Trading living from active trading?

Discussion in 'Share Investing Strategies, Theories & Education' started by joanmc, 12th May, 2009.

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  1. joanmc

    joanmc Well-Known Member

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    I am well aware of that. and I have taken some hits too as I said, like buying SUN in jan at 8 and then watching go down to 4.5 LOL, still only back at 6.

    My point with this thread is: I am having a great time, I am enjoying doing this and I am looking for LIKE_MINDED people to share the journey with. I see so much doom and gloom on the tele but with every problem comes opportunity, I am wondering who else likes to grab them.

    If you think it's only luck that's fine, but I could pull out right now and I have enough profit to live on for at least 2 years before I have to touch my capital. Does that make me lucky or someone prepared to take action?

    As you said anyone could have done what I did in the last 20 weeks, the real question is- how many did? That is the difference between successful investors and non-successful, successful ones take action when they see an opportunity.

    I don't represent myself as an expert, I am just someone having a go.
     
  2. Chris.R_WA

    Chris.R_WA Well-Known Member

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    Its a pity you can't give kudos on this site :)

    Great thread Joan, I'm following it with interest.

    Chris
     
  3. joanmc

    joanmc Well-Known Member

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    Hey thanks Chris:D

    I just have a passion for investing.love it !!!!
     
  4. hoolio1982

    hoolio1982 New Member

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    Hi Joan,

    May I ask what education or courses you have completed to give yourself the knowledge and confidence to make a living from trading.

    Many thanks
    Andrew
     
  5. JudgeDreadz

    JudgeDreadz Well-Known Member

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    BAM!! Well said joan! and good on you for DOING it!!
     
  6. dostortugas

    dostortugas Active Member

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    Joan - absolutely you deserve respect for getting into the market! 100% of the trades that you don't take won't make you money. My hat off to you (i have also been in the market and making nice profits - nice feeling!)

    I'm just giving you some advice based on a longer term strategy to continue trading as a day time activity if that's what you want to do to generate income. You may need to chop and change your current approach for when the market is not generating 20% gains in 6 weeks.

    Again... I don't really believe anyone loses unless they give up, so thumbs up and keep your foot on the pedal

    ciao
     
  7. joanmc

    joanmc Well-Known Member

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    LOL thanks Judge!
    Hi Andrew
    I haven't done any courses, I have been to heaps of "wealth" seminars but haven't found anything I am really comfortable with. I have read a lot of books on investing in general (mainly real estate though as that's my first love). I guess I felt confident because I have been an investor for 9 years now and I am aware of my weaknesses. I am able to not be emotional when making decisions i.e. I only look at the figures. We had our own business for quite a while too, so I understand financial statements.

    But Mainly I guess it is that even if I lost everything I know I could get it back again ( but much faster this time). Having taken nearly 10 years to get where we are we have made just about every mistake in the book (LOL) but we always learnt from our mistakes....and surely we have to run out of mistakes to make soon...hehe.
     
  8. hoolio1982

    hoolio1982 New Member

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    Thanks Joan,

    I would love nothing better than making a living from trading! I have done the basic ASX courses and read a few books and will keep doing so. The plan is to save enough capital over the next few years using some smart investing and then I'll give it a go. Whoo hoo - can't wait!

    Enjoy and good luck. :)

    Andrew
     
  9. Tropo

    Tropo Well-Known Member

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    "....like buying SUN in jan at 8 and then watching go down to 4.5 LOL, still only back at 6".

    SUN is trending down (weekly chart).
    On 09.02.09 SUN gaped down (see two horizontal lines on the chart) = bearish sign.
    Longer horizontal line represents resistance (SUN created almost double top).
    As long as resistance is not broken up, and the gap is not filled SUN should not be traded by beginners (IMHO).
    SUN at the moment = $ 5.85
     

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  10. joanmc

    joanmc Well-Known Member

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    :eek: Really??????
    I am aware of that Tropo. If you had read the posts I was replying with a generalized example of a mistake that I had made. No need to be pedantic is there? it's actually 5.80 now but what does that mean in the context of the thread?
     
  11. Tropo

    Tropo Well-Known Member

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    Not too worry... ;)
    I got an impression that you are surprised that SUN moved down almost 44% from your entry price.
     
  12. vovo

    vovo Member

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    Thanks Joan,

    You have been very helpful, I would like to be a day trader, however, I need the starting capital that you have, to enable the economies of scale to sway into my favour.

    I could not afford to buy 1000 BHP, however, I am trading the very volatile stocks.

    The way I see it,

    Joan, High risk (capital) * Low Risk (stock choice) = modest returns
    me, Low risk (capital) * High Risk (stock choice) = modest returns

    I am only trading in parcels of 3k or so (only aiming to make a few hundred a week), I am still learning, so I realise that I am losing a lot to fees trading in small parcels, but "I" think that you are best learning in the real environment, so whilst trading in small parcels, I am starting to get a decent grasp of the market.

    How much of it is market Sentiment, how much is due to what happened the previous day and how much is due to the actual value of the individual stock (which in terms of day trading, doesn't seem to be much).

    But I think this is a real education, and I enjoy it too, if I make a mistake, I find out why and don't make the same mistake again.
     
