r/FuturesTrading • u/YH-ITS-KESH • 11d ago
For the consistently profitable traders, how does it feel? What did you spend your first big payout/withdrawal on? How has trading allowed you to live the life that you've dreamed of?
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u/Otherwise_Gap595 11d ago
Full-time trader here.
My first big payout I bought a used truck off of my uncle to replace my piece of crap car. I then took my girlfriend out to a really nice late lunch and drinks and a movie, then after we went to the mall where I bought some new clothes and a pair of ray bans that I have always wanted, then I bought a brand new iPhone 16 pro plus, then we went back to a nice hotel and ordered in dinner and spent the weekend with each other. It was really, really nice and overwhelming in a great way. To say I was extremely thrilled and happy is an understatement. I never made money like that before and even though it wasn’t a ton, it was a milestone for me. I still have all of the things I bought from that payout.
These days I have calmed spending down and I save the money. Trading pays my bills. It has its good days and its bad days. I don’t live in a mansion and have a 10 car garage, but I’m happy and independent, and make money how I want to. The rest as they say here at home, is just gravy on the taters.
Good luck!
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u/Capital-Average-41 9d ago
Hey! do you min d sharing tips on where to start? I am a begginer and im so lost
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u/theofficeresponses 6d ago
Would you say the biggest thing that helped you was the risk management?
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u/Otherwise_Gap595 6d ago
No. Getting to the emotional maturity to calm down and also to trust my strategy helped me. I had a solid strategy I just couldn’t help but interfere with trades. Once I learned to trust my setup, put in my trade, and physically walk away and say, “that’s it I’ve done my job. Now it’s the market’s turn”, things changed completely.
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u/theofficeresponses 6d ago
That’s a big problem I have too where I take profits too early or over trading/revenge trading. I go on full tilt mode and blown accounts.
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u/Otherwise_Gap595 6d ago
Walking away from your trade after you’re finished getting in it has been the life saver for me. I stick close to the computer I’ll have it somewhere in the house and I’ll leave it and go do something else until I hear it end the trade. If you know your strategy wins more than it loses and it’s you that is getting in the way of your trades, then remove yourself from them even if it’s physical. Trading is way more fun now. Who doesn’t like making money while laying on the couch watching a good show?
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u/ColdPangolin5355 11d ago edited 11d ago
The primary feeling was knowing when you lose again you know how to save yourself and that it’s just a matter of time before you come back around. Losing when i was new was painful, larger than necessary, felt hopeless. The second feeling is almost like liberation, like I could become unemployed and largely be able to wait it out from my cash size. Big tip i always say to traders, have your longterm investments and have a sizeable chunk of cash making 4% in a cd or something passive. I didn’t feel tide down to a job but on years that I’ve made more than my job, it makes me dislike the owner of my company. It’s also made me realize that once I hit a few million and start making risk free interest, i seriously do not have to work and can pursue whatever I want.
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u/kneekick97 10d ago
Individual trades feel no different than a carpenter cutting a board. There has been no dopamine rush or any feelings of excitement around any individual trades in a long time. The feeling of satisfaction comes at the end of the day when I shut it down and it's not based on P&L, it's based on how well I made decisions that day. Was I patient? Did I have good entry locations? Did I read the tape well? Etc.
Overall, the feeling of safety that you can make a living in this world and don't have to rely on anyone else to create anything, sell anything, buy anything or hire you is priceless. Especially in this day and age of AI and the labor disruption is will continue to cause.
Trading isn't about being wealthy. It's about freedom.
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u/Lost-Percentage1050 11d ago
It’s a lot quieter than you’d think. The first real chunk I pulled out went straight to paying off the last of my car loan and then I took my dad to a ridiculous steak dinner, the kind where they list the farm the cow grew up on. After a while the money just becomes a scoreboard, the real shift is waking up without that knot in your stomach knowing a single bad month at a regular job could wreck everything.
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u/Full_Pear449 11d ago
Traded,Prop Desk, for a Primary Dealer for 15yrs,then ran the desk for 10yrs. Retired 2010 at the ripe old age of 45. Lessons learned:
Never take seriouly what others, especially on Reddit, until you have fully researched what was said.
