What Its Like Making Millions As A Trader

By Author: Stocks & Fuutures Trading Magazine
Total Articles: 1
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Starting With Only $5k

I started with $5k and turned it into millions in a short amount of time. I watched dozens of others do the same.

It is certainly exhilarating. The first time you come in and feel like you have an edge… such confidence. The first time you make $1,000 in a day, $10,000, $100,000… $1 million. Something few people understand is the possibility that is out there, how artificial the salaried limits are that most people think in, and I fell into learning otherwise.

What Making Big Money Feels Like

At first it feels like that number in your account gives you security, whether financially or personally or socially. It doesn’t. It allows you to be what you really want to be, with fewer restraints… and that has as many negatives as positives.

Since I was part of a group, we celebrated together. The first time you had a six-figure day you would take everyone else out for a “lobster fight,” an intentionally overpriced meal. One time a guy took home $1,000 of crab in a doggie bag. A lot of the guys thought that making what is small-time money out of trillion-dollar markets ...
... meant that we knew better about everything than everyone else. Haha.

I remember the first time one of my trades was put up on ZeroHedge. They were absolutely clueless about what was really going on… but still, lots of the traders liked the conspiracy theories.

Spending The Money

Spending some of the money was world-changing for me. I am deeply inquisitive and love to learn new things, and money opens new doors. I learned all about fine food, wine, clothes, etc. Most of that is great to spend money on as a learning experience but after a few years loses its luster.

I took lessons on an endless string of subjects — languages, voice, philosophy, art history, etc. Travel is wonderful. I must have gone to five countries per year, during the “off-season.” I still love to travel, though now there is no need to drop coin when I am out… I just love the adventure. (Of course, it helps that money can always bail me out.)

Some guys picked up bad habits involving fast cars, women, and drugs. Nothing was ever enough. A lot of them were fleeced for years then left when their money ran out, or sued for common law divorce. It’s tough when you can’t commit to anyone or anything other than yourself.

Some family-oriented guys bought fancy houses… most of them ran into a rough patch trading. Some are selling life insurance. Others invested in real estate or bought franchises in chain businesses and found managers. They spend almost nothing and take care of their families with deep commitment.

Charitable Acts

One guy heard about the earthquake in Haiti and couldn’t sleep all night. The next day he chartered a plane to the DR, bought a cargo truck, filled it up with supplies, and dropped everything off at a Haitian orphanage he had a pre-existing relationship with. He did the same thing every day for weeks.

And when people tell him how selfish and evil libertarians like him are, he doesn’t say anything. What a class act. He inspired me to give away a lot of my money, too, and I can tell you that seeing the kids who now have opportunity and scholarships feels a hundred times better than seeing the dollar amount of a nice house sitting on your screen.

Trading Performance

The thing about electronic trading is that its effects are not very tangible. In my worst year I doubled my account (which was already sizeable by then), but my heart was no longer in it, and I left after one more year. I liked the challenge of “beating the market.”

Once I figured out some ways to do it, I liked seeing the profits on the screen. But each time it became less exciting and more expected, and while I had met several different levels of challenges in my career there weren’t any new ones I wanted to tackle, so I quit.

I still maintain a “black box,” a computerized system that trades for me, but it is pretty hands-off. Now I have started a business that solves problems for interesting people. That is a lot more compelling long-term.

You start to wonder about some higher-end finance stuff. How much do I put into trusts for my kids, and how to I make that money a blessing rather than a training ground for sloth and narcissism? Other stuff involving when and how to make charitable gifts, investments, etc.

Successful Traders Are Very Rare

People ask a lot of questions about what you do, especially on the rare occasion that you imply you are successful. Everybody has met accountants and carpenters and social workers and lawyers… but successful traders are very rare. So they will talk to you about it as long as you will answer.

I have had several beautiful women give me their phone numbers or even proposition me directly, even while my wife was with me.

They will also ask what you think about some stock or market trend, and you decide whether to avoid the question or explain that trading success means picking what you know and becoming an expert at only that, which people have trouble understanding.

Or worse, they bring up the latest media talking points, which always involve a deep ignorance of the basic concepts they invoke. But usually they just want to hear stories, endless stories.

My name is Oren and I am a features writer for the Stocks & Futures Trading Magazine at https://www.stocksandfuturestrading.com and I also contribute to https://www.ivtrades.com/knowledgebase and www.goldtrading.net

Thanks for reading my work :)