Transition from Employment to Trading Full Time

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Revorocks

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A question for any full time traders out there.

How was it that you transitioned from a full time job, to become a full time trader? Did you try part time first?

I've been trading for around a year now, had ups and downs and feel I am just starting to find my feet.
I'm in a lucky position where I can afford to work part time now 3 days a week, and spend the other two trading. I am starting my part time work at the beginning of next month.

I'm hoping that this extra time trading is going to help somewhat, as currently I miss many trades due to being at work. I work in a call centre type office so don't get to have charts open all the time. I'm not banking on profits from trading making up for the reduced salary, I can manage just fine on the reduced salary anyway.

How did you find transitioning? Did spending more time trading in turn make you a better trader? And how did it go?

Would be interested to hear stories and or thoughts.

Thanks
 
Revorocks said:
Nobody?
Click to expand...

Hi Revorocks

No problem sharing my story on going from part time to a full time FX trader - but I would say mine is not the norm.

I had successful business career and I thought I would be able to retire completely at the age of 50 - which was a few years before the WW recession.

I had looked at trying Forex trading after reading an advert in the Sunday times from a US company called Next 24hrs to promised they could double my monies within 3 months. So i dipped my toe in the water and they actually did what they said they could do in the approx time. At the time - I had not got a clue that they had been lucky and I withdrew my test amount prior to them having an horrendous further 3 months. I had been prepared to try £100k and so instead decided to find another professional who reckoned he could return me 20 -25% per month. He also was happy for me to watch him trade a few times a month - so that i could learn the basics.

Anyway to cut a long story short - I spent the next 3 years trying to trade myself - and joined many courses and alert services - before realizing it was not easy at all and that fascinated me - and I became hooked. I was only spending maybe 15 -20 hrs a week the first year - as I was also selling shares I had in another 2 businesses.

We then had the 2007 / 8 recession and I lost monies overseas in other investments and realised I needed to work again - as I was getting bored and would not be able to sustain my lifestyle - with 2 kids in private school and with an expensive hobbies including sailing and motor racing and another few years before my main pensions came available.

Before i decided to go full time - ie 5 days a week for say 6 -8 hrs a day I had been fairly successful scalping and intraday trading - but now it was time to jump in with both feet. I had 5 years plus part time of FX knowledge so could I hack it??

In my first 2 years I compounded too quickly after having several months doing over $20k a month - but then hit a bad spell that put me back 6 months and dropped me back down to a lot smaller stake sizes.

By my third full year - I was gaining more success and was generally happy with my performance and now - in my 7th year - I am looking forward to properly retiring in the next 2 or 3 years - before I am 64 years old

I still get a buzz - I enjoy trading - but also find it boring and maybe at my age am no longer prepared to challenge myself further

If I was 20 yrs younger - I would push myself a lot more - but I dont know whether I would have found it so fascinating in my 20's and 30's - as I preferred starting new businesses and then buying and selling them instead

Regards


F
 
Revorocks said:
A question for any full time traders out there.

How was it that you transitioned from a full time job, to become a full time trader? Did you try part time first?

I've been trading for around a year now, had ups and downs and feel I am just starting to find my feet.
I'm in a lucky position where I can afford to work part time now 3 days a week, and spend the other two trading. I am starting my part time work at the beginning of next month.

I'm hoping that this extra time trading is going to help somewhat, as currently I miss many trades due to being at work. I work in a call centre type office so don't get to have charts open all the time. I'm not banking on profits from trading making up for the reduced salary, I can manage just fine on the reduced salary anyway.

How did you find transitioning? Did spending more time trading in turn make you a better trader? And how did it go?

Would be interested to hear stories and or thoughts.

Thanks
Click to expand...

I'm not full time trading and have no wish to do so at present.

What I can tell you is, Tues Wed Thurs would be the better days to spend at the screens, if your part time employment allows for this.

The reason is, they are on average, better days to trade in terms of higher volatility ( it's easier to make a profit on higher volatility than on slow grinding directionless days )
 
Hi Revorocks, I have be transitioning to full time trading over the past year, I started out about 4 years ago.

I am freelance & established in my normal work so this has enabled me time to study the in's & out's of this game slowly over a reasonable amount of time.

It was not until this year that I have become so used to price behaviour that it has now become second nature. I do not mean knowing this level & that, I mean almost getting into the dna of what is happening at the inception of a change of flow or the timing of a scalping opportunity.

Anybody studying charts for as long as I have will know exactly what I mean. It is not nearly enough to know key levels, price points etc, there is so much to know re the behaviour of the price & the behavior of yourself, this is only absorbed into the grey matter over a long period of time with exposure to different live scenarios.

I think it is vital to have a very steady background support, be it a large amount of savings that you will only use a tiny part to trade with, or a well paid other income that you will also only use a tiny amount to trade with in the learning years.

This game will leave the unwary broke or worse, in heavy debt, I wonder how many people come into it realising just how dangerous it truly is, I mean life changing danger.

