Question to anyone trading for a living

[bobtuf]

I would like to speak to someone who trades for a living, I am not looking to system crib - just to gain an insight into what it is like to do and how feasible it is to make a living. I have a few other questions, like do you need a large PC setup i.e. 3 screens plus and how important it is to know what the big players are doing in the market?

I would be very grateful to hear from anyone, if they prefer not to post here for their own privacy, then I would respect the confidentiality in a pm.

Bob

 

[Mathemagician]

FWIW, your IT needs are determined 100% by your trading strategy. Some strategies need a supercomputer, others need only paper and pen.

It is entirely feasible to trade for a living. It isn't fun (If you're the type to do it for fun/excitement/ego, you're likely to eventually take on too much risk as a profitable routine sets in.), but it does beat a lot of "real jobs". The toughest thing to deal with is variance in income, as the solution to this is to live below your (perceived) means -- something most people simply cannot do.

jj

 

[new_trader]

I would like to speak to someone who trades for a living, I am not looking to system crib - just to gain an insight into what it is like to do and how feasible it is to make a living. I have a few other questions, like do you need a large PC setup i.e. 3 screens plus and how important it is to know what the big players are doing in the market?

I would be very grateful to hear from anyone, if they prefer not to post here for their own privacy, then I would respect the confidentiality in a pm.

Bob

Trading is not my only source of income. I use 2 screens, 1 is for trading and the other is for sufing the web and playing FreeCell. I don't know why you would need more than 2 screens. Maybe so you can play FreeCell and surf the web at the same time.

It's more important to know what you are doing in the market.

 

[laptop1]

I would like to speak to someone who trades for a living, I am not looking to system crib - just to gain an insight into what it is like to do and how feasible it is to make a living. I have a few other questions, like do you need a large PC setup i.e. 3 screens plus and how important it is to know what the big players are doing in the market?

I would be very grateful to hear from anyone, if they prefer not to post here for their own privacy, then I would respect the confidentiality in a pm.

Bob

When trading full time from home, one needs to overcome boredom as in, waiting for the right trades.

You only need 1 PC to trade full time. I have a laptop 1 chart with buy and sell buttons to place the trades. nothing fancy. I also have a column of the main indices, to see what the other markets such as divergence in relation to the market I am trading, again basic stuff.

Now in advance where you're going to get out of a trade if proven wrong! and have a plan to take profits!.
Keep it simple.

 

[bobtuf]

Thank you for the replies.

So far then, no one here has trading as their 100% source of income?

Thanks for the tips about living below your expectations. I have already given that some serious thought and decided that if I want to earn say £2000 a month, then I need to look to make about £3-4000 a month in order to be comfortable and allow the trading account to grow.

Bob

 

[noworries]

Thank you for the replies.

So far then, no one here has trading as their 100% source of income?

Thanks for the tips about living below your expectations. I have already given that some serious thought and decided that if I want to earn say £2000 a month, then I need to look to make about £3-4000 a month in order to be comfortable and allow the trading account to grow.

Bob

That's a lot of money to earn each and every month. You need a big pot to use to take out £2k.

Just make sure you have a backup if your connection(s) and or PC go down. Brokers numbers right by the phone! Think of the worst thing that could happen and work on that basis.

Good luck and let us know how you get on in your first month if and when you do it

 

[Trojen]

Bobtuf,

I am a new full-time trader trading my local equity index futures market.
I have done a bit of most instruments and have become progressivly more aggressive in style over 18years.

I took a bit of a jump into the deep-end and resigned from my dead-end job in Dec07.
I have been simul trading and trading on a small account for the last 18months.

Beginners luck! Maybe but if I continue my current form I will be making 5x my old salary this month. And that is without taking undue risk of position size.
It's been great for me and I look to much of the same in the future as I gain even more experience and tweak my system and mind.

Best o luck......it is possible.........your gut will tell you when

 

[nkruger]

So far then, no one here has trading as their 100% source of income?

