Are you a virtual trader in isolation?

BellaMike Bellafiore's (Bella's) Blogs11 Comments

Below is an email I received from a Romanian intraday trader involuntarily in isolation.
1) Great anecdote about a foreign trader finding their path. Enjoy the story.
2) Any ideas to help this trader escape isolation?
3) Any Romanian traders (or other virtual traders) wish to start a virtual trading group? Leave a comment below.

Dear Mr. Bellafiore,

I thank you for answering me back. I am really sorry to hear that you do not know of any romanian trader who followed SMB programs. I’ll try and explain what I am trying to accomplish by starting a trading group with romanian traders that trade US stocks ( for a living), then you decide if it suits SMB blog or not.

You have to understand first that I am a romanian trading for a living from Romania. I am a man in his 30 who did quit his high profile day job because he wanted more from his life (not necessarily money). By doing that I pushed away a career I started when I was 14 and went to a military high-school. Nearly twenty years later, after climbing all the way up I looked back and decided that my professional life was not at all how I wanted it to be, for many reasons… After a difficult inner struggle I decided I should make a drastic change and start something else even if that ment to reinvent myself. And this is exactly what I did … or at least I am trying to.

In 2007 I started trading, went through all the well known approaches (fundamental, technical) , through all the well known instruments (stocks, futures, options) , switched the time frames … until I settled for daytrading stocks “InPlay”. I have a slightly different technique that the one SMB teaches but in the end it is very similar. I even learned a programming language and built my own InPlay sniffer algo. Why I ended up here … because it suited my personality, my expectations, my personal qualities and flaws alike. This journey took me almost 4 years … And when I was sure I found what I wanted as a new professional endeavor I did quit my day job.

I did everything by myself through the internet … never went through formal trading education … (besides SMB Foundation). I followed the blogs of the people I found to speak less and tell a lot. I first followed Brian Shannon, then Bret Steenbarger, the you and Steve Spencer and discarded all the rest. I am a self learning guy and I do that well mainly because I am very picky with my learning sources in order to avoid information overload and loosing precious time. As a side fact I must confess I follow SMB blog regularly for a few years but I don’t read anything else but what you, Steve and maybe Gman write.

Now … back to my request. Here, in Romania, you do not find professional traders at every corner like in New York, or people discussing on their way home in the subway about their trades. Here, for the average person, trading equals “gambling” or pure “speculation” with a slight immoral flavor. People raise their eyebrows when I tell them what I do. When my former colleagues found out why I was quitting my job thought I was crazy. Even my family had … and still has difficulties understanding this is a job like any other (well not literally speaking … because it’ more of a life style). And this lead to a problem … I am lonely and I feel lonely. Of course there is the internet … the blogs.. etc. but nothing compares to talking face to face to a like-minded friend about your/his trades and thoughts. And this is not a question about increasing profitability but about increasing the sense of being. Feeling lonely discourages me even if I got here while nobody trusted I could.
Today, after almost five years I started trading, I do not worry about profitability, even if it’s not stellar … because I an certain that I can improve my trading skills through the same hard work that got me here. What I worry about is loneliness … the kind that makes me wonder how could I sustain my effort year after year after year only glued to the screen … because there is nobody I can talk, face to face, about trading … and about life as a trader. This is the main reason I reached you with this request about putting me in touch with any romanian daytraders you may know of.

Bella
One Good Trade

11 Comments on “Are you a virtual trader in isolation?”

  1. the journey u have is surprisingly similar to mine. but i am based in malaysia instead. But i trade crude oil futures intraday. I have only one friend here in malaysia to talk about trading, but one who is very experienced. So i understand what u are talking about. 

  2. email me at vms2220 at gmail dot com if youre interested in starting a trading group virtually

  3. I am a Bangladeshi and do not anybody from my country who is day trading. My case is similar.

  4. I love this story!  Life is not a one man show.  This trader is more than welcome to join the group I’m a part of.  I follow the SMB metholody as well and would love to have a morning meeting with someone besides my cat (though he does have excellent insight into PG…)

    Please feel free to message me on twitter or through my blog (my handle is psycandrew).  Hope to hear from you soon!  

  7. Let us start a trading group which I hope will get SMB blessings.  

  8. I am the romanian trader in Bella’s post. Fellow romanian daytraders of US stocks can reach me at ovidiu.susan@gmail:disqus .com or by joining the linkedin group I’ve created http://www.linkedin.com/groups?gid=3983641 . Let’s get to know each other …
    I’m open to creating a virtual trading group with any other interested trader as long as we exchange a few thoughts and establish a common trading approach.

  9. Here in the UK I’d say trading is viewed by almost everyone outside of the business much as you describe it in Romania. 

    In the beginning I struggled hard trying to describe to others – especially my wife – what it was about and why it wasn’t gambling, if you trade properly. And especially why in my mid 40’s after decades of travel and diverse career paths I find the process so absorbing, personally challenging, and worthwhile. Everywhere I look there are analogies to the trading process. 

    For me too it is not just, or even mainly, about the money. All the lessons I didn’t learn in the other paths I’ve trodden have to be learned with trading, only here I have no one to blame, and no escape! 

    I haven’t done any formal trading education, being just too cynical of everything on offer when I started 2 1/2 years ago. I had accumulated some capital and had the ability of living well and happily within my means so by keeping the stakes small I have survived the first part of the learning curve. I normally trade only for 3-4 hours a day, early EU session, £/$ spot. Sticking to mainly this single market and time involves developing a lot of patience. 

    Learning the trading business from scratch on ones own is almost certainly not the best way, and  painfully slow, but with a few good books and some good websites and sheer dogged persistence I make progress. My wife, by nature a strict disciplinarian, is now my mentor/coach which brings yet another dimension to daily life. 

    Communicating with trading peers could be fun, mostly I talk/write to myself, but I worry about my tendency for finding distractions!

    [email protected]

     

  10. Same here(Prague, Czech Republic). I have been trading for last 6years. Last three years are finally profitable and so-so consistent. It is a lonely job indeed especially when you trade directly from home. Here is something what helped me a lot:

    1) set up a meetup with people who regularly write on financial forums. The meetup has to be face to face and it has to happend regularly. 90% r just wannabes but i am sure you would be able to get at least one decent trader in a similar position as you are. Out of 5-10 meetups I m sure you can get 1decent collegue.

    2) setup an information stream. We use facebook for that. We can tag the best plays, create long term goals in a “document” section and basically comment every trade another trader post. Although the comunnity is very small it keeps it well organised and an information afloat.

    Hope you are going to find your way! Good luck.

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