Real Traders: Stock-Surfing the Tsunami

[CanOz]

An interesting look into the day of a very active trader in NY.

Here's the first paragraph, and then a link to the story:

There are some expletives in this so beware if you have sensitive eyes.

The screens are crawling with red and green. But mostly red.

“What is this?”

The stock market is headed down again, as it was yesterday and the day before that. A 32-year-old trader named Peter Milman sits slumped under fluorescent lights in an open-air trading office on Madison Avenue, surrounded by men just like him: rows of traders in jeans and T-shirts and hoodies, faces slack, staring at banks of monitors that jump with charts and graphs and gauges, the only sound the tapping of computer keys””and the occasional expletive.

“*uck me!”

See the Video
Peter Milman Describes His Addiction to the Stock Market

On this day in mid-November, President Bush is in Manhattan trying to reassure investors, but it doesn’t seem to matter. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson’s announcement that he’ll scrap his original $700 billion bailout plan for financial institutions has sent the market into a tailspin. Milman’s monologue reads like an emotional ticker tape: “****. ****. Oh my God. Unbelievable. Oh God. Wow. Oh God. Wow, wow.”

http://nymag.com/news/businessfinance/53617/

Enjoy!



CanOz

 

[sinner]

Jeez man, that article is why I can only handle trading a few days a week if that.

End up stuck in front of the screen all dishevelled for 8+ hours, no proper eating, no exercise, etc while you babysit bad trades to their stop hoping they will reverse!

Last week I had a short on gold that took 24 hours to come good, and what did I do? Stayed up the whole 24 hours watching it!

 

[CanOz]

Jeez man, that article is why I can only handle trading a few days a week if that.

End up stuck in front of the screen all dishevelled for 8+ hours, no proper eating, no exercise, etc while you babysit bad trades to their stop hoping they will reverse!

Last week I had a short on gold that took 24 hours to come good, and what did I do? Stayed up the whole 24 hours watching it!

LOL! Clearly not for everyone. I don't think i could see my self doing that either, i prefer to swing trade, and with FX i can hold for several days.

I cannot understand how the likes of TH do it either. That's the great thing about the markets though, there is something for everyone.

CanOz

 

[white_goodman]

Jeez man, that article is why I can only handle trading a few days a week if that.

End up stuck in front of the screen all dishevelled for 8+ hours, no proper eating, no exercise, etc while you babysit bad trades to their stop hoping they will reverse!

Last week I had a short on gold that took 24 hours to come good, and what did I do? Stayed up the whole 24 hours watching it!

i know what you mean, i find myself doing that...

try and set a stop loss following your method then go away for a few hours setting a trailing stop... funny how you always make more money not eyeballing the screen every 2mins...

i trade fx so luckily or unluckily ill have trades open when im asleep or at work so i literally cant eyeball it, then again the method is a longer term time frame.

 

[Wysiwyg]

Jeez man, that article is why I can only handle trading a few days a week if that.

End up stuck in front of the screen all dishevelled for 8+ hours, no proper eating, no exercise, etc while you babysit bad trades to their stop hoping they will reverse!

Last week I had a short on gold that took 24 hours to come good, and what did I do? Stayed up the whole 24 hours watching it!

Rolling on the floor laughing (ROFL), the worst I ever got was when I fell asleep in the chair with my hand on the mouse and the cursor over an order ticket.

What woke me was opening a trade when I clicked the mouse.Now that is tired, oh and the trade was a loser too.

Goodmans set and forget is the best way if I just gotta be in.At least see it to break even and set it from there too.(peace of mind thing)


Special note :- Like driving a car, if tired pull over and take a break cuppa tea etcetera.

 

[MRC & Co]

I cannot understand how the likes of TH do it either. That's the great thing about the markets though, there is something for everyone.

CanOz

Intraday trading, without doubt is a tiring gig, stressful and by the end of the wk, you are usually happy it's the wkend.

Saying that, the likes of TH can have holidays any day they want, go to the beach if they want, even intraday, have 3 hour lunchbreaks, watch the tennis and cricket while they work, have no boss, start work at 10am and finish at 4:30pm. It is truly a very different job and if you can handle the stress and emotions, an absolute dream.

 

[Naked shorts]

Very cool article, thanks!

 

[johnnyg]

Good find!

 

[investorpaul]

I found it a great read. I guess some people live and breath trading, they get up each morning eager to trade regardless of yesterdays results. Each day is a new day and there is money to be made.

I would love to be that guy