how long did it take?

[Christiaan]

hey there

I'd like to know how long did it take you(fulltime)to make profits consistently.If you have a bit of advice you can post that too.

 

[D70]

Making consistent profits........I believe it is highly correlated to.....>>

Your discipline.
Your training.
Your approach.
Your account size.
And finally..... your mindset. Many people are programmed to self destruct.

So regarding "time"... anywhere from 1day to infinity.......

Advice....... get someone who is "consistently profitable" to show you how.

 

[meanreversion]

John Henry claims his trend following model is still working after 18 years. So in his case, he became consistent fairly quickly, once he developed a workable mechanical system.

 

[donaldduke]

hey there

I'd like to know how long did it take you(fulltime)to make profits consistently.If you have a bit of advice you can post that too.

If you have a good mentor you might be able to do it in months, otherwise its going to take at least a year, but more like several years.
But beware of all the scamer and charlatan coaches and mentors that lurk on this board and everywhere on the internet.

 

[meanreversion]

People like us, in other words.

 

[shadowninja]

Yep, don't trust anyone, not even yourself!

 

[The Artist]

It takes a fair amount of "market time" to be consistently right. I mean, Berkshire H's income went down 80% in late '08. However, to be consistently profitable, Id say it depends how long it will take one to become fully aware of his/her behavioral flaws as a trader and master essential money management techniques. If the focus is on those two things rather than on a quest to find the "perfect" system, then we're talking months perhaps.
But those questions are typically difficult to answer really... How long does it take one to consistently turn in a below-par scorecard at the golf course? How long does it take one to consistently perform successful open-heart surgery?
Plus, if one starts an activity just because its opportunity cost is lower than another, then I don't think it is the best mindset for success anyways.

 

[D70]

To put an exact figure..... 2 years I reckon is what it takes to know what you are doing.

 

[donaldduke]

People like us, in other words.

No i meant the scum that charge £100s or £1000s on coaching/mentoring/seminars/systems/chat rooms etc (You could be one these i dont know).

 

[meanreversion]

Someone on another thread said it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert in any field. Sounds about right.

 

[GladiatorX]

Someone on another thread said it takes 10,000 hours to become an expert in any field. Sounds about right.

Yeah i read a book about that...
Its not 10,000 hours though in general.

Its 10,000 hours of applied, focused, concentration. Where you are actively engaged in the learning process and interacting with the material... Rather than 10,000 hours of dossing about looking at random shizzle.

 

[meanreversion]

No i meant the scum that charge £100s or £1000s on coaching/mentoring/seminars/systems/chat rooms etc (You could be one these i dont know).

It always strikes me that there are many ways to make money from the industry of trading which don't involve taking any risk. Trading robots are one of them. Seminars/courses etc are another. Oh and these trader bootcamps in exotic locations.. kerching!

 

[charliechan]

consistently profitable?

ive been trading 11 years for myself and others. ive never met anyone who is 'consistently profitable'. there are plenty who make a good living trading (which is what you mean i imagine) and that path typically takes a few years if good (read effort) before they can support themselves.

if you want consistantly profitable, get a job with a salary. traders tend to have quite big equity swings and holidays. you may see '6 months of salary' in a month, followed by 2 months of almost nothing or small loss (business cost), followed by 2 months of good money, followed by 5 months of little profit/loss. etc

i get the impression some people here approach trading with a monetary goal in mind each day/week/month/year. although this may seem like a good plan, imo, it aint. you cant control what the market will do, so you cant control what the market will give you.

setting a monetary goal will thus either limit what you take from the market (making the flat equity periods difficult to sustain) once achieved. this is true if you limit each trades potential with an order based target, or stop trading on achieving a target.

 

[barryb]

consistently profitable?

ive been trading 11 years for myself and others. ive never met anyone who is 'consistently profitable'. there are plenty who make a good living trading (which is what you mean i imagine) and that path typically takes a few years if good (read effort) before they can support themselves.

if you want consistantly profitable, get a job with a salary. traders tend to have quite big equity swings and holidays. you may see '6 months of salary' in a month, followed by 2 months of almost nothing or small loss (business cost), followed by 2 months of good money, followed by 5 months of little profit/loss. etc

i get the impression some people here approach trading with a monetary goal in mind each day/week/month/year. although this may seem like a good plan, imo, it aint. you cant control what the market will do, so you cant control what the market will give you.

setting a monetary goal will thus either limit what you take from the market (making the flat equity periods difficult to sustain) once achieved. this is true if you limit each trades potential with an order based target, or stop trading on achieving a target.

Great post.

 

[trader_dante]

I agree with charliechan that it's hard to trade with a daily target although that is certainly how a lot of prop firms operate.

Contrary to what he said about "consistently profitable" traders, they do exist. I'm not talking about traders that on balance are profitable. I'm talking about traders that have years trading each and every day without a single losing day. I imagine there are a few that fit into this category. I've only been fortunate enough to meet one and hear second hand of another.

It's very difficult to say how long it takes as it depends on many things - chief among them in my opinion are:

- what path you take in your learning (who coaches you)
- how much time you put in
- how quickly you learn from your mistakes
- your financial circumstances i.e. how much money you have to play with.

The quickest I saw anyone ever go from never having traded to consistently profitable and making a living was around 3 months. Personally it took me around 7 years from my first ever trade although only about 2 years of intense study.

 

[barryb]

That's right, you can be consistently profitable intraday trading at a prop firm. The guy who used to sit next to me would often go for weeks without a down day. However if you're on a longer timescale, get used to being down or at best scratch 3 weeks out of 4, and having that 1 week in 4 make you all your dough.

 

[tar]

http://www.trade2win.com/boards/tra...you-trading-before-you-became-profitable.html

 

[Shanghai]

Took me about a year as a trader. But I had been a longer term investor for a decade before that so I had an understanding of the markets. I had my strategies sorted out pretty quickly but it was only when I found a mentor that I really understood what it was to be a trader and from that time on I have been consistently profitable. I make enough to earn a decent living but I also have a job as if i didn't I think my trading would get worse not better,

 

[montmorencyt2w]

How long? er...I'll let you know when it happens, but actually, I believe in a few posts' time, T2W will consider me to be a "legendary" member, by which time I will automatically speak wisdom and be able to sell you my patent all-winning system. In the meantime, there's always Zupconite.

 

[meanreversion]

when do I go from senior to veteran, 500?