758.44 Miles... You've probably never seen this before!

[grantx]

Magnus,

Re working off-shore, this isn’t too bad actually. It can be a bit of drag trying to study trading/learn the markets after a day’s work (the problem is going to bed too late as your usually engrossed). Which really only leaves the weekend – when the markets are closed.

It may not be your ideal but at least you’re earning to build your trading capital, should you decide to trade yourself . Two-weeks work, then two-weeks studying the markets and improving the prospects of achieving your goal – not too bad.

Grant

 

[Yuppie]

Aye...

Aye, I think that is basically the two big positives of going offshore - get capital together and time to trade when back onshore...

Still not sure how well I would get on with the markets stopping every two weeks - maybe not a concern at all... Hmmmm...

Cheers for the confidence boosting Grant...

Magnus

 

[grantx]

Magnus,

See my new thread, "Prop trainee tests of verbal reasoning".

Grant.

 

[grantx]

Angus,

Why not get a cheap data/charting feed? Then you can analyse, test and strategise (don't know if that's a real word) till you reach perfection. I'm using VisualChart which has everything (apart from a decent news service). It also has a trading simulator, DOM, T&S, etc. Cost is around £63 per month including Eurex access (it's priced in Euros). It's sufficient but I wouldn't bet my farm using it for trading real cash (I suppose you could trade counterfeit).

Grant.

 

[Yuppie]

Grant...

Grant,

If most of the trading firms (whether they're arcades or whatever) seem to focus on training people on Eurex type instruments then is the best way to go learning these?...

From what I have read on Tibra Trading (on T2W), for instance, they teach you options strategies etc (most likely amongst other things). I have focused on currencies (almost solely EUR/JPY) in the past and transgressed from those over to (not done a huge amount so far) Nasdaq stocks (reading mainly Grey1's posts thus far). Don't know much about options - yet!!

Does it matter what instrument(s) I trade with? [this is coming from a point of view of trading for a while before applying to firms]

Also, the general consensus is that 'newbie' traders should focus on larger [apparently easier] timeframes before intraday trading... now... does this not fly in the face of trading firms... they generally want you to trade a few times intraday (again, from what I have read)... should one focus on trading the type of instruments on the timeframes that most trading firms trade (or at least teach you to trade)... ?

I've thought about this a lot... my initial thoughts were that it would not really matter... if you could show a [consistent] profit on any instrument (and preferably on lower timeframes) then this demonstrates a load of relevant qualities...


Magnus

 

[grantx]

Magnus,

I think you're right. If you can demonstrate success in any instrument over whichever time-frame, then it has to be commendable.

Grant.

 

[Yuppie]

trader_dante

I believe trader_dante, in recently getting a job in a trading firm, attributed part of the reason for getting the position to a demonstration of success in actual profitable trading. I believe he turned a nominal sum of £63 into a few thousand in a 6-month period.

As far as I can remember, this was achieved on higher TF charts and a range of instruments/markets (cannot remember specifically which). Certainly, his risk profile would not have been regarded as "conservative". Also, I believe the company he got into were training him to stick with one [or two] instruments and preferably trade a few times a day. He commented on this being quite different to how he had traded himself previously. I am not sure how he is getting on now... Perhaps he may have the [mis]fortune to stumble on this thread to enlighten us...

So maybe a two-fold reason for trying to attain a track record on similar instruments and similar TFs that trading firms general train on: firstly, they will think there will be less of a transition and you will become profitable sooner (or they can throw you out sooner ); and secondly, you will probably have less of a transition and become profitable sooner...

But, I keep seeing that a lot of companies have the trainee trading spreads... Now, I believe I know what this is... Is it possible to do this on your own account?... Is it really trading?...


Magnus

 

[grantx]

Magnus,

Teaching spreads is a two-edged sword - relatively low risk (preserves trading capital); good for comm's as multi-positions.