I have gone down the insane route of daytrading, it suits my circumstance, but I have gone through the mincer & come out the other side realising that without keeping check on my innermost discipline, I too could have potentially become a statistic.

Another interesting thing I have found, I cannot see myself spending the rest of my life in front of screens, as I think day trading means just that, it is not a steady guaranteed income, so I have kept my toes firmly in my other work as it gives me a complete contrast to trading, i.e out in the wider world experiencing a much broader range of life.

Therefore I do not think I would go full time regardless of how well I do. Money is just one currency.

It is not nearly enough to know how the game works, there is a much deeper level of understanding to get to grips with, you need to know how you work.

This takes time.
 
Forexmospherian said:
Hi Revorocks

No problem sharing my story on going from part time to a full time FX trader - but I would say mine is not the norm.

I had successful business career and I thought I would be able to retire completely at the age of 50 - which was a few years before the WW recession.

I had looked at trying Forex trading after reading an advert in the Sunday times from a US company called Next 24hrs to promised they could double my monies within 3 months. So i dipped my toe in the water and they actually did what they said they could do in the approx time. At the time - I had not got a clue that they had been lucky and I withdrew my test amount prior to them having an horrendous further 3 months. I had been prepared to try £100k and so instead decided to find another professional who reckoned he could return me 20 -25% per month. He also was happy for me to watch him trade a few times a month - so that i could learn the basics.

Anyway to cut a long story short - I spent the next 3 years trying to trade myself - and joined many courses and alert services - before realizing it was not easy at all and that fascinated me - and I became hooked. I was only spending maybe 15 -20 hrs a week the first year - as I was also selling shares I had in another 2 businesses.

We then had the 2007 / 8 recession and I lost monies overseas in other investments and realised I needed to work again - as I was getting bored and would not be able to sustain my lifestyle - with 2 kids in private school and with an expensive hobbies including sailing and motor racing and another few years before my main pensions came available.

Before i decided to go full time - ie 5 days a week for say 6 -8 hrs a day I had been fairly successful scalping and intraday trading - but now it was time to jump in with both feet. I had 5 years plus part time of FX knowledge so could I hack it??

In my first 2 years I compounded too quickly after having several months doing over $20k a month - but then hit a bad spell that put me back 6 months and dropped me back down to a lot smaller stake sizes.

By my third full year - I was gaining more success and was generally happy with my performance and now - in my 7th year - I am looking forward to properly retiring in the next 2 or 3 years - before I am 64 years old

I still get a buzz - I enjoy trading - but also find it boring and maybe at my age am no longer prepared to challenge myself further

If I was 20 yrs younger - I would push myself a lot more - but I dont know whether I would have found it so fascinating in my 20's and 30's - as I preferred starting new businesses and then buying and selling them instead

Regards


F
Click to expand...

Thanks for the reply mate. An interesting story. You have a very different background to me and a lot more experience in that sector. I'm still in my 20's and have only been working full time for #5yrs but trading has really taken hold of me. I traded for a brief period 3 years ago but had no success, left if for a few years but when I came back I've focused much more heavily.

I do actually really enjoy trading, mainly for the prospect of becoming self employed and the flexibility it offers, as well as potential salary.
Every night I enjoy reading and learning about it and putting it into practice. I don't want to get too confident too quickly but I've definitely noticed a huge difference in the way I trade and I feel I've been very lucky with people helping/mentoring me along the way.
I am well aware of jumping in too quickly on just having a small streak of success but I'm also in a very good positon where I can give it a try with very little risk (no kids, no mortgage etc).

Seeing as you said you would've pushed harder, I will take that onboard and continue to give it my all.

Thanks
 
Revorocks said:
A question for any full time traders out there.

How was it that you transitioned from a full time job, to become a full time trader? Did you try part time first?

I've been trading for around a year now, had ups and downs and feel I am just starting to find my feet.
I'm in a lucky position where I can afford to work part time now 3 days a week, and spend the other two trading. I am starting my part time work at the beginning of next month.

I'm hoping that this extra time trading is going to help somewhat, as currently I miss many trades due to being at work. I work in a call centre type office so don't get to have charts open all the time. I'm not banking on profits from trading making up for the reduced salary, I can manage just fine on the reduced salary anyway.

How did you find transitioning? Did spending more time trading in turn make you a better trader? And how did it go?

Would be interested to hear stories and or thoughts.

Thanks
Click to expand...


still transitioning.......in truth cannot ever see myself full time trading as i am a people person and love the banter of work/offices

N
 
tokyojoe said:
Hi Revorocks, I have be transitioning to full time trading over the past year, I started out about 4 years ago.

I am freelance & established in my normal work so this has enabled me time to study the in's & out's of this game slowly over a reasonable amount of time.

It was not until this year that I have become so used to price behaviour that it has now become second nature. I do not mean knowing this level & that, I mean almost getting into the dna of what is happening at the inception of a change of flow or the timing of a scalping opportunity.

