First of all I have come across so many former traders who failed to dowhat you are now doing. You are reaching out getting information fromthose that have or are in the process of "surviving" towards becoming afull time trader. During my transition into this wild and wacky world I was always amazedthat one VERY important question was NOT being asked by those whoTHOUGHT they were interested in full time trading and that was "WHAT DOSUCCESSFUL (FULL TIME) TRADERS DO THAT UNSUCCESSFUL FORMER TRADERSDIDN'T DO?"HOW does one make the transition to full time trading isn't as importantas WHEN does one make the transition.The simple answer to the HOW is... well.. ultimately you just DO IT...there however is a caveat... To be successful you will have needed toanswer the WHEN question before making the actual leap....What is involved in the "When does on make the transition?" This iswhere the adventure begins!!!Generally speaking.... You HAVE to be prepared to commit TIME andEFFORT... You HAVE to embrace PERSISTENCE covered in ENTHUSIASM.. .. Youcan NEVER give up.... You cannot be deterred by what others think or sayto you...You HAVE to KNOW yourself.... . You need to study your reactions.. Youneed to be aware of how you "treat" yourself under stressfulsituations.. . You need to learn how to relax... You need to observeyourself.... The MOST important factor to success in trading is NOT thecharts it is YOU and your reactions... .The second most important thing that you MUST learn about is RISK andMONEY MANAGEMENT. Too many traders' underlying assumption for tradingsuccess is "If I have the right combination of chart patterns andindicators I will prevail." That is NOT the case. MONEY MANAGEMENT. MONEY MANAGEMENT. MONEY MANAGEMENT. Without it you will NOT besuccessful.The third most important thing is a TRADING PLAN. This, of course, willbe dependent on my first two points of KNOWING YOURSELF and your RISKTOLERANCE.Unfortunately, this does NOT all come together in a logical sequence. You will encounter a hodge podge of experiences on all these levels asyou do your paper as well as live trading.For me personally, my transition to full time trading turned into a fiveyear plan. The beginning years were much more informal as opposed to mylast two. I traded approximately 1000 qualified paper trades. (Byqualified I mean they would meet the criteria of an actual live trade. Stops are within realistic parameters.) I then made the transition totrading 1000 mini lot trades. Profit was NOT the intent. It was LEARNING about MYSELF, LEARNING about my RISK TOLERANCE, LEARNING aboutwhat TYPE of trader I am.My confidence grew... I KNEW that I could make 100 pips per lot perweek. This is the point where your HOW question comes into play. I thenstarted to trade two nights a week with my normal trading account duringpart of the London session. (I have a personal bias towards thisparticular period.) I started to cut down my hours at my "normal job". I made sure I had enough money to trade with as well as temporarily tolive on.I can guarantee that if you have the passion and the resolve your lifewill be changed in a manner that you have to experience to understand.. .Do NOT be dissuaded by the 95% failure of others.... They either didNOT ask right questions, did NOT know themselves and started tradingwith large amounts of money too early, lacked the "true fire within" tosucceed, or simply discovered that this life choice was NOT for them...Enjoy the adventure!!!
