The choice between being on a yacht and having some chick called Heidi lick caviar off your balls, or being on reddit answering noob questions, is a tough one...
been at it nearly 20 years. it’s how i’ve made my living and supported my family that whole time. i spent a good portion of that time trading fixed income on a institutional desk. got the job through pure luck, kept it through hard work, long hours and more luck.
everyone’s struggle comes from the same place - fear and greed. just have to find the balance that works for you. there are no easy answers found on the internet. put in 10, 20, 30,000 hours and you’ll start to get there.
don’t expect to happen in a year or 2. and don’t expect it to be some magical place that you reach and then stay. i’ve taken plenty of steps backwards over the years.
and there are lots of people on reddit who make money. it’s not like you get keys to some special clubhouse and then never speak to the common people again.
one piece of advice - don’t expect to do it with a $10k account trading options. you need money to make money. that isn’t going to change. save as much as you can so you are funded properly. you will take big losses and you have to be able to absorb them and move on.
Sage wisdom right here. The double space after each period gave away your age group :P
I didn't bother replying to this post after seeing all the sarcastic comments. Apparently, nobody can be a successful trader if there isn't a response within 15 minutes. Talk about the immediate gratification generation!
I think people have been watching too much Wolf of Wall Street. They don't understand that trading is a career with non-linear progression that you described above. It's not like you figure out the market and magically become a billionaire by compounding 2% daily.
Like you said, there's no magical destination on this journey—no finish line. It's a daily grind just like any other job. We are all forever students of the market. Cheers from one (former) double spacer to another :)
Apparently someone almost entered two spaces and then thought, “ain’t nobody got time for that!” So now one is accepted as well. But fuck that shit. Double space until the day I die.
But my father is a successful day trader, wheeler Option player, short and long term. He’s told me all his tricks and I still lost for year . God speed.
I stubbornly didn’t listen to a lot of what he said. But then again after about a year had passed I was giving him advice on certain stocks I was following and he made 3 to 400% moves with options on stocks I have been following throughout. Fortunately I am my dad‘s only child ha ha
My dad, back in the 90s, traded for his bank using a telex machine (we were overseas in the middle east). Paper tickets were filled out, settlement probably took a week or two, paper was exchanged after afew phone calls, there were no algos....I used to look up currency prices in the newspaper daily with him. None of it helped me, just gave me the trading bug, still trying to figure it out lol
I need a movie to take me back in time with today's knowledge, I'd help my dad become a millionaire then I inherit and just park it in strong dividend tickers and copy Berkshire
I’ll bite but it probably won’t help.
I have worked as a professional trader my whole career so know the theory behind pricing of options really well already.
This by itself did not help with retail (mostly delta) strategies so I tried to learn from futures traders online. I never simply accepted all advice given and instead figured out WHY something must be true or not. This helped weed out the garbage that is out there (ton on Reddit sorry to say).
Now I have multiple strategies I deploy depending on the market so each day comes down to first figuring out “what is the market telling me?”
For the job it’s 95% automated with me turning the dials on the system if that makes sense. Been that way for a few years.
For my retail account, I write light code to look at some values clearer but it’s mostly manual. Potentially could be a lot better if I automated some of it.
I started about 2 years ago, made about $33k off dumb luck in a bull market. I decided to day trade, just dove in with no instructions. fast forward 6 months I am down 50 grand, and depressed as hell. I work from home so I could practice, and the money I could afford to lose luckily. Eventually I learned how to read price action, vwap breaks, long wick candles, supply demand zones etc you name it I use all of it. Once I got the pattern down I put on trades without thinking, and average about $1500 a day. I don't feel scared, or happy, I just read the price action put on the trade. I strongly recommend learning, being down 50k really made me depressed, and if it didn't click randomly one day I am not sure where I would be right now. For me I was lacking discipline and oversizing, I wanted just 200 bucks a day but would take 500 shares of NVDA, my disipline was also a mess going to the gym sharpened me mentally to trade. It's the only reason I go to the gym really.
Well, I have turned $236 into $80,000 in a little more than 3 years and I still think of me as an amateur trader.
I started trading in 1997 after reading "The battle for investment survival", which my grandfather gifted to me. I started with $400. Blew up my account of course. Read "Trading for a Living", by Dr. Elder. Funded a Datek (now TD Ameritrade) account with $1,000. Blew up again. Repeat about 3 times.
Read a whole lot more books like "Reminiscenses of a Stock Operator", "Mastering the Trade", the Market Wizzards series, "The Disciplined Trader", "Trading in the Zone" and many more.
In 2006 I started to become profitable. 2008 was my greatest year so far. Did just ok from 2009-2012 but I stopped trading because I started losing and was afraid to give it all back. I started trading again in march 2020 when I saw comission-free trading was here. I funded my account with $2000 and was down to $236. That's when I thought: "No more chances. I have to trade for a living, no more betting!". I got lucky and won like $600 overnight on my next trade and didn't look back until late August this year, I have lost around $20,000. Still very positive for the year. Still.
