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After a years long journey and thanks to Al Brooks teachings I can finally say that I'm consistently profitable! 9 winning months in a row. I don't trade the "I don't care" size anymore but I still don't trade big enough to quit my job, I'm somewhere in the middle. Keeping discipline I believe I can achieve that in one more year. Now I'm starting to plan about how to make the transition from employee to full time trader. I'm married, have 2 kids, have a secure and well payed (but stressful) job, so I wouldn't take a leap of faith. I would like to know about your experiences. How much did you save before quitting your job? How much (and how often) do you take for your living expenses? New unexpected challenges as full time trader? Any advise is greatly appreciated, I'm all ears.
I'm married, have 2 kids, have a secure and well payed (but stressful) job, so I wouldn't take a leap of faith. I would like to know about your experiences. How much did you save before quitting your job? How much (and how often) do you take for your living expenses? New unexpected challenges as full time trader? Any advise is greatly appreciated, I'm all ears.
Quitting your job and trading full-time for a living will have a very very significant impact on your psychology. Suddenly you will **need** to make money. Don't underestimate how much that changes things. You will begin to second-guess yourself because you are worried about losing. You will make stupid decisions and force trades because you're desperate to win. It will become very stressful.
The market has difficult periods. There have been many of them over the years. I remember in particular the summer of 2017 when the Emini grinded higher and higher at a snails crawl moving 10 points per day... Day after day after day. It went on for months. It was nearly impossible to make money as a beginner. That was the first of 3 times I thought I was ready to go full-time but failed and went back to work. I was single so no family to support. But the stress of needing to pay the rent and bills killed me.
You've only been doing BTC for 9 months. I don't think that is enough time, you've not experienced enough of the difficult times market can throw at you. For the sake of your young family and your marriage I would say unequivocally don't do it at this early stage.
I am finally doing it full time but still have difficult times I'm still single and don't have a family to support (thanks in part to the all-consumimg nightmare that becoming a professional trader has been over the years). But I would say having a family will make it significantly more challenging than what I experienced.
In balance, things are a lot easier for beginners now. There are micro contracts now so new traders are not paralyzed by the fear of trading 1 mini during volatile periods like I was.... and funded accounts are a big thing. Neither of these were available when I started. So I do think it's a bit easier now.
But I still think 9 months is too soon and too risky when you've got a family to support. I very deeply regret taking the plunge to full-time trading too soon. It was nothing short of absolute hell.
Thanks Mr. Carpet! You mention many things I hadn't considered. Great advice!
Quitting your job and trading full-time for a living will have a very very significant impact on your psychology. Suddenly you will **need** to make money. Don't underestimate how much that changes things.
Thanks Kevvy for sharing your experience. One of the reasons I'm now consistently profitable is that I don't 'need' to make money every day so I have become very picky and trade just one or two setups per day. There are times that I don't trade for 3 days in a row until I find a setup that I like. With a family to support, it would be psychologically hard not to make money every day.
A question: Did you have to change your way of trading when you went full-time? For example: try more setups, trade after-hours, trade other stocks, more scalping, etc.
It sounds like you have good discipline. Everybody have their own learning curve. I’ve been at it around the same time as you and now I’m consistently profitable as well. I’m picky with my set ups and trade less as well. More wasn’t for me. It’s tiring sitting all day and being ready for tomorrow. Plus I have a family I was neglecting so the balance is better for me. I like high probability set ups over low risk/big reward although sometimes I take low risk/big reward but those are screaming for me to take. It’s good to get advice but at the same time don’t let it sway you too much. Don’t let it put doubt in your head. Every piece of advice we get sways our opinion subconsciously. Prime example if I go into the free trading room I’ll miss my set up listening to how whoever it is presenting thinks. So follow your strategy and stay discipline with your drawdowns. Keep doing what’s been working and don’t change anything. Even if it stops working don’t change it because it been working all this time.
Hi Armando,
Good to hear someone being consistently profitable. I have a few questions and would like to hear from someone who has a full time job like me.
1. How many hours you put in a day to finish the course?
2. How long did it take for you to finish the course?
3. How many losing months (If any) before you are consistently profitable for 9 months in a row?
4. How did you prepare yourself for the course? Did you take notes of each and every session? If not what was your process?
