Hello, flashman57,
Thank you for your interesting and considerate reply.
Learning to trade in a professional capacity like you’re saying would definitely be ideal, but I think it’s not an option for me as I’m by now probably too old (38) and don’t have the right background (engineering and not finance/data science). Not to mention that proprietary trading doesn’t really exist here in Norway. Mostly, it’s only brokering that’s done here in Norway and as far as I know there’s less than 10 hedge funds doing any actual short term trading. Of course, I could move if that were an option, but I imagine the competition is fierce and the opportunities few.
Get funded trader challenges:
I don’t see these as serious alternatives for getting funding. At best, they give you a shoestring to trade on and as soon as you break a rule you’re gone. Regardless of how good your performance was prior to that. Bottom line is they’re not really looking to fund traders. You will never get any funding beyond the profits you accumulate yourself. So, basically, as soon as you’re funded and in profit, you might as well withdraw your money and trade it yourself for a 100 % profit split.
What I’m currently doing:
I funded an account with $11K and started trading it part-time (while holding a full-time job) in September. By the end of September I was up 49 % with 17 winning days and 5 losing days trading mostly one e-mini S&P 500 contract. My account peaked at $17 200 and I’m currently in drawdown after losing my balance Monday and Tuesday this week.
I got sloppy, greedy and complacent after a very good September. Most of my losses can be attributed to trading when I shouldn’t be trading and not actual poor performance.
I’m determined to get back on track, though.
My goal is to do this full-time, but I have mostly given up on getting funding or doing this professionally. So, I probably just have to trade part-time until I’ve grown my account sufficiently to be able to live off my trading.
It’s back to the chicken and egg. If I can grow my account substantially and have a good track record – would I really want or need funding?
Don’t get me wrong. I’d jump at any opportunity if it was a good one, but it seems like maybe by the time I have something to show somebody, I might not really need it?
Of course, if someone would really stake me allowing me to trade big size at one point, it would change the game for me. If an option, I could also provide my own capital for a cushion or act of good faith.
It may sound delusional and I won’t judge anyone if they laugh, but I firmly believe I’m a very able trader having tracked this market for a long time and having my trading backed by a solid methodology. While I use a predictive/statistical model custom made to my requirements, it’s still a discretionary approach at the end of the day. So I wouldn’t be able to provide any automatic back-tests.
Thank you in advance for any further guidance.
Best,
Johnny