Wednesday, July 06, 2005

The Passion

In the past a market like this one would make me cranky all day. When it went on like this one has, day after day of chop chop, I would be cranky all week, all month at times. Well all things must past and this market too, shall pass.

The DOW was down 101 points today. But I was up, twenty trades in six and a half hours, a good day trading, profitable and fun. But mention daytrading to anyone these days and they are likely to turn up their noses, treat you like a disease, not like you have a disease, like you are a disease. A friend of mine is going through a very nasty divorce. When she told her lawyer she daytraded for a living, a six-figure living, he told her to go get a job waitressing, she'll get a better shake in court. Daytrading is not a real job.

Not a real job?

I make more money daytrading then I ever did buying and holding, or position trading. I make more money daytrading then I ever did as an attorney. I love what I do and I do it well. I curse three-day weekends, holidays where the market is closed. My rhythm is thrown and I become cranky. Take away my trading and you take away my spirit, my raison d'etre.

Do what you love, or love what you do.

A

5 comments:

Michael said...

Well said. That 'real job' stuff kills me. Most people have no respect for how challenging trading is.

Anonymous said...

A,

No kidding. I'm in the middle of a 'divorce' of my business partner of 21 years. When I tell people what I'm now doing, I say that I'm working out of my home office building a business with my wife selling her art prints online, that I'm continuing to do graphic design, and I'm, nah, I don't tell them I'm trading for portfolio income. Most still believe in buy and hope, buy mutual funds for the long haul and diversify. They'd look at me like I'm a bug if I told them about my trading. So I don't.

Marty

Anonymous said...

Alright Allan. Stop your teasing. When am I going to get an oppurtunity to test drive your system?

Skipper

A said...

Skipper, test drive this out:
http://allallan.blogspot.com/2004/12/insider-buying.html

It's a description of how I daytrade insider buys. These trades account for maybe 10-15% of my trading, but the other daytrades follow similar techniques, just not anything to do with insider trading, nor anything I have yet to reveal on this blog. So you have to keep coming back, in hope that I blurt out something proprietary in a drunken stupor, or have accumulated enough in my accounts so I don't care anymore.

A

Anonymous said...

Thanks Allan. AMLN was my only purchase based upon your mention over at Gilder but not as a day trade.

I have little to no time to day trade but have thought my wife who is a stay at home mother with more time on her hands nowadays would make an excellent "experiment".

What kind of initial investment would one need to start with to expect a decent enough monthy return ($1000) to keep my wife interested?

Skipper