In a word: ‘TRADING’!!! Period!!! And I’m talking about ALL trading not just FOREX trading (I don’t, or hardly ever, trade FOREX anymore, hence my ‘ALL trading’ note)!!! LOL!!! And in all probability: (frustrating) for almost all the reasons already mentioned on this thread.
Actually: I wasn’t going to post here but this sort of ‘spoke’ to me:
Agreed and I feel the same way. Were it not for the likes of these and other forums, the Internet, Bloomberg TV, and my dogs: I think I would have landed up in a lunatic asylum by now!!! LOL!!!
And it goes deeper than that too (in my opinion). When you’re making money: you dare not boast about it or tell someone how well you’re doing because your can ‘bet your ar*e’ you’ll start losing from the very next trade. And when you’re losing money: you dare not tell anyone about it because in most cases you’ll be told that you’re gambling and asked ‘why not get a REAL job’. And nobody that has not traded can ever understand the emotional ‘ups and downs’. And it’s easy to say ‘you shouldn’t be emotional about your trades’. Sorry: but being human I don’t see how this is possible (not unless you’re psychopathic and even THEN I’m not sure you’d be able to ‘keep it together’)!!! LOL!!!
I believe ‘first prize’ would be to be a floor trader. You know: ‘ye olde boyz club’ (and one or two girlz too)!!! LOL!!! But thanks to ELECTRONIC TRADING the pits are slowly dying.
I know I’ve brought this up before (posted about it) but if you’re interested in ‘anything trading’ then watch the movie ‘Floored - The Movie’ (it’s ACTUALLY a documentary not a movie and to this day I don’t know why they included ‘The Movie’ in the title because it’s misleading). I was horrified the other day to see that the original links had been removed but I’ve worked out that it was Bablegum’s ‘Featured’ movie when I found it so it’s now in the archives but it’s still there so here’s the new link:
FLOORED | Babelgum
Watch it. You want to know what’s frustrating about this business. Well there it is in FULL COLOUR!!! LOL!!! As told by REAL traders!!! And take note: the SAME emotions come into play both on the floor and in your little ‘home office’. The only difference is that you don’t have the luxury of being able to kick the guy standing next to you in the gut when the mood takes you. And then, when the pit closes, you and your buddies go out for a few drinks and talk about ‘everything trading’ with people that understand you. ALSO take note of what this business CAN be the cause of (bad things). Don’t think ‘that only happens to floor traders’ and you’re immune because you’re all ‘warm and cosy’ in your ‘home office’. SAME principles apply I’m afraid.
Now on a SERIOUS note (after ALL of that): probably the most frustrating thing for me (all of the above aside) are those days when the markets go NOWHERE. Those days where the Dow has a daily range of two points (exaggerating but you know what I mean). The problem: it does this a great deal of the time!!! One can sit for HOURS without being in a trade (and sometimes for a whole day). And of course you dare not take your eye off the screen because for some uncanny reason: the moment you do that, and when you look again, it’s broken out and started to trend for hours (days) on end!!! LOL!!! That’s why it’d be REAL handy to have some ‘like-minded buddies’ to ‘hang out’ with at work and ‘shoot the breeze’ on days like that!!! LOL!!!
By the way: there’s a new ‘doccy’ that SHOULD be being released this month (if it hasn’t been already and I’m about to go and check now that I think of it). It’s called ‘The Pit’ and it’s a documentary about the floor traders at the NYBOT. Cannot wait to get my hands on it (I’ve been waiting for its release for over a year now)!!! LOL!!!
Here’s a link to it’s website: TRAILER | THE PIT movie (at least you can watch the trailer and they’re on FaceBook too).
Have fun.
Regards,
Dale.