So the dream is finally realised. We’re in an elite club; we are one of the successful ones. We’ve traded part time over the years and have developed a trading strategy that has finally begun to deliver rewards. And the journey towards becoming consistently hasn’t been easy as we’ve really bruised our hearts and knees along the way. We’ve blown up one or two very small accounts, we’ve had margin calls, we’ve tried several different brokers. We’ve thrown the odd tantrum and there’s one or two broken mice and a keyboard that’ll testify to the time when we completely lost focus, went on tilt and caused our account blow ups.
But we came through the other side; we had to ‘go there to come back’ and now we are unrecognizable from the human being who first entered this alien world and strange on line environment 3/4 years back.
After years of trying to scalp, then day trade, we’ve settled on a method of swing trading in order to take money out of this market that fits in perfectly with our job commitments. The trading plan is now honed and perfected. We now resist the temptation to violate it at every turn, in fact the thought of violating our trading plan isn’t even an issue anymore, as when our high probability set up occurs the automation in our strategy simply kicks in on our platform which then takes over and trades mechanically for us. And our numbers are good…
After we’d blown up a few micro accounts we finally fully committed to the industry by placing ten thousand dollars into an account. We took the account up to $22K in 2013, a 120% return. This was roughly 10% per month, 2.5% growth per week and more importantly we never experienced: a significant drawdown beyond 5%, a losing month, or market conditions that caused our strategy to be called into question. We did have a poor month or two (when price moved sideways), but overall the trading strategy and the method worked impeccably.
So we now know, at the very core of our being, that we are finally ready to take that step and fully commit to turning this incredible discovery we’ve made into a full time occupation. But there’s something nagging away at us, it’s like an itch at the back of our minds that we just can’t reach into, find and scratch. Despite the confidence that we have in ourselves and our abilities we just can’t quite make that leap of logic and make that ultimately courageous step of resigning from our current job and becoming a full time trader. But why is that? Here’s where we may be able to help…
We’ve compiled a really simple to read and implement checklist compiling questions challenging the reasons to go full time and perhaps the reasons not to. It’s impossible for us to definitively suggest a total score you must reach before taking that plunge as it’s a highly personal issue. Instead we’re hitting the ball back on your side of the court for you to consider taking that winning shot and moving up to full time trading.
Some of the questions we’ve input are fairly obvious and on the face of it some of us might think they’re a bit irrelevant, such as “will we miss the company of our work colleagues” but working remotely has massive disadvantages even if you’re not self-employed. In your imagination, as you map out your new independent future, your fantasies include all that extra time you’ll spend on leisurely runs or bike rides in nice weather, or at the gym. But instead, if you’re a people person, you might become slightly isolated and introverted as opposed to becoming this Supreme Being trading as the market offers you up opportunities. Anyhow, and before we result in actually putting people off! Here’s that checklist we mentioned.
1. Can you make the payments on your mortgage, the rent, and your hire purchase agreements?
2. Can you match your salary?
3. Can you stand the isolation?
4. Do you have 100% faith in yourself?
5. Do you have 100% faith in your system?
6. Do you have a plan B if the venture fails?
7. Do you have a plan on how to best spend your increased leisure time?
8. Have you taken a fortnight’s holiday (or more) to try out how it feels to be full time?
9. Could you stay a part time trader?
10. Would you career be irreparably damaged if you take the plunge?
11. Do you have 100% support from your close family?