Trading arcades' predominant market is Eurex, specifically fixed-interest (bund, bobl, schatz).

Familiarity with what they trade will certainly make for a shorter transistion.

Grant.

 

[rathcoole_exile]

Cheers Grant. Will probably do that. Amazon does usually turn out to be the cheapest. Although, sometimes what you get can be a bit different...

Like this onetime... I ordered John Carter's Mastering the Trade (with I found to be a very good book - mainly for the way he describes how he structures his life around trading and also for his information on writing a trading plan) 2nd-hand from Amazon. Described as, '"as new" condition... ... The first 119 pages, EVERY ONE OF THEM, were covered (and I mean covered!!) in chinese writing... :-0... That book was sent straight back!!... This was a one-off for me though as I've ordered loads of books 2nd-hand off Amazon and all have been very good... well, dirt cheap actually ...

I'm considering changing the direction of my journey... I have just been offered a job working offshore... 2 weeks on - 2 weeks off... How much will it slow my progress of becoming a full-time trader, if I'm only doing it every 2 weeks for 2 weeks at a time?... It's something I'm not taking lightly at all... It's a great opportunity, but I fear it may detract from my core goal of trading full-time...

Hmmmmm.... Life is never straight-forward.... Does anyone have any personal thoughts, experiences, or such on attaining goals, particularly with regard to trading full-time?...


Cheers,

Magnus

take the job off-shore, save like f*ck, put some money up for your trading account, put some away into hard-to-access fixed income jobbies and also put down deposits on a couple of off-plan apartments with a view to flip them, then use those profits to buy some place(s) nice to rent out long term.
that puts a nice passive income flow together so you can retire to south east asia, trade for a living but without any pressures, and f*ck your way through more LBFMs than you can shake your thingy at.
everything exactly the way i would have one things when i was in the Army, if only I'd known then what I know now.
that's the advice. will you take it ? will you f*ck .....

 

[Yuppie]

rathcoole...

take the job off-shore, save like f*ck, put some money up for your trading account, put some away into hard-to-access fixed income jobbies and also put down deposits on a couple of off-plan apartments with a view to flip them, then use those profits to buy some place(s) nice to rent out long term.
that puts a nice passive income flow together so you can retire to south east asia, trade for a living but without any pressures, and f*ck your way through more LBFMs than you can shake your thingy at.
everything exactly the way i would have one things when i was in the Army, if only I'd known then what I know now.
that's the advice. will you take it ? will you f*ck .....

rathcoole_exile,

I'm not taking what you say lightly (however it was meant to come across), well, some of it maybe...

f*ck your way through more LBFMs than you can shake your thingy at.

... ... How the hell did you know this was part of my plan (and I bet you think I'm joking here... I'm rather serious actually )?

Anyway, you've piqued my interest in your talk of off-plan apartments. I know there is a need to diversify when trading [or similar]. I've started having a look at this. Do you know much about it?

...will you take it ?...

Quite possibly, but in a slightly different form... I will be heading to other countries, and trading is the way I hope to sustain myself there, eventually... Och well, it's easy how anything people say on forums can be discounted and I am aware of that fully... but my plans and goals haven't appeared to lose anything so far from talking about them...


Magnus

 

[grantx]

Magnus,

Re rathcoole - mad dogs and Englishmen. RC, avoid the hours 11:00 - 2:00.

Grant.

 

[rathcoole_exile]

well, if you plan to travel to far-off exotic countries, you've made a good start in getting as far as England
Just be sure to avoid Stockport !!!
it's where they film all the zombie flesh-eater movies, 'cos the locals don't need make-up or acting lessons

 

[rathcoole_exile]

... ... How the hell did you know this was part of my plan (and I bet you think I'm joking here... I'm rather serious actually )?

well, you're only human ........

