Who trades full-time?

[skyQuake]

Re: Who trades fulltime?

Where are these idiots who would choose this as a professional career?
Especially the discretionary proprietary futures type :

Only those who go in bright eyed bushy tailed and choose the SPI :

 

[Julia]

Re: Who trades fulltime?

don't know why anyone would want to trade fulltime

worst gig in the world

Agree
Couldnt think of anything worse.

I have no desire or intention.

As to how much youd need its like any business MOST are initially under capitalised.
If you bought any business how much would you expect to make in profit investing $40k in it?
The business average for a good one with a proven return is 30% on capital
so for $100K thats $350K initial capital.

My own business has 6x that in capital invested and a commensurate return.
After working 30 yrs to get there why on earth would I (Or anyone else in a similar position) want to trade for a living!

I wonder if the thread title is actually misleading (or perhaps it does actually mean what it says)?

i.e. imo it would be impossibly boring to "full time" trade if that means sitting at a computer for eight or more hours per day, that being the common definition of 'full time'.

Such a thread title implies that by 'full time trading' you are able to support yourself and need no other job. Fairly obviously this could well be as much a matter of level of capital as of any particular skill.

If you have enough capital you can easily support yourself without any need to be "full time trading".

So maybe the OP could explain what he/she actually had in mind when starting the thread. From what I read on this forum plenty of people could easily spend 'full time' hours engaged in the market and still not come anywhere near deriving a living.

 

[Largesse]

Re: Who trades fulltime?

Only those who go in bright eyed bushy tailed and choose the SPI :

why do you mock me so?

 

[Largesse]

Re: Who trades fulltime?

I wonder if the thread title is actually misleading (or perhaps it does actually mean what it says)?

i.e. imo it would be impossibly boring to "full time" trade if that means sitting at a computer for eight or more hours per day, that being the common definition of 'full time'.

Such a thread title implies that by 'full time trading' you are able to support yourself and need no other job. Fairly obviously this could well be as much a matter of level of capital as of any particular skill.

If you have enough capital you can easily support yourself without any need to be "full time trading".

So maybe the OP could explain what he/she actually had in mind when starting the thread. From what I read on this forum plenty of people could easily spend 'full time' hours engaged in the market and still not come anywhere near deriving a living.

sitting at a computer, working a 'normal' job for 8 or more hours a day, 5 days a week isn't also impossibly boring?

 

[newbie trader]

Re: Who trades fulltime?

When I read the 'OP' I thought the 'full-time traders' would just be discussing their schedules and what not rather than debating what constitutes a full-time trader.

Julia, I would contend that someone can be a full-time trader irrespective of whether they are making money or losing money. The only difference between a full-time trader who is losing money and one who is gaining is that one will be trading for a lot longer than the other.

I think that it would be pretty interesting to see some of the 'full-time traders' schedules and how similar or different they are (i.e wake up 6 shower brekky 7 research blah blah blah).

side note: am not a stalker just interested.

N.T

 

[nomore4s]

Re: Who trades fulltime?

Agree
Couldnt think of anything worse.

I have no desire or intention.

As to how much youd need its like any business MOST are initially under capitalised.
If you bought any business how much would you expect to make in profit investing $40k in it?
The business average for a good one with a proven return is 30% on capital
so for $100K thats $350K initial capital.

My own business has 6x that in capital invested and a commensurate return.
After working 30 yrs to get there why on earth would I (Or anyone else in a similar position) want to trade for a living!

I couldn't think of anything better tbh.

After working for International & National companies and running a business with 6-9 employees, I personally can't wait to trade for a living (with other projects on the side).

I can earn very good money trading 2-4 hrs a day with another 2-3 hrs a day in prep, research & admin, with very little overhead costs compared to my current business.

Compare this to currently working 8-10 hours a day, 6 days a week and you can start to see the attraction. Also no staff to deal with (anyone who has run a business will know that while staff are an asset to the business they also create lots of headaches), no customer problems to put up with and not having to chase money owed.

 

[nomore4s]

Re: Who trades fulltime?

i.e. imo it would be impossibly boring to "full time" trade if that means sitting at a computer for eight or more hours per day, that being the common definition of 'full time'.

Julia, how does this differ from 90% of any other office type job?

 

[gooner]

Re: Who trades fulltime?

I wonder if the thread title is actually misleading (or perhaps it does actually mean what it says)?

i.e. imo it would be impossibly boring to "full time" trade if that means sitting at a computer for eight or more hours per day, that being the common definition of 'full time'.

Such a thread title implies that by 'full time trading' you are able to support yourself and need no other job. Fairly obviously this could well be as much a matter of level of capital as of any particular skill.

If you have enough capital you can easily support yourself without any need to be "full time trading".

So maybe the OP could explain what he/she actually had in mind when starting the thread. From what I read on this forum plenty of people could easily spend 'full time' hours engaged in the market and still not come anywhere near deriving a living.

If you have $1 million of capital, this would probably return 4% dividends and 5% capital growth or $90,000 a year just by investing in a portfolio of blue chips. That is enough for most people to live on. You may tinker around the edges and move in and out of stocks and call yourself a trader. This does not need much of time commitment. If you are going to trade "Full time", then you want to be earning well above 10% return on your capital, otherwise you would be better off passive investing, getting 9% and spending your time at the golf course, or doing something interesting instead.

 

[Trembling Hand]

Re: Who trades fulltime?

I couldn't think of anything better tbh.

After working for International & National companies and running a business with 6-9 employees, I personally can't wait to trade for a living (with other projects on the side).

I can earn very good money trading 2-4 hrs a day with another 2-3 hrs a day in prep, research & admin, with very little overhead costs compared to my current business.

