Soon to be a PhD in Engineering. Should I enter trading?

[Giraffe]

Can't you get an evening job?

Based on your scenario, For trading you need:
1. A job with certain source of income so that you can persevere the initial bleeding when you will keep loosing money.
It is the most important thing, otherwise it will not take much long before you breakdown and give up because your cash reserve has fallen too much with no absolute guarantee that you will recover it.

2. Free time during market hours.

If possible, First focus on finding a job that you can do in evening and weekends, which will let you be free during market hours and also have a steady source of income.

BTW, your programming skills will come very handy, but not in the initial stages.
Only when you have found your specific "niche" in trading, then you can use your programming skills to delegate the stereotypic work to the computer to help you. But you won't be finding a magic algo in your beginner days that will keep making you money year after year.

One more important thing dear, you said your job will pay 22-25 lacs in starting.
So I am guessing your estimate would be to make much more from trading per year....
Since you said you are good with mathematics, you can easily run up calculations on what % return you think you can make on what capital....
For e.g. A 25% annual return, you need base capital of 1 crore to make 25 lacs. Now, some seniors here might laugh at 25%, but for many 25% consistently year after year will be a great achievement. (MMS and Chiddu would be very happy if they could increase $ reserves by 25% every year..:rofl::rofl

 

[tradingnoob]

Can't you get an evening job?

Based on your scenario, For trading you need:
1. A job with certain source of income so that you can persevere the initial bleeding when you will keep loosing money.
It is the most important thing, otherwise it will not take much long before you breakdown and give up because your cash reserve has fallen too much with no absolute guarantee that you will recover it.

2. Free time during market hours.

If possible, First focus on finding a job that you can do in evening and weekends, which will let you be free during market hours and also have a steady source of income.

No, I don't think I can afford to make any kind of compromises on the job I take up just to be able to accommodate my trading endeavors. I will take up the best job I get, and do trading on the side. So, most likely, I will not be able to do much intraday trading.

 

[bpr]

Hello everyone,

I am looking to get into trading, and would like to request a bit of advice from all you experts out there.

I am 33yrs old, and am soon to finish my PhD in engineering. My bank balance and savings are almost nil though because I had some loans etc. to pay off. On the bright side, I am close to securing a 22-25lakhs per annum CTC job offer. Growth prospects seem good too.

I have read some articles, research papers, and a book on Quantitative Finance, and the field of trading has piqued my interest. I would like to trade for personal pleasure (or pain!!), but more importantly for money (I want to be able to afford to buy a decent home sometime soon, but the real estate prices are just SCARY )

I fully understand that trading is very hard skill to learn, and will demand long hours to be put in (I possess strong programming, mathematics and statistics skills, and that may help a bit though). My day job is likely to take up about 60hrs per week though, and will likely make life harder.

So given all this, does it make sense for me to enter trading? Since I am already 33yrs of age, and have nothing in the form of savings, I am a little worried, and am thinking about giving trading a decent shot.

Thank you very much for your time and attention! I look forward to hearing from you all.

You need many things to succeed in trading and one thing that is most important most most important is money. Yes you need money to create money here.

So please join your job which will supply the needed capital for you to learn or succeed in trading which may or may not take many years depending on you.

I am not going encourage or discourage on other aspects of trading. It is a individual sport and very unique to everybody.

Also you can consider trading daily charts which will require much lesser time instead of intraday trading.
if you must try intraday trading then assuming ur job is 9 to 5 then you can trade commodities in the evening.
Don't trade in your office hours ur life will be miserable.

Welcome to hell/heaven.

 

[alex_26]

No, I don't think I can afford to make any kind of compromises on the job I take up just to be able to accommodate my trading endeavors. I will take up the best job I get, and do trading on the side. So, most likely, I will not be able to do much intraday trading.

I m an engineer too ..i hav just started out. Engg or Doctor it doesnot matter.Everybody wants to b Right..But market is beyond our control.Its just too Unpredictable.Hence we can only control our position.

Dont come to Earn.Just learn how market moves.Enjoy d ride.

Go thru Thousands of charts.Identify d Trend .Find d turning/reversion point.


Do lots of demo.Keep d greatest trading book wid u-Ur Trading Journal..Each mistakes of ur written in Red Color.

If u r hungry u r good to go.But d problem is while doing job we wont get enough time to trade hence lose our focus.

Still we should learn to trade side by side along wid our job or else we r missing something in life.



Just my thoughts

 

[tradingnoob]

Keep d greatest trading book wid u-Ur Trading Journal.

Thanks for your suggestions. A trading journal/log sounds like a good idea. Do you have or are aware of any samples/templates?

 

[Mr.G]

Thanks for your suggestions. A trading journal/log sounds like a good idea. Do you have or are aware of any samples/templates?

There is no specific tmeplate to it yaar. Just write down the trade you made the entry price the target adn the stop loss. Then write your thoughts and observations about the trade and why you took it. What all was going on.

I have an investment journal, I record my investments in it and why I took it what all the factors are effecting it, if there is a fundamental trigger for it.

Its your journal your personal log of your journey to become a master trader. You can open it and look back at how naive you were in starting and how you have matured into a better investor/ trader. I do that sometimes when I read entries made by me from 1-2 years ago. It is like talking to your own future self.

 

[Vertigo_1985]

No, I don't think I can afford to make any kind of compromises on the job I take up just to be able to accommodate my trading endeavors. I will take up the best job I get, and do trading on the side. So, most likely, I will not be able to do much intraday trading.

that's a wise choice and a good attitude in my opinion.. giving your 100 % to the work you have chosen to do.
can i ask you why you chose to do phd in engg ?

 

[Vertigo_1985]

Thanks for your suggestions. A trading journal/log sounds like a good idea. Do you have or are aware of any samples/templates?

For trade journal have following columns in excel..
1. Date.
2. Scrip name.
3. Time of trade.
4. Long/Short.
5. Entry.
6. Exit.
7. Reason for trade.
8. Trade review- how was your performance as per your plan ?how you could have performed better ?
You can also colour code trades according to your performance and remember you judge your performance by seeing whether you followed your plan or not, not from profit/loss of each trade.
Keep it simple in beginning and later you can add if you feel anything lacking.

 

[hauler]

Its about 10yr takes to learn it -- there are people who do it in less than 6 months, they are not from outer space, it varies from person to person and resources he utilizes.

Seriously, Do you know any trader apart from you who started making money in less than 6 months ?

 

[tradingnoob]

.. giving your 100 % to the work you have chosen to do.

Yes, and also because trading requires 100% focus too.

can i ask you why you chose to do phd in engg ?

After my Master's, I wanted to study my field in greater depth, and more importantly, was interested in a career in academia.