Apr 7, 2007 9:50am Apr 7, 2007 9:50am
Quoting hilmy83
i've been trading live since august last year

i want to know how other full time traders grow their account..either just leaving it alone or funding it a little bit yearly or monthly

Here is how I handle it. My account is like a piece of equipment used to make money. It is not an investment account. I take money out of my account weekly. This keeps me from being tempted to take bigger risks. When I lose, the money I put back is money I have made from profits. After 20 years of trading, I have learned my weaknesses and this helps me manage those weaknesses. In the past, before I learned this secret, I took on higher risks as my account grew. I did not consider my account as a business tool. So when I got overconfident I got wiped out. After being very successful, a brief period of overconfidence is bound to happen, and it will be fatal. I went 28 days straight with profits of over $3k per day. On the 29th day I got wiped out. Let's face it, we all have moments of weakness, and my current system keeps me in the game. It all starts with looking at your account as a tool for making money. Nothing more.
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