I Needed to Go Full Time in Order to Trade Like a Pro

One of the things I love most about writing to you all is the messages I get from traders who are living through the real, messy, complicated process of becoming who they need to be. This letter below landed in my inbox recently from a member of our community (and a friend of mine), and it stopped me in my tracks. Not because it's a story about massive wins or some perfect trading setup, but because it's honest about what it actually takes to make this leap.

What you're about to read is someone wrestling with the gap between how we think things are supposed to happen and how they actually unfold. He's trading full-time now, not because all the conditions were perfect, but because life pushed him to a crossroads and he chose to trust himself.

I'm sharing this with his permission because I think it captures something essential about this journey that doesn't get talked about enough.

(I've redacted names to respect his and other's privacy)

Sean,

In a profession that so few can relate to, it's nice to have someone genuinely ask how it's going. The true solitude and unrelatability of trading didn't really sink in for me until I went full time back in September. I'm over the hump of my 20's at age 26 as are most of my peers. Most have been with the same company or the same industry since college. Many are receiving raises and nice bonuses. That was the world I left in order to trade.

You may know how I first got into trading via my relationship with _____ that started in college. My trading journey started in 2019 and I've been tweaking strategy and mostly psychology since. While my goal was to trade full time after college, reality hit, and it was clear that I best take a job until trading was consistent enough to live on. That didn't happen for nearly 6 years later than my initial but naive mental target.

This year's transition into full time trading was not how I thought it would be. Here's some background:

In May of this year, I left a great 6-figure job with a true career path, in order to start a digital marketing company with a fraternity brother of mine. Long story short, the company was looking promising, but I realized my partner was an absolute lunatic. It was bad enough that I had to walk away in August. No pay over 5 months, no equity was vested, and I had a literal crazy person spamming my cell phone, socials, email, and parent's emails in what was a huge mental breakdown for him. It was all unfortunate, but I was sure that leaving that relationship was the best move. I was watching my mental health deteriorate spending so much time with someone so unhinged.

I found myself with no income, a resume with a gap in it, and a trading account funded at a side hustle amount but not a "full time job" amount. I spent a week at my parent's house frantically applying to low-paying jobs that I was extremely overqualified for; My shock was turning into fear. Since college, I always had good jobs and couldn't relate to my friends who were in dead-end roles or who couldn't find a job at all. Deep down, I knew what I had to do. I had to go in head-first and give full time trading a try.

I know what you're thinking - famous last words. The stock market is the last place to go when you need income. But it felt strangely safe. I felt very certain that throwing myself into trading full time was the only way I'd develop past the plateau that I'd seemingly reached up to that point in my journey. It felt like if I went and got another job and didn't give this thing a shot right then and there, that I may never (or at least not for years), get the chance to try this again. So, in the same manner that I said "fuck it" and quit my career to start the marketing biz, I said it again and sold some Bitcoin (did more of that this year than I wanted to smh), to add into my trading account.

I always thought I'd go full time when I had a million in savings, a stable relationship, maybe some white hairs on my head... anything besides now. Well, that's not how life works. You can plan all you want both in life and in the markets, but you better be ready to pivot when the plan goes kaputz.

So, it's been a few months trading full time and I'm making more money than I know what to do with. NOT. I'm surviving. I'm discovering just how powerful my strategies and eye has become when measured in a full-time manner like I am now. I'm discovering that each morning, I must make the choice to see the charts and not just look at them. There is a monumental difference between watching a stock and watching with intent to trade. Is your order entry open? Do you have plans ready for each direction? You're watching two stocks to day trade - do you have options queued up for both of those? Is your bracket ready to go? These things sound obvious, but keeping these housekeeping items up to date throughout the session is a very intentional and important practice. And it's tiring.

The main point I want to make here is that trading is so much more individual than I think us traders can even emphasize. Throughout my whole journey, I was told to never try this until I can truly lose my shirt and not be affected. I've done well with my Crypto positions, but I still am not in a place where I can be losing all this cash. I'm arguably in the opposite position that I should be to be trading full time. But, I'm finally doing it. I'm finally making smart moves consistently. I no longer look at a small win and piss it away because it wasn't big enough. I'm taking more partials. I'm sizing bigger when prompted and smaller when I'm not as confident. I'm doing all the things in my trading I was always told to but never did. It's hard for me to justify giving this up and going back into the workplace. Every day, I grow more as a person and trader regardless of the daily profits, if any. To me, that helps me sleep at night. For once, I feel like I'm doing what I should be and that's worth more than any trade. I'm not going to blow my account. I'm years past that. For me now, it's all about surviving until my strategy is viable, and hitting it when it is.

I'm operating a bit more stressed out than I'd like to be, but I'm just glad I'm not too comfortable. I used to make good money at my job and throw extra into my trading account and blow it, knowing that I'd replenish it in two weeks. For some reason, I needed to go full time in order to trade like a pro. Maybe I just didn't have the discipline I needed when I had two sources of income. But, despite what they say, I'm in it full time earlier than I should be, and it feels like the most correct life decision I've ever made.

This was probably wordier than anticipated. This was the first time writing without AI in months. I am glad to be able to share all of this with someone who gets it.

Thanks, Sean!

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Sean McLaughlin | Chief Options Strategist, All Star Charts