5. Like Al said in most of his videos, were you able to find the Walmart strategy in the first one or two hours for the most trading days?
Regards
Pradeep
Hi Pradeep,
I will be happy to answer your questions:
1. How many hours you put in a day to finish the course?
Not the same amount of time everyday. In weekdays usually 1 hour at home. Sometimes I have some leisure time at work and can study 1 video if it lasts less that 30 minutes. On weekends 2 hours at night instead of watching a movie. And I took advantage of a special situation: I let my wife take a 3 week vacation with the kids to visit her parents (I don't like my mother-in-law anyway) and I took a week of staycations at the same time so I had lots of free time. I did about 30% of the course those days. On a 1 week business trip I stayed the afternoons in my room studying the videos.
2. How long did it take for you to finish the course?
About 4 and a half months. Without the special situations I mentioned, it would have taken me 6 months.
3. How many losing months (If any) before you are consistently profitable for 9 months in a row?
Before my winning streak, I lost in 7 of 12 months. In those 7 losing months I lost 3 in a row.
4. How did you prepare yourself for the course? Did you take notes of each and every session? If not what was your process?
Before taking the video course, I read Al's books twice and took notes. I spent about one year with the books so I didn't take so many new notes during the videos.
5. Like Al said in most of his videos, were you able to find the Walmart strategy in the first one or two hours for the most trading days?
I seldom take trades in the first hour, due to my work I struggle to consistently wake up early, have breakfast, do premarket analysis and be in top shape when the market opens. I feel more comfortable trading mid-session. I have a better record trading mid-session reversals and mid-session BOs. I also have a bad record with Walmart trades, although my last few Walmart trades have been sucessful. All my good Walmart trades have been BOs with follow-through and none of them in the opening hours.
Best Regards
Armando,
Congratulations on the 9 months. Do you mind sharing on average how many losing days a week and how man losing weeks a month you had during this 9 months. Doesn't have to be exact. I am just looking for an idea of what to shoot for or what I should expect. Thanks! James
Hi James,
On average (my last 9 months), I have 4 losing days a month. But that's an average and average eliminate the extremes.
I'm still inconsistent. Last November I won every day and last February I had losing days every week and by the 3rd week I thought I would lose in that month. In October I traded only 7 days and won on 6.
December and February were winning but lackluster months.
I place trades about 13 - 15 days per month and in about 3 or 4 days per month I just watch the charts and don't pull the trigger. So take that in consideration.
Regards
Honestly guys, if you're unable to trade every day and consistently make 25% to 50% of the daily range, dont even try going fulltime.
If you're still emotional while trading, dont even try.
If you dont have a big enough nest egg to cover 6 months expenses, dont even try.
You should be winning most days in a week. I'd say 4 out of 5 days. If your system has large drawdowns, you won't be able to manage the psychology.
I've been studying Als stuff 7 years almost full time and now 4 years part time. I have passive income from a business I own and only recently started feeling almost no emotion trading.
I can trade the morning session for 4 hours, go out to gym and work a bit and then trade 2 or 3 hours the afternoon. When I step back in the market, I just trade what I see. I obviously dont like losing but when I do, I just go on to the next trade and try to stay objective.
I put the probability at 75% that I'll be trading full-time in the next 18 months. I live in a low cost country and need 4000€ per month to live like a king.
Hope this helps!
我们中国有个首富说过一句话，先定一个小目标，挣它1个亿，对于他来说这个小目标他能很快完成，但并不是所有人都能像他那样，每个人的定义不一样，满足自己生活就好，比如我个人觉得每天赚1000RMB就足够在我所生活的城市过得很好，但是在其他城市可能需要3000RMB，这取决于自己生活水平，不是说非要每天盈利百分之多少，我们有个千万网红博主，他玩网络是副业，也就是业余第二职业，主要职业还在做，还在交社保，这我也不敢相信，但是是他本人说的，常理来说千万网红已经财富自由了，但是网络居然是他的第二职业，可想而知，所以有个主要的事情做着，交易当做副业，财富增长的一个渠道，还有就是要兼顾家庭，这是我个人观点，仅供参考。