  13. joanmc

    joanmc Well-Known Member

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    That is fabulous vovo.
    I feel the same way If anyone is going to lose my money I would rather it is me! at least I get to learn something along the way. I have always been a very self driven investor.

    At the start I was using about 50k and getting 200 or 300 per trade then as I got better and used to doing it I added in more money and bigger trades. To be perfectly honest lots of 1000 just make the maths easier:cool:
    eg 1000 shares that move 25 cents means 200 bucks profit (after allowing 50 for buy and sell brokerage)

    have fun!
     
  14. Ems

    Ems Well-Known Member

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    Hi Guys,

    This is something I would love to do also but at the moment I'm working full-time so learning as much as I can.

    I have sent you a personal message Joan through Somersoft. Hope you got it.

    Ems
     
  15. dmale69

    dmale69 Member

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    hats off to you joan and vovo for giving it a go!

    havnt been on this forum for a while, just been concentrating on my studies, but im loving this thread. nearly finished uni (BCom) and once thats done i think im gonna get back heavily into the market...

    im still quite young, and like you joan i anticipate to make mistakes... all part of the learning process!!
     
  16. JudgeDreadz

    JudgeDreadz Well-Known Member

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    joan - another quick question.

    did you start out in the market with a buy and hold strategy or did you go straight into trading?

    would you recommend starting the same way you did? what are the benefits of doing so? thanks :D
     
  17. Meisterin

    Meisterin Well-Known Member

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    Dear Joan

    I am learning a lot from you as well, and if I could give you a kudos I would. :)

    After reading your thread, I decided that I should be a trader instead of a buy and holder, of which I was one.

    As I knew the movement of some share prices I decided to take a plunge and did with a starting capital of $2000. I fell short of $100.00 but made approximately $90 in my first trade(after buy & sell brokerage). Prior to reading your thread I made $130 from a trade but it took me more than 3 weeks to make that much!! After reading your thread, I bought and sold within 72 hours.

    I am waiting to buy again tomorrow and sell within the week to make another $100. I know it's not very much money, but it is much better than losing my money. I lost a great chunk of my money by holding on to the managed funds and shares through the bearish market even though my purchase was made more than 12 months prior to the peak 2 years ago.

    Thanks a lot for your post and I hope you continue to post.
     
  18. dmale69

    dmale69 Member

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    i hope ppl dont start thinking its that easy - as in they will just start to expect thousands in returns, joan has obviously been investing for some time now, with some fair knowledge..

    and hiflo, i dont want to put you down or anything like for having a go but i think with your capital it will be very hard to be profitable trading as brokerage will just eat away your returns...not saying you cant do it though, i would absolutely love for you to prove me wrong..

    actually, imho, if you were to completely lose the 2k you would be sure to learn a great deal about trading along the way.... (and thankfully you can carry the capital losses too!)
     
  19. Meisterin

    Meisterin Well-Known Member

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    Hi dmale 69

    Thank you for your input.

    I know with a $2000 capital brokerage eats away a big portion of it.

    But the biggest lesson that I have learnt having been in the market is "never lose capital". So with each trade, I aim to make $100 per trade (doing couple of trades a week) after brokerage and I don't aspire to make more at this stage. I am at a stage where I am happy if I haven't lost any capital- which I managed to do by holding on to the shares before it peaked until now. I would like to have this based built to about $3000 by the end of the year and by next year to $5000. From that point onwards, I will divide the capital into two lots and start all over.

    I have been just looking at 4 stocks(only top ASX50) and their movement for the past 6 months and I know what point I want to go in. And then I sell out as soon as I have made $120-130, which usually takes 24-72 hours.

    When I become more confident of tranding, I may sell my current shares at a loss and may be trade in $10k per lot. Right now I am not that confident.
     
  20. joanmc

    joanmc Well-Known Member

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    Judge..I started out to trade BUT I started by buying only shares I was prepared to hold if they went down a bit.

    Also as we had given away our only source of income I had to do it this way, but it was something I have been keen on for a little while. Our business used to occupy us 24/7 literally. we had 3 weeks holiday in 10 years!!!! I am very high risk tolerance, as I have lost large amounts of money twice before in business dealings.

    So, even if I lost all my money trading, at least I lost it and not someone else.

    I also prefer to learn by doing.

    MY first trades were BHP, SUN, WBC. Very first trade was 15.12.08 1000 SUN @7.84, 17.12.08 another 1000 SUN @7.35 19.12.08 sell 2000 SUN 8.06 +855.15 net profit.

    If too much of my trading $ got tied up in downward moving shares I have sold at a loss to get some of my money back in the market.

    Hiflo, you are doing exactly what I was doing! and yes you end up spending a fair bit on brokerage but I look at the NET profit. If you are making $100 clear from your 2000 then that is 5% PER WEEK!!!!! you are beating the bank by miles.

    I know it isn't popular on this forum to encourage BUT ...

    WAY TO GO!!!!:D

    When I started I was hoping to make 1000 per week, just so we could live :eek:. I have been very happy with my results so far, and after having a couple of good learning experiences (read LOSSES), I keep fine-tuning what I am doing and which shares I am trading.

    I am not against buy and hold either. The older i get the more I feel there are benefits in having a bit of everything.

    Thanks for the nice replys
     

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