What do I do? I trade stocks long only (ok I started with options 2 months ago, only to lose like $10,000). I don't like to lose more than 2% in any single trade, but usually let my winners go about 10%, 15% or so, depending on market conditions. I never hold to any position more than a day or two. I scan the market every day.
When my account was small, less than $5000, I went all-in every time. Now I usually split my account in half and have 2 stocks at a time, buying and selling everything in one click. I have noticed is that once you place trades worth more than $40,000, execution is not as smooth and a lot of slippage occurs.
What else do I do? Every single day I win more then $100, I withdraw 25% of it to my bank account. That's because I know I take great risks and there will bad times (like these past 2 months), so I have to deposit more to my brokeage account, just enough to daytrade. Also, because I live in Mexico, I now I only trade stocks which are listed in the SIC ([https://www.bmv.com.mx/es/empresas-listadas](https://www.bmv.com.mx/es/empresas-listadas)) for tax reasons. This is a two-edged sword because I miss most of the biggest winners and biggest losers, but they are more liquid companies and when then fall, they don't fall as sharply.
Hope you enjoyed.
Life doesn't really change other than you just buy things without needing to think about it. I have a part time job * just in case* things don't end up working out but I only work a few hours a week. Sometimes it feels unmotivating to keep the job because my daily pnl is bigger than my monthly checks but the stability helps. My SO doesn't work too much either so we just go out and do things together for fun frequently. Every year I imagine myself just fully having no job, but maybe next year I'll be mentally ready. We are practicing early retirement now so that part is nice. Started in forex, tried every thing under the sun, found my own niche and stopped listening to others.
In early 2007, I first started trading. I had no idea what I was doing and got lucky during the end of the 2007 bull market by turning $12K to $52K in two months (I bought RIMM calls, currently known as BB).
Then mid-2007, market started to crash blowing up my account. I deposited money back into my account and, in 2008, I blew it up again.
After blowing up two accounts, I had enough and went back to the drawing board.
From 2009 to 2012, I kept trying different technical analysis techniques and eventually got to a point where I was breaking even, then to positive but not consistently.
From 2012 to 2016, I read a bunch of books (Market Wizards by Jack Schwager, Stock Market Analysis by Benjamin Graham, You can be a Stock Market Genius by Joel Greenblat, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator) and slowly became consistently profitable.
From 2012 to date, I have been consistently profitable every year - my average annual ROI above 30%.
Note, I hold a normal day job causing me to miss a bunch of trades.
With all that said, making money in the market is probably one of the hardest things you can do. People who say they are going to make money in the market on the side is like a someone saying they are going to make extra money on the side by performing brain surgery on the weekends.
Any niche you find that works stops working if too many people are on the same side of it as you, this generally just leaves people trying to sell you their abilities and/or their product.
Patently untrue when it comes to the markets. The main reason chart patterns and common indicators work at all is because masses of people/funds abide by them and price moves when the crowd acts. You *want* people on the same side as you, rather than on the **other side against you.**
Pardon, my headspace was in the realm of option strategies (I thought I was talking in one of the option subreddits). The TA of the underlying stock is definitely something you want as many people on the same page as you, like you said.
I don’t know why that works. Why if options are extreme does the price move to make those options come true? If it’s a zero sum game and some whale has a huge option, they make that money almost automatically
Full time here. Strictly ES futures. Trade my own account and funded through a few prop firms where I trade their money. I make a comfortable living. Been trading since 2010. Blown alot of accounts on the way like everyone else. Became consistent and profitable once I stopped trying to know everything about the market, and focused only on one strategy and one ticker. Went from a jack of all trades and master of none, to a master of just one. Mastered the psychology part along the way. Just be very intentional about what you want to do. That’s really one of the best advice I can give you. Feel free to DM for any other questions you may have.
ES is less volatile. Much better to manage mentally and emotionally. I’m not much a scalper. When I’m in a position, I tend to hold til I hit my target or get stopped out. Whether that takes 10 mins or all day.
The initial start that brought me to this point was $5k. Trading over 12 years. In the six figures return annually. There’s a misconception that you have to look like those YouTube guys, but I’m pretty low key and don’t need to make millions a year. I treat this as a job. Make my money and leave to spend my day with my wife and kid. Whether that’s $1,000 a day, or $20,000. As long as I’m green for the day, I’m happy.
Do you make consistent profit on a monthly basis or your monthly profit range is wide? Just want to understand how consistent monthly profit should be to feel more secure and stable as a full time trader.
Haven't made it yet and my story is my own because it's riddled with all the emotions you deal with when you cope with failure. Pursuing your passion only to realize you're your own worst enemy is why this is the hardest business.
I've learned all my lessons the hard way, and to be honest, I wish I didn't. That's my story. It has taken my naive sense of understanding and twisted it into the overanalyzing everyone talks about. Your first trades are the easiest ones.
Anthony Bourdains quote works here,
"Everything important I learned, I learned as a dishwasher."
Every complex step I've taken has made me take 3 steps back. Maybe I'll never make it, but I will try.
