What it Takes to Trade Full Time

“Your trading goal is up to you. You can certainly become a full-time trader. That is probably possible within a year to 18 months. You can certainly take a million dollars out of the market, and you could reach the stage where you take a million dollars out of the market each year…

However, there are a number of questions that you will need to ask yourself…

How much do you love trading? How committed are you to being a full-time trader…? Are you willing to work 12-16 hours/day, six days per week, for the next five years? Are you willing to use at least four to six of those hours a day to start your trading business? Are you willing to spend another hour or two a day developing probably the most valuable skill you could ever have, self-knowledge?

Are you willing to give up most of your free time—at least until your trading business is off and running soundly? And are you willing to think about trading when your family is still enjoying the things that you used to do together? Will you do whatever it takes to be the best (including discipline and full responsibility for your results)? You would need to start by spending at least the first six months… looking at all your psychological patterns and developing ways to overcome any personal obstacles.

In addition, you will need another four to six months to develop a business plan that will be the basis of your trading business. Most people don’t treat trading like a business. And most businesses fail because people don’t plan.

Are you willing to learn a new way of thinking about the markets? This means thinking in terms of a reward-to-risk ratio, understanding that risk is what you lose when you lose in a trade, and understanding that position sizing is the core of how you’ll work to meet your profit targets. Most of what you have learned about the markets needs to be turned upside down, examined, and then thrown out as garbage. Could you handle it?”

–Van Tharp in Super Trader (2009)