Dear Mr. Bellafiore,
Hello my name is Jeffrey, first off I’d like to thank you for the information in your book “one good trade” it’s been very helpful. I’ve been day trading for 2 1/2 years now. I can’t trade stocks because of my work schedule but do take advantage of the Future and Currency markets. I’ve come to realize that my preparation is lacking big time. I understand how to read a chart along with ranges like support and resistance but don’t know come up with the major levels or how to really trade off of them. I guess what i’m asking is what should be my main focus in preparation in these markets 1. and 2. should I resign from my job look for a prop trading firm that will give me the knowledge I need to succeed.
Thank You Very Much
Just For Reading
@MikeBellafiore
Ask yourself the following questions:
- Do you have the $ to survive the learning curve of a pro trader?
- Do you have a passion for trading that will fuel you to do the work necessary to become consistently profitable?
- Do you have a backup plan if trading does not work out for you?
- Do you have an edge presently with your trading?
- Do you have the personality that can handle an unstable earnings job?
- Are you being invited to join a desk that will help you monetarily, technologically and educationally grow as a trader?
If you cannot answer Yes to all of these questions, consider working on your trading game some more part-time while you put yourself in position to answer all the above affirmatively.
“You can be better tomorrow than you are today!”
Mike Bellafiore is the Co-Founder of SMB Capital and SMBU, which provides trading education in stocks, options, forex and futures. Bella is the author of One Good Trade and The PlayBook. He welcomes your trading questions at [email protected].
no relevant positions
3 Comments on “Should You Quit Your Job to Trade?”
Are there any good desks in the Atlanta area anyone knows of?
I know for sure that for point number 1 the answer to how long? is, “it depends”, (on time spend, dedication, have the right traning etc.), but being conservative and for an average dedicated people doing the right things) is there some typical number? I guess that answering yes or no to all the questions is bounded to medium to maximum time periods to get there, again everybody is different but if we talk about the middle of the “bell curve” for successful traders what would be a “normal” average period spending say daily 6 to 8 hours on preparing, reviewing, studying etc. etc.?
Thanks!
No wonder Mark that this thought has crossed my mind too, in the end I try to question all things with objectivity, I have been trying for more than a year day trading and I have come to learn a lot of stuff, however I believe that a prop trading desk as a business has a lot of advantages over a lonely trader because reduces its risk by having several lines of business, training, longer term investing, day trading (and day trading is diversified too because they have a team of traders, when one trader has a rainy day for sure another crush some stock, besides they communicate each other to call entries, this is really and advantage!),for instance I have realized that some times I don’t have enough eyes to trade efficiently all alone (working on developing more automatic alerts 😉 ), so in the end the only way is to have several lines of business maybe a part time job, trading, developing indicators, automatic strategies, and even try support baby traders :), I think that trading as any business is risky and you need to figure out a way to combine it with some other activity (have several products), probably what is wrong is to believe that just one people and doing just only trading can make it real great (It could be…but very few exceptions for sure), therefore working on a team or a group I think might help improve the chances of success or bigger profits, as in any business model even a franchise or your own idea takes a lot of work and intelligence to diversify to be successful, just my humble opinion here after one year and a half fully committed…diversification is the word…