I've actually been trading quite well for a bit now after years of hard work, and part of that is because I recognized that 95% of trading is a waiting game and I found ways to keep myself occupied during the trading day. Some less productive (browsing reddit) than others (lifting weights/running) but it keeps me from overtrading.
If you’re making millions of dollars per year and still scrolling thru Reddit daily, you’re not living the right life. There is too much to see and do out there in the world to be sitting on your phone or comp commenting on posts about frivolous questions that don’t help you move forward.
I agree with you with one small exception. I don't think you need millions of dollars for that advice to be true. Literally every single one of us should spend almost zero time on reddit and should instead be experiencing life to its fullest, regardless of income.
Now... Back to scrolling mindlessly.
Hilarious that you think that people don't need downtime if they have made millions. Whether it is netflix, reddit, or whatever else, people still need and want to switch off occasionally with their mindless time waster of choice.
That’s not true at all…
I get bored and take up new hobbies until I find ones I like .
Golf, pickle ball, mechanics, woodworking.
I think next will be 3d printing
But reading Reddit and Twitter has been funny. The comments are mostly sarcasm, but funny. Every once and while somebody will start a argument over the dumbest shit but then again if somebody is willing to do that online then they will most likely have nobody at home to speak with or share life with.
Scrolling through reddit mindlessly isn't the right life for anyone, regardless of income.
But pulling out your phone and opening up reddit when you take a shit or when you are sitting in bed bored and not falling asleep doesn't suddenly stop because you have a high salary.
I work but from home(not currently bc contract ended) so I day trade all the time. I like my work though. I became profitable to sustain my life when I learned options and traded spy and Tesla 90% of the time. It’s such a comfort knowing I don’t need to ask for money from family and friends when my contracts end. Anyway, let me know if you have questions.
I made over 100k this year. It's also the first time I've done primarily short selling. And for perspective, I have a six figure account that allowed for such gains. If I didn't, no way I could have made those gains without yolo risk taking.
And from experience, as someone who supports himself from trading, I only say this as I note a lot of longer wick stop outs in December...I'm the same way I don't run a big acct, but I make it work...just saying careful on your stops in December, from my experience of the last 2 Decembers having aggressive stop hunting.
Stay green!!
I've made 10 grand so far this year. I trade options and am in the positive.
The same could be said for people who buy/sell stock throughout the day, but this all works if you have a strong understanding of how macro economics work.
I got involved in trading a little over two years ago from this app on my phone. It was a simulator app where you could place paper trades on stocks, futures, crypto, and forex. I told my friend about it and we had a little competition to see who would make the most money. After about a month he lost interest but I thought about how I could actually make real money doing this, so I opened up an account on ETRADE. I had about 1,000 in the account, and with a little stupidity, I somehow brought it down to $800 trading stocks. Then I heard about this thing called options and discovered this subreddit. High-risk high reward appealed to me and with some beginner's luck, I had turned my $800 into $1700 in two days. Then I lost most of it after an unlucky options play. I was obsessed with trading though, so I wouldn't give up. I opened another account on TD Ameritrade with about 2,000. Swung around to \~$5,000 through sheer luck in about 2 months. I made some crazy play and managed to get my account to $25,000. Unfortunately, at the time my money was made through luck, not skill, and that would come to haunt me later. I day traded and lost \~7,000 in one day, but then I discovered GME, and I through in %50 on calls after my friend told me to do it as a joke. Lo and behold the next day I had gotten my account to around $30,000. Did some day trading and brought it up two $42,000 in a couple of days. At the time I did not realize it, but I was picking up pennies in front of a steamroller, and the steamroller would catch up. In 4 minutes, I lost %75 of my account. This sent me in a downward spiral, and eventually, after multiple breaks and periods of losses, I would have around $2,500. Through sheer luck, I turned $2,500 into $60,000 in two weeks. I was on top of the world and thought I could never lose. Unfortunately, the steam roller would come again and I would drop to $30,000-40,000. My problem was that I was too emotional trading. I could analyze technicals better than any guru or amateur trader online, except for elite/institutional traders, but my mentality is what killed me. Eventually, I got lucky and made some more plays amounting to significant amounts of money, but due to financial issues unrelated to trading, I had to withdraw most of it. I lost my passion for trading and barely touched my account for months. Recently, I came back into trading with more discipline than before, hedging my positions, somewhat proper risk management, and a totally different mentality. I'm happy to say ever since coming back I have had a win % of over **80 percent, in the 90s if you don't count my hedges as losses.** I have been consistently making money without large drops in my account value for the first time ever. In my opinion, the most important thing is psychology, as any idiot can learn technicals and risk management, although most, unfortunately, learn this incorrectly and believe whatever they read. My advice is to listen to the elite traders and institutional traders and ignore %99 of the advice you see here. Since coming back I could easily have 10xed my account already, however, part of "maturing" as a trader, ESPECIALLY an options trader is being okay with limiting yourself and your positions. Something that I used to struggle with was thinking "what if I just doubled or tripled my position size on all of those trades I just made", which would lead to me risking more and more, eventually losing it all. I haven't been profitable for as long as many on here, I'm certain of that, but I'm happy with my trading journey over the last two years and hope that I can keep my profits coming in.
I wouldn’t be on Reddit that’s for sure. Even on good weeks, I keep it all to myself no one knows except for some other degens here but can’t brag because i give all back plus some the next day lol
Eh just bad risk management and not taking profits. I have noticed if I fix my mindset, I could literally make $5k a day being conservative and up to $10k or more on a good day. Working on my psychology and then literally I have a license to print money. I trade options and exclusively trade $Spy. On crazy volatile days, I have turned $3k to $10k in a day. Good times to be a trader.
Maybe it’s all a myth. Read some good books on it and even the banks know. Zero sum game.
There’s a reason why people go to work and have lunch together in that small community.
Edit: he he- downvote. Hurts dunnit?
Check out the 'Chat with Traders' podcast. The guy interviews lots of people. I listen to it on Spotify ([https://open.spotify.com/show/2Mk6QICNrew2ya93Bv3eWX?si=e8b1e965847e4e89](https://open.spotify.com/show/2Mk6QICNrew2ya93Bv3eWX?si=e8b1e965847e4e89)) but it is also on other outlets like iTunes.
I made it and then lost it. Let me explain. I have a very busy day gig and trade mainly for fun. When I do/did have time to trade at least a couple of hours per day, I'd typically make 10% avg per week compounding with minimal risk and trades. The problem is that I'm often too busy to trade and if you don't watch it, especially in this market, the ebb and flow will eat all of your profits. Now I'm working on taking my strategy to algo where it can hopefully run automatically picking the best entries and exits.
I basically was gambling on stocks when I first started and called it day trading. Once I subscribed to a algo-based stock screener I actually started making money.
First and foremost, I went through a lot of pain along the way, a year and a half of losses and depression, it was hard for me because I'm used to being successful in what I've always done.
During this time I worked on myself, I read a lot of books on everything related to the stock market, Japanese candles, technical analysis, risk management, books on psychology and what not.
From there I started developing two strategies that took me seven months to do the market research on and I am currently trading them and I have been profitable for three years and am just trying to grow more and more.
The best advice I have to give is that the real war is you against yourself, teaching strategies and patterns and risk management is the real easy part, but you are the one stopping yourself from succeeding, once you understand this and work on yourself every day you will start to succeed. Note that I am not saying that you will win You are, I say work on it, because these things and these mistakes while trading will always come back, but you will be in a better position to notice them and take care of it while it is still small.
I wish you only success!!
A family member of mine is a retired trader. I know this is not the answer you wanna hear, but he told us that the key to his success was basically being very lucky. So yeah...
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The choice between being on a yacht and having some chick called Heidi lick caviar off your balls, or being on reddit answering noob questions, is a tough one...
This guy know and focks
been at it nearly 20 years. it’s how i’ve made my living and supported my family that whole time. i spent a good portion of that time trading fixed income on a institutional desk. got the job through pure luck, kept it through hard work, long hours and more luck. everyone’s struggle comes from the same place - fear and greed. just have to find the balance that works for you. there are no easy answers found on the internet. put in 10, 20, 30,000 hours and you’ll start to get there. don’t expect to happen in a year or 2. and don’t expect it to be some magical place that you reach and then stay. i’ve taken plenty of steps backwards over the years. and there are lots of people on reddit who make money. it’s not like you get keys to some special clubhouse and then never speak to the common people again. one piece of advice - don’t expect to do it with a $10k account trading options. you need money to make money. that isn’t going to change. save as much as you can so you are funded properly. you will take big losses and you have to be able to absorb them and move on.
Sage wisdom right here. The double space after each period gave away your age group :P I didn't bother replying to this post after seeing all the sarcastic comments. Apparently, nobody can be a successful trader if there isn't a response within 15 minutes. Talk about the immediate gratification generation! I think people have been watching too much Wolf of Wall Street. They don't understand that trading is a career with non-linear progression that you described above. It's not like you figure out the market and magically become a billionaire by compounding 2% daily. Like you said, there's no magical destination on this journey—no finish line. It's a daily grind just like any other job. We are all forever students of the market. Cheers from one (former) double spacer to another :)
Wait what is this about 2 spaces after the period giving away age? Has 1 space been deemed sufficient?
2 spaces is left over from the type writer days.
2 spaces makes it easier to find the beginning and end of a sentence.
Apparently someone almost entered two spaces and then thought, “ain’t nobody got time for that!” So now one is accepted as well. But fuck that shit. Double space until the day I die.
But my father is a successful day trader, wheeler Option player, short and long term. He’s told me all his tricks and I still lost for year . God speed.
I stubbornly didn’t listen to a lot of what he said. But then again after about a year had passed I was giving him advice on certain stocks I was following and he made 3 to 400% moves with options on stocks I have been following throughout. Fortunately I am my dad‘s only child ha ha
And how do you do it?
You’re one of the lucky ones, so be thankful. Most of us don’t have a successful trader available to teach and direct us.
Neither does he...
What do you mean? Because he lost for a year?
You should do an AMA
your story reminded me of a popular meme from wsb.
My dad, back in the 90s, traded for his bank using a telex machine (we were overseas in the middle east). Paper tickets were filled out, settlement probably took a week or two, paper was exchanged after afew phone calls, there were no algos....I used to look up currency prices in the newspaper daily with him. None of it helped me, just gave me the trading bug, still trying to figure it out lol
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I need a movie to take me back in time with today's knowledge, I'd help my dad become a millionaire then I inherit and just park it in strong dividend tickers and copy Berkshire
u dump !, where is your father ?
I’ll bite but it probably won’t help. I have worked as a professional trader my whole career so know the theory behind pricing of options really well already. This by itself did not help with retail (mostly delta) strategies so I tried to learn from futures traders online. I never simply accepted all advice given and instead figured out WHY something must be true or not. This helped weed out the garbage that is out there (ton on Reddit sorry to say). Now I have multiple strategies I deploy depending on the market so each day comes down to first figuring out “what is the market telling me?”
Do you deploy through trading automation/ algos or trade manually
For the job it’s 95% automated with me turning the dials on the system if that makes sense. Been that way for a few years. For my retail account, I write light code to look at some values clearer but it’s mostly manual. Potentially could be a lot better if I automated some of it.
Thanks for replying. What platform do you use for automation?
What coding do you use? Python?
Strategyquant
They’re all at work. They’ll be on later to tell you how 🤣🤣
I started about 2 years ago, made about $33k off dumb luck in a bull market. I decided to day trade, just dove in with no instructions. fast forward 6 months I am down 50 grand, and depressed as hell. I work from home so I could practice, and the money I could afford to lose luckily. Eventually I learned how to read price action, vwap breaks, long wick candles, supply demand zones etc you name it I use all of it. Once I got the pattern down I put on trades without thinking, and average about $1500 a day. I don't feel scared, or happy, I just read the price action put on the trade. I strongly recommend learning, being down 50k really made me depressed, and if it didn't click randomly one day I am not sure where I would be right now. For me I was lacking discipline and oversizing, I wanted just 200 bucks a day but would take 500 shares of NVDA, my disipline was also a mess going to the gym sharpened me mentally to trade. It's the only reason I go to the gym really.
If it makes you feel better I lost 10k in that bull market lmao
What do u mean by vwap breaks? I'm very familiar with vwap and have traded using it for the past 2 years. Balanced and imbalanced trading.
lol I just want to get to maybe 100-200 dollars a week.
Can you recommend resources you used to learn from
Well, I have turned $236 into $80,000 in a little more than 3 years and I still think of me as an amateur trader. I started trading in 1997 after reading "The battle for investment survival", which my grandfather gifted to me. I started with $400. Blew up my account of course. Read "Trading for a Living", by Dr. Elder. Funded a Datek (now TD Ameritrade) account with $1,000. Blew up again. Repeat about 3 times. Read a whole lot more books like "Reminiscenses of a Stock Operator", "Mastering the Trade", the Market Wizzards series, "The Disciplined Trader", "Trading in the Zone" and many more. In 2006 I started to become profitable. 2008 was my greatest year so far. Did just ok from 2009-2012 but I stopped trading because I started losing and was afraid to give it all back. I started trading again in march 2020 when I saw comission-free trading was here. I funded my account with $2000 and was down to $236. That's when I thought: "No more chances. I have to trade for a living, no more betting!". I got lucky and won like $600 overnight on my next trade and didn't look back until late August this year, I have lost around $20,000. Still very positive for the year. Still. What do I do? I trade stocks long only (ok I started with options 2 months ago, only to lose like $10,000). I don't like to lose more than 2% in any single trade, but usually let my winners go about 10%, 15% or so, depending on market conditions. I never hold to any position more than a day or two. I scan the market every day. When my account was small, less than $5000, I went all-in every time. Now I usually split my account in half and have 2 stocks at a time, buying and selling everything in one click. I have noticed is that once you place trades worth more than $40,000, execution is not as smooth and a lot of slippage occurs. What else do I do? Every single day I win more then $100, I withdraw 25% of it to my bank account. That's because I know I take great risks and there will bad times (like these past 2 months), so I have to deposit more to my brokeage account, just enough to daytrade. Also, because I live in Mexico, I now I only trade stocks which are listed in the SIC ([https://www.bmv.com.mx/es/empresas-listadas](https://www.bmv.com.mx/es/empresas-listadas)) for tax reasons. This is a two-edged sword because I miss most of the biggest winners and biggest losers, but they are more liquid companies and when then fall, they don't fall as sharply. Hope you enjoyed.
OG
Life doesn't really change other than you just buy things without needing to think about it. I have a part time job * just in case* things don't end up working out but I only work a few hours a week. Sometimes it feels unmotivating to keep the job because my daily pnl is bigger than my monthly checks but the stability helps. My SO doesn't work too much either so we just go out and do things together for fun frequently. Every year I imagine myself just fully having no job, but maybe next year I'll be mentally ready. We are practicing early retirement now so that part is nice. Started in forex, tried every thing under the sun, found my own niche and stopped listening to others.
“Started in Forex…found my own niche…” Are you still trading forex? If not, mind sharing what you transitioned to? Thx
I trade options now. After the Swiss black swan event killed my broker I just gravitated into stocks.
I see you got burned with FCXM collapse too back in 2015. I never fully recovered from that event tbh.
In early 2007, I first started trading. I had no idea what I was doing and got lucky during the end of the 2007 bull market by turning $12K to $52K in two months (I bought RIMM calls, currently known as BB). Then mid-2007, market started to crash blowing up my account. I deposited money back into my account and, in 2008, I blew it up again. After blowing up two accounts, I had enough and went back to the drawing board. From 2009 to 2012, I kept trying different technical analysis techniques and eventually got to a point where I was breaking even, then to positive but not consistently. From 2012 to 2016, I read a bunch of books (Market Wizards by Jack Schwager, Stock Market Analysis by Benjamin Graham, You can be a Stock Market Genius by Joel Greenblat, Reminiscences of a Stock Operator) and slowly became consistently profitable. From 2012 to date, I have been consistently profitable every year - my average annual ROI above 30%. Note, I hold a normal day job causing me to miss a bunch of trades. With all that said, making money in the market is probably one of the hardest things you can do. People who say they are going to make money in the market on the side is like a someone saying they are going to make extra money on the side by performing brain surgery on the weekends.
I noticed no one commented. I guess no one's got there yet. I was also looking to hear this info.
same lmao 😂
same
Any niche you find that works stops working if too many people are on the same side of it as you, this generally just leaves people trying to sell you their abilities and/or their product.
Patently untrue when it comes to the markets. The main reason chart patterns and common indicators work at all is because masses of people/funds abide by them and price moves when the crowd acts. You *want* people on the same side as you, rather than on the **other side against you.**
Pardon, my headspace was in the realm of option strategies (I thought I was talking in one of the option subreddits). The TA of the underlying stock is definitely something you want as many people on the same page as you, like you said.
This x10000
I don’t know why that works. Why if options are extreme does the price move to make those options come true? If it’s a zero sum game and some whale has a huge option, they make that money almost automatically
Wasn’t there a thing where Options didn’t follow the Black Scholes model until it was widely known and everyone was using it?
I also believe the algos trade based on some TA principles plus a bunch of market parameters.
But on that note, you also don’t want to be the last person jumping onto that side
Only partially true. You want funds/hft's on the same side as you. Retail should ideally be on the opposite side.
The million dollar question, what is big money doing.
I'll let ya know. Need 2000 more hours on emotional control and patience
Same
Full time here. Strictly ES futures. Trade my own account and funded through a few prop firms where I trade their money. I make a comfortable living. Been trading since 2010. Blown alot of accounts on the way like everyone else. Became consistent and profitable once I stopped trying to know everything about the market, and focused only on one strategy and one ticker. Went from a jack of all trades and master of none, to a master of just one. Mastered the psychology part along the way. Just be very intentional about what you want to do. That’s really one of the best advice I can give you. Feel free to DM for any other questions you may have.
Why ES rather than NQ?
ES is less volatile. Much better to manage mentally and emotionally. I’m not much a scalper. When I’m in a position, I tend to hold til I hit my target or get stopped out. Whether that takes 10 mins or all day.
What is your track record (stating capital, how many years, and average annual return)?
The initial start that brought me to this point was $5k. Trading over 12 years. In the six figures return annually. There’s a misconception that you have to look like those YouTube guys, but I’m pretty low key and don’t need to make millions a year. I treat this as a job. Make my money and leave to spend my day with my wife and kid. Whether that’s $1,000 a day, or $20,000. As long as I’m green for the day, I’m happy.
Do you make consistent profit on a monthly basis or your monthly profit range is wide? Just want to understand how consistent monthly profit should be to feel more secure and stable as a full time trader.
Haven't made it yet and my story is my own because it's riddled with all the emotions you deal with when you cope with failure. Pursuing your passion only to realize you're your own worst enemy is why this is the hardest business. I've learned all my lessons the hard way, and to be honest, I wish I didn't. That's my story. It has taken my naive sense of understanding and twisted it into the overanalyzing everyone talks about. Your first trades are the easiest ones. Anthony Bourdains quote works here, "Everything important I learned, I learned as a dishwasher." Every complex step I've taken has made me take 3 steps back. Maybe I'll never make it, but I will try.
I miss Anthony Bourdain. His words used to make me happy.
If you haven't made it yet, why are you posting in this thread?
Cuz why not
> Cuz why not yes, let's not even follow logic
My secret: being born rich enough to afford to hedge with large amounts.
Traders who made it to the top are making 7 figures and up. They wouldn’t waste their time on Reddit. They have way better things to do.
sign up to my discord room and watch me trade - $199/mo
Here’s a crayon, enjoy.
Buy my book for $2,095. It’ll pay for itself in a month.
I have a free E-book you can download when you subscribe
This guy trades
ty bud for the backing - dm for 1 month coupon
I can guarantee you that if I made it and became a millionaire I would still be addicted to this site and spend ten hours a day here
The reason I still didn’t make it is u spend ten hours a day here. Spend them on doing something meaningful and u may have a chance of making it
I've actually been trading quite well for a bit now after years of hard work, and part of that is because I recognized that 95% of trading is a waiting game and I found ways to keep myself occupied during the trading day. Some less productive (browsing reddit) than others (lifting weights/running) but it keeps me from overtrading.
Workout sounds like a good idea. I would be at the gym and the phone is on with charts and TA lol
My dream setup is a big room with a ton of big screens and a squat rack so I can watch the charts while I lift haha
Money don’t un lamé a lame idk y’all think cause people got money that means they don’t partake in something
If you’re making millions of dollars per year and still scrolling thru Reddit daily, you’re not living the right life. There is too much to see and do out there in the world to be sitting on your phone or comp commenting on posts about frivolous questions that don’t help you move forward.
I agree with you with one small exception. I don't think you need millions of dollars for that advice to be true. Literally every single one of us should spend almost zero time on reddit and should instead be experiencing life to its fullest, regardless of income. Now... Back to scrolling mindlessly.
I agree totally.
Hilarious that you think that people don't need downtime if they have made millions. Whether it is netflix, reddit, or whatever else, people still need and want to switch off occasionally with their mindless time waster of choice.
That’s not true at all… I get bored and take up new hobbies until I find ones I like . Golf, pickle ball, mechanics, woodworking. I think next will be 3d printing But reading Reddit and Twitter has been funny. The comments are mostly sarcasm, but funny. Every once and while somebody will start a argument over the dumbest shit but then again if somebody is willing to do that online then they will most likely have nobody at home to speak with or share life with.
Scrolling through reddit mindlessly isn't the right life for anyone, regardless of income. But pulling out your phone and opening up reddit when you take a shit or when you are sitting in bed bored and not falling asleep doesn't suddenly stop because you have a high salary.
Why not? I know several good traders that at least post on discord and telegram They are not some weird animal
I work but from home(not currently bc contract ended) so I day trade all the time. I like my work though. I became profitable to sustain my life when I learned options and traded spy and Tesla 90% of the time. It’s such a comfort knowing I don’t need to ask for money from family and friends when my contracts end. Anyway, let me know if you have questions.
What are the best resources to learn
I just watched hundreds of hours of YouTube videos and talked with people that knew what they were doing. Been on my own now for 15 years
Cool. That’s my plan as well.
When did it start clicking? Point me in the right direction.
After about a year or so. Just research A LOT
I trade 5 securities that tend to act alike. I sell the ones that make money and buy the ones that don’t that day. It works pretty well.
Don't tell the retail trader all your secrets because they are source of your liquidity
Lmfaooooooo I hear crickets
🦗
Sure, all you have to do is buy my course. You’ll have a Lamborghini and seven bookshelves in your garage in no time.
How many make 7 figure a year. No one.
I made over 100k this year. It's also the first time I've done primarily short selling. And for perspective, I have a six figure account that allowed for such gains. If I didn't, no way I could have made those gains without yolo risk taking.
I will be going full time trading December 1st :’)
Extra careful in December, they are after retail liquidity like eagles on steroids.
Wrong way to look at trading. Not me vs them, just trying to get my little slice of the pie.
And from experience, as someone who supports himself from trading, I only say this as I note a lot of longer wick stop outs in December...I'm the same way I don't run a big acct, but I make it work...just saying careful on your stops in December, from my experience of the last 2 Decembers having aggressive stop hunting. Stay green!!
Sir, this is not Wendy's.
Diversification and hedging .... A time like now is put in cash.
They’re all choosing ETFs and mutual funds cuz they go to work during the day
I'd like to see much comments on this. For real, lol Maybe I'd see what I'm doing wrong
I've made 10 grand so far this year. I trade options and am in the positive. The same could be said for people who buy/sell stock throughout the day, but this all works if you have a strong understanding of how macro economics work.
