The Part-Time Trader (24 page)

Build yourself up to that type of capital. The fact that you have the cash on hand does not mean you are ready to trade full-time. The money that you have does not make you a trader; instead, it is the experience, education, and lessons learned from your successes and failures. That alone is what will make you the trader who is ready to take the profession on full-time.

We cannot make a decision in a vacuum without careful consideration of those that our decision will no doubt affect the most, for better or worse. That is in conjunction with everything you must consider in determining when to make the plunge into full-time trading. You will want love and support from your spouse and even your kids and weigh heavily their opinions on what you should do. Do not think that even in the best of cases you can simply come home from work one day and tell your spouse that you are going to quit your job tomorrow and start trading full-time. Much more times than not, you will be met with heavy resistance.

It is a shocking decision to make. instead, you will want to build up to your final decision with your spouse, and do it only if you have his or her full support and backing. If not, explore the reasons for why, and consider heavily if what you are being told has any truth to it. If so, then consider holding off on those plans to leave. If not, you are in a most desirable position knowing that no matter what happens, your spouse has your back and will support you through good times and bad.

Your children are important, too, with regard to your final decision. If your decision to quit means that your son or daughter has to quit his private school in his junior year and abandon his friends that he has been with since childhood to go to a public school where he knows no one, then give thought to their circumstances as well. It is hard enough to trade as it is; it is even harder if your kids are going to hate you a lifetime for it.

In my senior year in high school, my father was offered a position within his company that would have been his dream job. I was the quarterback of my high school football team, had gone to school with the same kids since I was in first grade, and was at the top of the world in my formative, teenage years. My father understood that uprooting me and relocating me 300 miles south to the beaches of Miami was not something that he felt was in my best interests. It would have been hard on me, and not only did my father understand this, but so did my mother. Consequently, they gave up what would have been the ultimate job on my behalf to ensure that my upbringing was complete and unaffected by their own personal desires. I am beyond grateful for the decision that they made, and no doubt understand that it was a hard one to make, but it was ultimately the right one.

In terms of specific amounts of money necessary to become a full-time trader, it varies by the individual and their circumstances. I've seen some individuals quit their jobs and enter the world of full-time trading with only $50,000, and others who waited until they had a $500,000. It all varies by the individual person, his strategy, and his financial needs.

Whatever you think you are capable of making as a trader, you need to cut that in half, heck, and then take that amount and cut it in half again. The greater the expectations that you have for yourself, the harder it will be for you to experience the level of success you aspire to. When you are a full-time trader, it is not about what your percentage return is each year as a trader anymore; instead, it is about feeding your family, providing for them, and doing everything you can to sustain an acceptable income level for your family and you.

The desire to hit the fast-forward button of life and get to the point to where you finally are where you want to be as a trader is understandable. Many times, I found myself nearly scratching at the walls feeling like I was trapped in some kind of asylum at my workplace. Do not let your focus be on your discontent with the job or the fact that you'd rather be trading full-time. You are in an incredible situation, to not have the pressure on your shoulders to perform your trading for a living. The mistakes are easier to recover from, and you have every opportunity to learn from your trades, document your mistakes, and change your strategy, experimenting with various new strategies as you refine, hone, and develop your trading skills.

If remaining in your job and being a part-time trader into the foreseeable future is what you would rather do instead of aiming for the future career of a full-time trader, then that is terrific. The opportunity is rare, because the work environment continues to become increasingly demanding and difficult to survive in long term as a part-time trader. But if your job gives you the ability to do so, you have an awesome opportunity to have two jobs and do them well, and live a lifestyle that most will never experience.

When the “ON” switch is flipped, it is just you and the markets. There is no forgiveness for your mistakes, and the success you experience no one can take from you. Full-time trading allows you to be your own worker and boss man. Not having the latter in my life hovering over me has been great for my own sanity, and though I am my own toughest boss man, I do not have to hate my job or fear what someone else might ask of me next.

There is no other profession that will teach you more about yourself, your emotions, and your shortcomings. There is a good chance that until you become a trader, you will never know just how greedy, fearful, and materialistic you are about your own money and the need to make more of it as a result.

In many ways, trading has a refining experience to it because if you do not learn to control these emotions, you become fearful of missing out, greedy in the need to make more than you have, optimistic when you should be pessimistic, and lacking faith when the truth is set before you. Then you will come up short in your aim to become the best trader you can be.

Saddle up; do the work; plan your trade, trade your plan; learn to trade what you see, not what you think; manage the risk; capture the profits. Avoid the nosy coworker, please the boss man, strive for a distraction-free environment, make friends with those in IT, cut the chit-chat, and, most important, keep your job.

Whether you strive to ultimately become a full-time trader or simply remain in a long-term, part-time trading role in combination with your job, your dreams can be attained. Just make sure you stay the course regardless of how many forks in the road come your way because you have already chosen the path less traveled.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

R
yan Mallory is the cofounder of SharePlanner.com, which was created to help traders better understand the perplexities of the financial markets and to provide an online community of traders who are able to be honest and transparent in their trading endeavors, as well as develop and master the art and craft of technical analysis.

Ryan has been trading for more than 20 years, after originally getting his start as an eleven-year-old boy under the guidance of his father. Since then, he has grown as a trader and continues to this day using technical analysis to guide his trading strategies.

Prior to fully devoting himself to SharePlanner and full-time trading, Ryan spent a decade in the corporate world, with jobs ranging from Human Resources and law as well as time spent on Capitol Hill and working for a firm as a contracts manager. But nothing ever compared to the thrill of trading stocks, and his hope always was to one day trade full-time for himself, which he was finally able to realize.