 

[rathcoole_exile]

Anyway, you've piqued my interest in your talk of off-plan apartments. I know there is a need to diversify when trading [or similar]. I've started having a look at this. Do you know much about it?

yes, but not in UK.
actually we're just in the process of setting up an off-shore company to formalise the condo-flipping we've been doing already in Bangkok.
next place we're going to look at is Vietnam, but I suspect we've already missed the boat there.
Apparently the law is being changed to assist foreigners to buy in Cambodia, so that's being touted as the next hot spot too. I know, i know what you're thinking, "Cambodia !!??!!??"
But what did people say 20 years ago if a madman came up and tipped Shanghai and Ho Chi Minh City ?
And let's face it, Cambodia, even under Pol Pot in the days of the Khmer Rouge, was a better place to live than Stockport ......

 

[fifty2aces]

Anyway, you've piqued my interest in your talk of off-plan apartments. I know there is a need to diversify when trading [or similar]. I've started having a look at this. Do you know much about it?

Magnus

While diversification is certainly a good thing, now is probably not the best time to start speculating on property.

 

[rathcoole_exile]

Magnus,

Re rathcoole - mad dogs and Englishmen. RC, avoid the hours 11:00 - 2:00.

Grant.

rathcoole being in which part of England again ?

 

[rathcoole_exile]

While diversification is certainly a good thing, now is probably not the best time to start speculating on property.

the guy lives in a crofters cottage on an island nobody's ever heard of.
speculating on property up there is being flash enough to have your own roof made of sheep droppings !! :cheesy:

 

[Yuppie]

the guy lives in a crofters cottage on an island nobody's ever heard of.
speculating on property up there is being flash enough to have your own roof made of sheep droppings !! :cheesy:

lol... I dream of the day I can get sheep droppings for a roof... In fact, I dream of a roof...

Man, I pour my very soul into this thread and it gets hijacked by absolute nutters!!!... ... Awesome, lovin' it...

Cambodia, hmmmmm, *heads off for a small Google session*...


Magnus

 

[Yuppie]

fifty2aces...

While diversification is certainly a good thing, now is probably not the best time to start speculating on property.

Good point, for the UK anyway...

Although, are there any property funds or such that could be shorted? ...


Magnus

 

[rathcoole_exile]

lol... I dream of the day I can get sheep droppings for a roof... In fact, I dream of a roof...

Man, I pour my very soul into this thread and it gets hijacked by absolute nutters!!!... ... Awesome, lovin' it...

Cambodia, hmmmmm, *heads off for a small Google session*...


Magnus

careful what you say about Grant, he's a Psycho !!

when he fixes his glass eye at you, comes racing at you in his wheel chair, his one arm flapping in the wind behind him, you're gonna know the meaning of fear.

Sorry about the hijacking by the way, back on track now ...........whatever you decide to do, DO it !
I can remember 15 or so years back, writing out a business plan for acquiring buy-to-let apartments and houses. This was way before the term had even been invented, let alone become a household phrase.
One thing led to another and I didn't follow through with my plan.
Had I done so, I would be seriously well off now I think.

Another example of short-sighted youth - when I was 19, just finished my trade training and was about to be posted overseas, i came across a beautiful cottage, deep in the heart of leicestershire hunting country (the Quorn for anyone else who hunts) - roses round the door, little front garden directly overlooking a huge reservoir. Picturesque and quiet in a totally rural wee village, yet within 30 minutes of Leicester and Nottingham (you're right - so what ! :clap: )
The house was a steal at 5,000 pounds, but on condition the old lady who lived there continued to do so until she popped her clogs and her mentally disbaled son was shipped off to a special hospital.
Being young, I just couldn't see the point of spending 5 grand (about 3 months wages then) on a house I couldn't occupy for maybe 4,5,6,7 years.(even though I wouldn't occupy it anyway, me being in barracks)
of course that wee cottage is now worth upwards of 400,000 pounds ....

moral of the story, well two morals: seize every opportunity even while you're young, and don't let other people pooh pooh your ideas ......