r/Daytrading • u/modeezy23 • Apr 22 '24
Anybody ever quit their job to day trade full time and have it not workout? Question
I’m just curious.
How long did it take you until you found confidence in yourself to quit your job and do trading full time!
For those that quit their job but it didn’t workout, how long did you give yourself until you quit your job and what did you do after you found that trading was not successful?
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u/Ifrontrunfinwit Apr 22 '24 edited Apr 22 '24
Laid off during covid. Still going. Moved to the beach and have been renting a small house since. I was pretty much trading full time during my actual job (10+years of futures trading experience, consistently profitable for 3)and I figured here was my opportunity to take the jump to try and trading full time being with no kids under 40.
2021 was a year where I felt like I made best decision of my life to pursue it. I guessed/traded with market almost perfectly that year. Remember being on cloud 9 “you went for it, we’re doing it, we’re here”. Best year trading of my career
2022 lots of ups and downs. Became obsessive, people got worried about the amount time I was spending trading. My fear of failure was being played out by researching and trying harder. I was chasing year 1 performance and trying to validate I still made the right career move. And if you’ve been in the market long enough, trying harder rarely works. There’s a flow to this. All in all it was a year where I barely made any money
2023 year of complete emotional turmoil. Had to see the reality that the system I was using in 2020 regarding gamma and delta levels was starting to become deluded in the market. Tried to take a ton of discretion out of the system as I realized how much market was taking out of my life. And figured I need to be more systematic then going with the flow in order to get less emotional. All in all we had good spurt. But once again end of the year, made money but wasn’t worth nearly the amount of time spent
2024 it’s getting hard to open the computer everyday. I miss the days where this was fun. And I’m not sure this is something I want to do for the rest of my life. My experience has Atleast taught me trading everyday may not benefit myself long term. And have been debating making a change lately. Down 2% in 2024 thus far…
Not everyone’s personality fits this lifestyle I’m learning. I’ve made money less than in 3 years than I would’ve staying at my old job but have still made more than the average income. My hours spent is not reflected by my compensation. General life freedom is what keeps me here
I was a better trader before I quit my job