Ryan is a graduate of the University of Central Florida with a degree in political science and a minor in economics. He graduated from Nova Southeastern with a master's in business administration.

Ryan is a native central Floridian and still calls it home with his wife and son.

ABOUT THE COMPANION WEBSITE

T
his book includes a companion web site, which can be found at
www.wiley.com/go/pttrader
. The site contains
The SharePlanner Trading Guide for The Part-Time Trader
, a valuable resource that will better equip you for the rigors that come with trading part-time and managing a full-time job simultaneously. In his guide, Ryan provides his favorite and most reliable trade setups that you can quickly and easily incorporate into your own trading strategy.

To receive this valuable guide, visit the book's web site at
www.wiley.com/go/pttrader
. When prompted for a password, please enter “mallory.”

INDEX

B

Bollinger bands

C

Capital inventory turnover

Chart types

Company Wi-Fi, avoiding

Corporate depression

Corporate hierarchy

“Debbie” employees

“Edward” employees

“Gary” employees

“Larry” employees

Coworker backlash, xxi–xxii

D

Day job, keeping

avoiding goals that give a false sense of hope

focusing on the trade

jeopardizing trade vs. job

logic, losing

mind-numbing trading

real-world fantasies

right position sizes

the squeeze

training class

unrealistic trading goals

unstoppable trader

hierarchy

making everyone happy

managing job and trading

“Debbie” employees

Delayed e-mails

Deputy program manager

E

“Edward” employees

E-mail paranoia

Escape hatch, finding

F

Finding a way out

real estate, problems with

stocks

Full-time trader, becoming

trading foundation

investing, turning against

new trading world

open-mindedness

penny stocks, moving beyond

road bumps ahead

rudimentary understanding of risk

G

Gaps on first day of trading month

“Gary” employees

Group lead

Guest connection, using

H

Head contracts manager

I

Information technology (IT) department

choosing between large and small company

becoming irreplaceable

employees, getting to know

large companies

blending in

indiscriminate toward individual performance

small companies

blending in

doing a good job

understanding their policies and designing trading around them

company apps, installing

company Wi-Fi, avoiding

guest connection, using

obstacles, working around

saving tips

Inward reflection

IPT manager

J

Job, being successful at

filling out your own review

good Samaritan

peer kindness

sending a review request

yearly review

approach

creating a friendly coalition

L

“Larry” employees

M

Management curiosity, xxii

Margin, avoiding use of

MBA Holdings (MBAH)

N

90/10 rule

O

Office layout

Office routes

Office Space

P

Parameters to account for

Parking location

Passive income

aiming small

becoming systematic in trading

Bollinger bands

chart types

price and volume

trend following the markets

combining the day job with part-time trading

hitting singles and doubles

risk and reward, being cognizant of

stops, risk in

waiting

Penny stocks, avoiding

Position sizes

Pre-workday

premarket research

delayed e-mails

Dow Jones Industrial Average, avoiding

leaving lights on

market analysis

prideful management

running late

start-time struggles

trade setups, knowing

trading your plan

typical morning

tailoring strategy for the day around workload

“prop firms,” avoiding

trading fallacies, avoiding

Price and volume

Professional paper pushers

Profits, obsessing over

emotions, controlling

learning experience

market reality

overinvesting

risk aversion, understanding

Program contracts manager

Program manager

Project engineer

Project manager

Propietary trading firms, avoiding

Q

Quitting your job

building your own computer

employee benefits, giving up

final decision

knowing when to leave

providing transparency and honesty

R

Risk aversion, understanding

Responsibility, seeking out vs. effective trading

adversity, overcoming

job as a trading asset

offloading

broad-based mindset

endless competition

increased workload

promotion competition

Risk and reward, being cognizant of

stops, risk in

“Ryan” employees

S

SharePlanner Investment System

Smartphones and tablets, using as trading tools

social media and workplace trading

StockTwits

Stop-losses

Suspicion, avoiding

coworkers

contrarian indicator

mild man trader

humorous stories

mouse clicks

alternative to

monitor privacy, maintaining

taskbar, hiding

social media

T

ThinkorSwim trading platform

Time-zone trading

Trade setups, notebook of

Trading habits to avoid

emotion

margin, avoiding use of

passion for trading

penny stocks, avoiding

shortcomings, learning from

winning trades turning into losers

protecting gains

Trading at work

blocking out time

boss, confrontation with

emotions on the job

90/10 rule

plan your trade and trade your plan

planning around meetings

position sizes

SharePlanner Investment System

sneaking out of meetings

bailing out

calling in

extreme measures

screen share, avoiding

stop-losses

trading as a distraction

curious coworkers, dealing with

traveling, trading and

adding new positions prior to

travel time, using

workload, using to trading benefit

Trend following the markets

Tricks of the trade

image and performance

learning to do two things at once

network tricks

bandwidth red flags

guest network, using

streaming, using handheld technologies for

scaling in and out of positions

simple breakdown

socializing

spreading papers

Twitter

U

Urologix (ULGX)

W

West Coast trading

Work ambivalence

nonsensical reports

workplace scalawag

Workplace armageddon

Workplace trading desk, essentials to

assigned computer

desktop computer, using

upgrades, getting

Web-based trading

desktop vs. laptop

additional advantages of laptop

laptop portability

meetings, getting through

request form, filling out

environmental trading

office layout

office squares

small office, choosing

smartphones and tablets, using as trading tools

social media and workplace trading

Y

Yearly review

approach

creating a friendly coalition

filling out your own review

good Samaritan

peer kindness

sending a review request