What does it look like to go about becoming a full time trader the right way? Thanks to our guest, Geoff (chat room alias, ‘CrestronWizard’), we are given a perfect example of how to wisely make this transition. Here’s a minor spoiler: Geoff did not wake up one morning and randomly decide he wanted to be a full time trader, there was a bit more planning and preparation that went into the decision. We’ve talked with Geoff before about a year ago, so it was great to hear how his journey has continued to unfold and what steps and experiences he has gone through to give him the best odds of success.
Notes:
Today we reinterview community member Jeff who goes by ‘CrestronWizard’ in the community. To recap, Jeff used to trade penny stocks and went as far as becoming a distributor for one of the companies he became heavily invested in.
With the intentions of becoming a full time trader, Jeff took the necessary steps to give himself the best odds of success. He had essentially crushed all his debts and had an emergency fund with over 6 months of living expenses. Jeff also has four income streams.
He initially started trading long options and while he found initial success, ultimately he realized that he struggled to set stop losses when trading far out of the money options. This led him to investigate trading advanced options.
Jeff has an ideal account size he is striving to get to before he ever starts taking withdrawals to pay himself. Since he has multiple streams of income, this is a very realistic probability for him assuming he sticks to the path he has laid out.
Quotes:
I was looking to start trading in October but didn’t start until January. I started with 5 grand and it was going well to start.
My biggest issue in trading, whether it’s pennies or anything, is knowing the right time to sell. Knowing how long to stay in.
It’s better to trade often, be mechanical, and get out instead of trading 10 times a month and hold out for max profit.