Hi Bob,

I trade full time and derive all my earnings from that. As mentioned before, you can trade with just one screen ~ but have a contingency plan for when the broadband goes up the spout and/or a power cut.

I use 2 screens + a laptop. The 2 screens have my 2 CMC market maker accounts on and the laptop is for IG and CapSpreads accounts.

Boredom can be an issue if you're trading for more than a couple of hours a day ~ I chat to a 'trading partner' via google talk (free over the internet) during our trading hours (usually 3-4 hrs morning ftse session and 3-4 hrs afternoon dow session)

You are correct about having to earn more than you need per month, you need your 'bank' to be growing (to grow your business) and you'll have days where the market doesn't like your strategy/edge, you'll want days off, annual holidays etc etc. Spookily, I did really well in the markets on Friday when I realised the final payment for a very expensive winter sun holiday is due this week.

Good luck in your trading, Bob.

 

[arabianights]

Hi Bob,

I trade for a living (although I might as well have not bothered so faR this month) and couldn't imagine having only one screen. One of the advantages of being a trader, after all, is being able to willy wave at non traders about all the screens that you look at, even if one of them only has filled orders in or something.

The importance of knowing what is going on in the markets is inversely proportional to the time period you intend to hold your trades. For any kind of short term directional trading I would have thought that a good news and information package (ideally with two screens; they add to your fertility) such as Reuters or Bloomberg is pretty essential. Then again, plenty do without.

 

[nkruger]

couldn't imagine having only one screen.



The friend of mine that I trade with daily has one screen and does a lot more analysis (indicator adjustment etc.) than I do, and manages perfectly well. It's what you get used to I suppose.

 

[nkruger]

like do you need a large PC setup i.e. 3 screens plus


Bob

As an example, the 3 ducks system
http://www.trade2win.com/boards/forex-strategies-systems/26464-3-duck-s-trading-system.html
would need only one screen and it looks perfectly workable. ( I must stress, I do not use it, just showing it as an example)

 

[shadowninja]

I used to use two screens but since I now only trade a couple of instruments, my second screen is usually off. Shame really, because I paid a good £100 for the extra 15" TFT and high spec PC (both second hand!!). :clap: (It now is just my emergency back up plan in case my main PC suddenly dies. It's configured for broadband and just has Battlefield 2... er... I mean Internet Explorer installed with IG as its home page.)

Thing is, when I'm actively trading, I only need to see the chart for a few minutes so can just alt-tab. Otherwise, I just view the right 2-3 inches of a chart, watching the price action from the corner of my eye. The other windows are not maximised but take up 90% of the screen.

 

[Mathemagician]

So far then, no one here has trading as their 100% source of income?

I'm not sure what gave you that idea. Based on the title of the thread I would assume that anyone who replies has trading account for 100% of their income. FWIW, trading (for myself and for others) is my only source of income.

jj

 

[laptop1]

Some speak of an emergency plan. Mine is simple, Make sure you have a good broker who answers the phone within seconds and get the hell out of your trade no matter what.

 

[nkruger]

Some speak of an emergency plan.

Hip Flask within arms reach.... :clap:




.

 

[bobtuf]

Thanks again for the replies everyone.

So it is possible to trade for a living, therefore there must be some systems out there that work, but trading for a living is a cold hard world then! Can I ask, are the people trading for a living using systems they have found/modified or their own systems built from the ground up?

Bob

 

[Mathemagician]

I build my trading models from the ground up.

jj

 

[Mathemagician]

I guess that's not 100% true. Most of my models are built by me from the ground-up.

jj

 

[TheRumpledOne]

If I can't trade from my laptop at the beach then the system is too complex.

 

[nkruger]

So it is possible to trade for a living, therefore there must be some systems out there that work,

There are loads of 'systems' out there that work (MA crosses, MACD divergences, Pivots, Stochastic trigger lines, Vegas Tunnel ... ) it's the way they're executed that makes them winners. :smart: