Trading as Profession

Thanks a lot Saint....

You just sounded like my inner voice.... what i exactly wanted to hear.... Thanks again...

Hi Shaju,

I was a doctor by profession.......but the last many years have been trading for my daily bread.

To cut a highly tedious long story short,trading was my passion,medicine was my profession.Used to work mornings and trade the US markets in the nights......But once regular profits started to come in,and the income was much,much more from trading than medicine,at a certain point,it became ridiculous to hold on to something that I was not that bothered about anyway.......Medicine gave way to full time trading.

Have I felt that I should run back to Medicine at any time?Not so far....

Is it all a bed of roses?No way.The months when you don't earn from the markets,you wish that you were a doctor earning a regular income,or a trader giving some seminars,or making some money off newsletters,etc. There is a lot of pain that you have to endure,it's a tumultous path to huge incomes.........But if you can sort it all out,and you have a set capital to fall back on,and you have an understanding family,nothing beats this path.

Would I change this for anything in the world?No way!!

Should you quit your job and take up full time trading?Well,for a start,trade part time and see if you have what it takes to do this.Meanwhile build up a good capital,not only capital to trade,but something that you can fall back upon.And then see..........if you have the capital,and all the rest that is required off you and the guts to travel this path,welcome to the club.

All the best!
Saint

Trading for a living is not as easy and glamourous at it sounds.

You must remember we are currently the most promising and strongest market in the world, our indexes are at all times highs in unprecedented waters. Everyday the front page of the newspapers is buzzing with market reports, forecasts and predictions. Lately people I've known who know nothing about trading and investing and were completely detached and disinterested have begun showing interest. So trading for a living sounds great when the markets are skyrocketing and everyone you know talks about rags to riches in the market.

However market cycles are a fact of economic life. Bear markets follow bull markets just as surely as day follows night. When that time comes you'll find no one talks about the markets anymore, it dosen't make front page news, you don't get investments advisors calling you up out of the blue with investment advice, its not fashionable to talk about markets anymore, not many people seem interested, many of the lesser known brokers have shut shop and the larger ones aren't as active as they once were.

Would you still consider trading for a living then??

Think about it, if your answer is an unflinching "yes" then my advice would be go for it, because you enjoy what you do, its not about the money and glamour. The only way you'd survive those lean years is if you enjoy what you do.

Believe me that time will come one day (hopefully not to soon lol)

To give you a crude analogy, when the film Jurassic park came out it was the in thing, talked about like never before, in the news, in the media, everywhere. Lots of kids wanted to be paleontologists after the film came out. Several who I personally know. The all wanted to become paleontologists and study fossils and prehistoric life. Even the carrer counsellors in schools began reading up about the subject because of the demand at the time.

But once the craze died, I wonder how many of the kids still wanted to be paleontologists? And I also wonder whether the handful who did actually take college courses and become paleontologists are still paleontologists and curently happy in their profession?

I'm not against trading for a living but just trying ti advise you to think very carefully before considering it for a profession.

Actually I'm curious to know how many full time tradrs we have on the board who have been trading since the late 80's (not the mid 90's when the bull run began)when things weren't so rosy, I know Traderji has but I'm hoping others who have will please tell us their opinion,

I agree with you as trading for living is not a offense and not dangerous like many ppls think here btw i am a pharmacist by profession and trading for living

Trading for a living is not as easy and glamourous at it sounds.

You must remember we are currently the most promising and strongest market in the world, our indexes are at all times highs in unprecedented waters. Everyday the front page of the newspapers is buzzing with market reports, forecasts and predictions. Lately people I've known who know nothing about trading and investing and were completely detached and disinterested have begun showing interest. So trading for a living sounds great when the markets are skyrocketing and everyone you know talks about rags to riches in the market.

However market cycles are a fact of economic life. Bear markets follow bull markets just as surely as day follows night. When that time comes you'll find no one talks about the markets anymore, it dosen't make front page news, you don't get investments advisors calling you up out of the blue with investment advice, its not fashionable to talk about markets anymore, not many people seem interested, many of the lesser known brokers have shut shop and the larger ones aren't as active as they once were.

Would you still consider trading for a living then??

Think about it, if your answer is an unflinching "yes" then my advice would be go for it, because you enjoy what you do, its not about the money and glamour. The only way you'd survive those lean years is if you enjoy what you do.

Believe me that time will come one day (hopefully not to soon lol)

To give you a crude analogy, when the film Jurassic park came out it was the in thing, talked about like never before, in the news, in the media, everywhere. Lots of kids wanted to be paleontologists after the film came out. Several who I personally know. The all wanted to become paleontologists and study fossils and prehistoric life. Even the carrer counsellors in schools began reading up about the subject because of the demand at the time.

But once the craze died, I wonder how many of the kids still wanted to be paleontologists? And I also wonder whether the handful who did actually take college courses and become paleontologists are still paleontologists and curently happy in their profession?

I'm not against trading for a living but just trying ti advise you to think very carefully before considering it for a profession.

Actually I'm curious to know how many full time tradrs we have on the board who have been trading since the late 80's (not the mid 90's when the bull run began)when things weren't so rosy, I know Traderji has but I'm hoping others who have will please tell us their opinion,

Trading for a living is not as easy and glamourous at it sounds.

You must remember we are currently the most promising and strongest market in the world, our indexes are at all times highs in unprecedented waters. Everyday the front page of the newspapers is buzzing with market reports, forecasts and predictions. Lately people I've known who know nothing about trading and investing and were completely detached and disinterested have begun showing interest. So trading for a living sounds great when the markets are skyrocketing and everyone you know talks about rags to riches in the market.

However market cycles are a fact of economic life. Bear markets follow bull markets just as surely as day follows night. When that time comes you'll find no one talks about the markets anymore, it dosen't make front page news, you don't get investments advisors calling you up out of the blue with investment advice, its not fashionable to talk about markets anymore, not many people seem interested, many of the lesser known brokers have shut shop and the larger ones aren't as active as they once were.

Would you still consider trading for a living then??

Think about it, if your answer is an unflinching "yes" then my advice would be go for it, because you enjoy what you do, its not about the money and glamour. The only way you'd survive those lean years is if you enjoy what you do.

Believe me that time will come one day (hopefully not to soon lol)

To give you a crude analogy, when the film Jurassic park came out it was the in thing, talked about like never before, in the news, in the media, everywhere. Lots of kids wanted to be paleontologists after the film came out. Several who I personally know. The all wanted to become paleontologists and study fossils and prehistoric life. Even the carrer counsellors in schools began reading up about the subject because of the demand at the time.

But once the craze died, I wonder how many of the kids still wanted to be paleontologists? And I also wonder whether the handful who did actually take college courses and become paleontologists are still paleontologists and curently happy in their profession?

I'm not against trading for a living but just trying ti advise you to think very carefully before considering it for a profession.

Actually I'm curious to know how many full time tradrs we have on the board who have been trading since the late 80's (not the mid 90's when the bull run began)when things weren't so rosy, I know Traderji has but I'm hoping others who have will please tell us their opinion,