Anybody studying charts for as long as I have will know exactly what I mean. It is not nearly enough to know key levels, price points etc, there is so much to know re the behaviour of the price & the behavior of yourself, this is only absorbed into the grey matter over a long period of time with exposure to different live scenarios.

I think it is vital to have a very steady background support, be it a large amount of savings that you will only use a tiny part to trade with, or a well paid other income that you will also only use a tiny amount to trade with in the learning years.

This game will leave the unwary broke or worse, in heavy debt, I wonder how many people come into it realising just how dangerous it truly is, I mean life changing danger.

I have gone down the insane route of daytrading, it suits my circumstance, but I have gone through the mincer & come out the other side realising that without keeping check on my innermost discipline, I too could have potentially become a statistic.

Another interesting thing I have found, I cannot see myself spending the rest of my life in front of screens, as I think day trading means just that, it is not a steady guaranteed income, so I have kept my toes firmly in my other work as it gives me a complete contrast to trading, i.e out in the wider world experiencing a much broader range of life.

Therefore I do not think I would go full time regardless of how well I do. Money is just one currency.

It is not nearly enough to know how the game works, there is a much deeper level of understanding to get to grips with, you need to know how you work.

This takes time.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your reply.

For now since I'm only going part time I will have a steady source of income and I do have security in terms of a place to live with very little overheads.

I said to myself I won't go full time until I have atleast 1-2 years salary saved up and have been consistant for a good while. Main reason for going part time in the mean time was so I can actually trade more and improve, as currently I miss so many trades due to work it's very hard to actually get anywhere.

As for having a knowledge and feel of the markets above just key levels, price points and general technical analysis I do understand what you mean. Same kind of thing as the 10000 hour rule in a way?. This can only be gained by experience and time behind the charts. With going part time I should be able to gain more experience.

With trading I wish to make it my full time career, however to gradually withdraw profits and diversify my investment to build up multiple sources of income, ie. properties etc so this should reduce risk over time rather than having all my eggs in one basket so to speak.

Thanks again
 
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Revorocks said:
A question for any full time traders out there.

How was it that you transitioned from a full time job, to become a full time trader? Did you try part time first?

I've been trading for around a year now, had ups and downs and feel I am just starting to find my feet.
I'm in a lucky position where I can afford to work part time now 3 days a week, and spend the other two trading. I am starting my part time work at the beginning of next month.

I'm hoping that this extra time trading is going to help somewhat, as currently I miss many trades due to being at work. I work in a call centre type office so don't get to have charts open all the time. I'm not banking on profits from trading making up for the reduced salary, I can manage just fine on the reduced salary anyway.

How did you find transitioning? Did spending more time trading in turn make you a better trader? And how did it go?

Would be interested to hear stories and or thoughts.

Thanks
Click to expand...
I think it is important to have a pillar of residual income which is bringing income independently of any other activities including trading. If one is able to cover the basic living costs from the income derived from that, one able to pursue other activities without the burden of the daily "rat race". For me trading is one of these enjoyable activities.
Please do not confuse full time trading with full time monitor/s watching, neither do not align a given amount of gained profit with the notion of "full time trading". There are times I trade more, and other times I just leave it and glance on the charts.
I encourage my children and indeed everybody to build the pillar of residual income. Failure to do it makes it more difficult to become financially independent.
 
Wish I could say that's the question. 7 years and still look for profitable strategy. The more books I read the more it seems there is none, for "retail" trader at least.
 
counter_violent said:
I'm not full time trading and have no wish to do so at present.

What I can tell you is, Tues Wed Thurs would be the better days to spend at the screens, if your part time employment allows for this.

The reason is, they are on average, better days to trade in terms of higher volatility ( it's easier to make a profit on higher volatility than on slow grinding directionless days )
Click to expand...

Good Morning @counter_violent,

Do you have any evidence to support your claim that Tue-Thurs are better trading days, or is this just another fisherman's wives tale. I guess to believe that, maybe you spent one too many nights at the hacienda. :LOL::LOL:

I once even heard that Hartlepoolians once lynched a monkey thinking it was a french spy, ah northerners, you gotta love em. (y)

Best
John.
 
interesting challenge .........and with so many markets and variations on trading a difficult one to answer ?

I think personally that Monday is the one to avoid (generally speaking) if you are looking to miss days out ............the 2 weekend days of formal non trading invariably require some settling in to occur on the monday and perhaps a full wash cycle though the time zones for BAU.......

Friday can be superb as you hunt the unwinds of the weeks activites.........and most traders do like to relax in their yachts and weekend retreats by closing out positions and jetting off by Friday afternoon

N
 
NVP said:
still transitioning.......in truth cannot ever see myself full time trading as i am a people person and love the banter of work/offices

N
Click to expand...

If you enjoy trading and are good at it- get a desk in a trading arcade/share with some other guys!
 
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