Compare this to currently working 8-10 hours a day, 6 days a week and you can start to see the attraction. Also no staff to deal with (anyone who has run a business will know that while staff are an asset to the business they also create lots of headaches), no customer problems to put up with and not having to chase money owed.

You forgot the best bit. Just not turning up if you cannot be shagged doing it today, this week, this month.

Besides actually having 20 mil in the bank or say 20 IPs. Its as close to freedom as you will get while still "working". And that includes owning/operating a business.

 

[Knoxy]

Re: Who trades fulltime?

Trading full time looks fine to me given I commute 3h a day, work a 50+ hour week and have a stressful job. All killing me by degrees.

I'm taking a month off from mid-Apr and trading full time to see if I can hack it. Traded fx now for 6y so have some idea what I'm in for.

Figure my routine will be up at 7 and working a full day to at least 5. Best to continue with a working routine than slack off too much.

Best bit to me is you can double your income by larger position size. Then maybe double again. There's no way I'll ever double my current salary, I'm successful but have reached the practical limit.

 

[Trembling Hand]

Re: Who trades fulltime?

Figure my routine will be up at 7 and working a full day to at least 5. Best to continue with a working routine than slack off too much.

why? doing more can lead you to earning a lot less in this game.

 

[skyQuake]

Re: Who trades fulltime?

why? doing more can lead you to earning a lot less in this game.

Seems to me the reading/researching/backtesting/forwardtesting part is the long hours. The trading itself can be a bit boring once you know what you're doing.
(Unless of course, you're scalping the HSI... or natural gas )

 

[Julia]

Re: Who trades fulltime?

don't know why anyone would want to trade fulltime

worst gig in the world

sitting at a computer, working a 'normal' job for 8 or more hours a day, 5 days a week isn't also impossibly boring?

Julia, how does this differ from 90% of any other office type job?

I didn't suggest there was any difference between trading if you do it full time or doing any other office job, did I?
I couldn't do anything that would require sitting at a computer all day.

 

[Julia]

Re: Who trades fulltime?

If you have $1 million of capital, this would probably return 4% dividends and 5% capital growth or $90,000 a year just by investing in a portfolio of blue chips. That is enough for most people to live on. You may tinker around the edges and move in and out of stocks and call yourself a trader. This does not need much of time commitment. If you are going to trade "Full time", then you want to be earning well above 10% return on your capital, otherwise you would be better off passive investing, getting 9% and spending your time at the golf course, or doing something interesting instead.

Exactly my point, gooner, thanks.
And why I was simply questioning what the OP had in mind when asking "who trades fulltime?"

 

[peter2]

Re: Who trades fulltime?

Knoxy may I suggest that you study the fx markets you want to trade and find the times that the market moves the amount you need. For my needs the Asian session delivers only 20% of the opportunities. I would be wasting my time looking at the market 0700 - 1700. The UK session delivers 50% and the US session 30%.

 

[newbie trader]

Re: Who trades fulltime?

I agree with Julia, sitting at a computer all day cut off from other people imo would be terrible. The way I see it i'll be able to make a comfortable living as a solicitor/barrister and supplement that income with my investment ventures (I would see full-time trading as a bit pointless when I can both work and trade). I think you need a special type of person to consistently sit at their computer all day without human contact trading the market and for those who can do it well it's probably a testement to their persistence, skill sets and personality.

N.T

 

[Knoxy]

Re: Who trades fulltime?

Knoxy may I suggest that you study the fx markets you want to trade and find the times that the market moves the amount you need. For my needs the Asian session delivers only 20% of the opportunities. I would be wasting my time looking at the market 0700 - 1700. The UK session delivers 50% and the US session 30%.

Thanks Peter,

Yes most accessible movement is around the Euro open and it may be I reconsider my hours. But at this point will try a normal working day. Just didn't want to say I'll work until 11pm, but I'll do so if haven't met daily pips.

If you're interested, I determine the pairs with the highest daily range (usually GBPJPY, GBPUSD, EURJPY, XAUUSD - don't like GBPCHF) and trade these using primarily 30m charts, using 5 min for exits. Also trade EURUSD out of habit.

30m would be very ususual for a day trader but my method works best there. All I'm looking for is 60 pips/d total out of a combined range that usually exceeds 700 p. Cheers.

 

[nascimento]

Re: Who trades fulltime?

What do you mean full time? 24 per day?

 

[bonkerrs]

Re: Who trades fulltime?

What do you mean full time? 24 per day?

Probably more like trading being the only/main source of income, regardless of the amount of time.

 

[aramz]

Re: Who trades fulltime?

Hey guys i am the original poster. Sorry about my absence from this thread while there were questions being fired regarding the topic.

Basically i wanted to know how some traders operate during their trading day. I am moreso interested to hear from traders who derive an income from the markets and do so not by investing some of their millions into blue chips an reaping dividends and steady profits.

Whether the trader scalps forex for everyday profits and dabbles in the some equities or whether he/she trades the SPI and and also trend trades while writting puts and calls off these short or long trends he/she follows. How many hours a day this person may trade for or research or if it varies from day to day. Also if they are happy with their choice of 'trading for a living' or if it is alot harder and stressfull then what they first thought.

Basically if someone wants to suss out what it would be like to work as an engineer for a living or a plumber etc you can do work experince and you can speak with lots of people openly about life in these professions. With trading for a living though it is hard to find people to talk to it about or get an idea what it would be like and learn of the rigours they go through during the day.

I started this thread so people who traded for a living and derived an income from the market could share their experiences and offer an insight to others who might like the idea of trading for a living or those who might be currently on a rigorous journey of knowledge and skill building so they one day could do the same.

Cheers guys and thanks for keeping this thread going.