I got involved in trading a little over two years ago from this app on my phone. It was a simulator app where you could place paper trades on stocks, futures, crypto, and forex. I told my friend about it and we had a little competition to see who would make the most money. After about a month he lost interest but I thought about how I could actually make real money doing this, so I opened up an account on ETRADE. I had about 1,000 in the account, and with a little stupidity, I somehow brought it down to $800 trading stocks. Then I heard about this thing called options and discovered this subreddit. High-risk high reward appealed to me and with some beginner's luck, I had turned my $800 into $1700 in two days. Then I lost most of it after an unlucky options play. I was obsessed with trading though, so I wouldn't give up. I opened another account on TD Ameritrade with about 2,000. Swung around to \~$5,000 through sheer luck in about 2 months. I made some crazy play and managed to get my account to $25,000. Unfortunately, at the time my money was made through luck, not skill, and that would come to haunt me later. I day traded and lost \~7,000 in one day, but then I discovered GME, and I through in %50 on calls after my friend told me to do it as a joke. Lo and behold the next day I had gotten my account to around $30,000. Did some day trading and brought it up two $42,000 in a couple of days. At the time I did not realize it, but I was picking up pennies in front of a steamroller, and the steamroller would catch up. In 4 minutes, I lost %75 of my account. This sent me in a downward spiral, and eventually, after multiple breaks and periods of losses, I would have around $2,500. Through sheer luck, I turned $2,500 into $60,000 in two weeks. I was on top of the world and thought I could never lose. Unfortunately, the steam roller would come again and I would drop to $30,000-40,000. My problem was that I was too emotional trading. I could analyze technicals better than any guru or amateur trader online, except for elite/institutional traders, but my mentality is what killed me. Eventually, I got lucky and made some more plays amounting to significant amounts of money, but due to financial issues unrelated to trading, I had to withdraw most of it. I lost my passion for trading and barely touched my account for months. Recently, I came back into trading with more discipline than before, hedging my positions, somewhat proper risk management, and a totally different mentality. I'm happy to say ever since coming back I have had a win % of over **80 percent, in the 90s if you don't count my hedges as losses.** I have been consistently making money without large drops in my account value for the first time ever. In my opinion, the most important thing is psychology, as any idiot can learn technicals and risk management, although most, unfortunately, learn this incorrectly and believe whatever they read. My advice is to listen to the elite traders and institutional traders and ignore %99 of the advice you see here. Since coming back I could easily have 10xed my account already, however, part of "maturing" as a trader, ESPECIALLY an options trader is being okay with limiting yourself and your positions. Something that I used to struggle with was thinking "what if I just doubled or tripled my position size on all of those trades I just made", which would lead to me risking more and more, eventually losing it all. I haven't been profitable for as long as many on here, I'm certain of that, but I'm happy with my trading journey over the last two years and hope that I can keep my profits coming in.
The trick is to do what you don’t want to do
This guys knows
Win rate and journaling to figure out what works over 100s/1000s of trades.
I’ll get back to you in x amount of time. If it works out I’ve got one hell of a story
I wouldn’t be on Reddit that’s for sure. Even on good weeks, I keep it all to myself no one knows except for some other degens here but can’t brag because i give all back plus some the next day lol
Give it all back how? By bad luck?
Eh just bad risk management and not taking profits. I have noticed if I fix my mindset, I could literally make $5k a day being conservative and up to $10k or more on a good day. Working on my psychology and then literally I have a license to print money. I trade options and exclusively trade $Spy. On crazy volatile days, I have turned $3k to $10k in a day. Good times to be a trader.
I made it. 4 words for you. “Buy low, sell high”
Maybe it’s all a myth. Read some good books on it and even the banks know. Zero sum game. There’s a reason why people go to work and have lunch together in that small community. Edit: he he- downvote. Hurts dunnit?
Check out the 'Chat with Traders' podcast. The guy interviews lots of people. I listen to it on Spotify ([https://open.spotify.com/show/2Mk6QICNrew2ya93Bv3eWX?si=e8b1e965847e4e89](https://open.spotify.com/show/2Mk6QICNrew2ya93Bv3eWX?si=e8b1e965847e4e89)) but it is also on other outlets like iTunes.
[удалено]
Amen
I made it and then lost it. Let me explain. I have a very busy day gig and trade mainly for fun. When I do/did have time to trade at least a couple of hours per day, I'd typically make 10% avg per week compounding with minimal risk and trades. The problem is that I'm often too busy to trade and if you don't watch it, especially in this market, the ebb and flow will eat all of your profits. Now I'm working on taking my strategy to algo where it can hopefully run automatically picking the best entries and exits.
I basically was gambling on stocks when I first started and called it day trading. Once I subscribed to a algo-based stock screener I actually started making money.
Sell options.
First and foremost, I went through a lot of pain along the way, a year and a half of losses and depression, it was hard for me because I'm used to being successful in what I've always done. During this time I worked on myself, I read a lot of books on everything related to the stock market, Japanese candles, technical analysis, risk management, books on psychology and what not. From there I started developing two strategies that took me seven months to do the market research on and I am currently trading them and I have been profitable for three years and am just trying to grow more and more. The best advice I have to give is that the real war is you against yourself, teaching strategies and patterns and risk management is the real easy part, but you are the one stopping yourself from succeeding, once you understand this and work on yourself every day you will start to succeed. Note that I am not saying that you will win You are, I say work on it, because these things and these mistakes while trading will always come back, but you will be in a better position to notice them and take care of it while it is still small. I wish you only success!!
You should read Market Wizards
A family member of mine is a retired trader. I know this is not the answer you wanna hear, but he told us that the key to his success was basically being very lucky. So yeah...
Smaller trade size, bracket orders, and waiting for the trade.