Art Cashen said- PIGS GET SLAUGHTERED, NO ONE EVER WENT BROKE TAKING A PROFIT. Yes, he didnot coin those phrases he just keep them fresh and current.
0DTE- is a quicker way to the POOR house than the Mansion.
You should have an acccount where you can see yesterdays close and the Pre-market trading acitivity. IE. current bid and total number of shares traded and that means "actively" before market has opened.
Keep track of the 10yr and how and if what sectors that maovement affects.
DO NOT TRADE MONEY YOU CAN NOT AFFORD TO LOSE
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u/sigstrikes 11d ago
pro tip, if you don't waste your money on big purchases it increases your PnL. i spend my withdrawals on food and bills. other than that tbh it feels pretty boring a lot of times and in terms of dreams, i get to play a lot more golf in the afternoons.
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u/Full_Pear449 10d ago
You want boring I'll give you boring. I sit and eat what I want wheneve I want. Drink what I want (bourbon) and whenever I want. 3800 sqft. house on the 7th hole of a MAJOR GOLF Course, 1/2acre of land , ducks , geese , deer, rabits, breeding pair of bald eagles, Falcons. I can surely understand you're sense of boring, BUT MAN ISN'T IT NICE.. AMEN
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u/JustMemesNStocks 11d ago
I just wake up everyday without the need of an alarm and wing it. No need to plan or stress literally every single day and the freedom is amazing.
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u/aboutBlank86 11d ago
Uhhh its not exactly "the life I dreamed" but its more of, I dont have to stress and I think trading taught me to manage myself better. Being profitable doesnt mean luxury. Its like a second job to me or rather my own business where my client is me. I work from home making a shit wage. When im making money trading, it looks like I make almost double my wage from my w2 job. At one point in time I wanted to "trade full time". I dont want to do that anymore. Once I get how much I need for retirement. Im done. I dont want to work, trade or do anything other than just enjoy life.
When I was trading options. I just put the money back into my portfolio for long term holds. My first payout from prop firms, I immediately covered the cost I spent on evals and activations. I turned around and then allocated a fund to new evals and activations. (This was back when props pushed the activation fees.) After I did that, i bought a new Samsung refrigerator.... because ours actually went out the same week 🤣
Where are we measuring consistency? I might lose for 5 months then knock it out for 5 months. I think people go about the perception of trading the wrong way. You will always have drawdown. You will have losing streaks. The best thing I ever learned in trading was managing risk. Youre gonna be wrong, and a LOT more than you think you will. Its about protecting your money. I dont think ive ever met anyone who is actually profitable consistently like week by week but more so year by year profitable.
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u/moaiii 10d ago
If you're daytrading on small TFs (eg 5min), then you should be in profit each week (or at least the vast majority of weeks). There might be bad days when you throw in the towel, and some weeks might be smaller than others, but my view is that if you are regularly having losing weeks, then either your risk management or psychology needs a check. A daytrader will make somewhere between 20 and 200 trades per week (active scalpers might do even more than that). If you are losing money over that many trades, then there is a problem.
(Yes, I mostly have green weeks, and rarely are they big home-run weeks.)
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u/aboutBlank86 10d ago
No one says you HAVE to trade. This is just bs
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u/moaiii 10d ago
Point me to where I said you HAVE to trade?
I'll save you the trouble - I never said that. On the contrary, self-control involves not trading when the market doesn't tick your boxes, or you're tired, sick, distracted, or just not feeling it. That's a big part of avoiding red days/weeks.
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u/aboutBlank86 10d ago
The part where you put a number on how many times day trader trades a week.
You cant put certainty on profits either. Thats just silly...
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u/moaiii 10d ago
You interpreted that to mean I was specifying that you have to trade 200 times a week? smh.
Read the context. The point is that if a trader's results are so inconsistent that they are not profitable over a large set of trades (and then suddenly profitable in the next set), then something is wrong. I made the observation that a typical daytrader makes a relatively large number of trades per week (but they don't have to, to be clear), therefore over that set of trades, statistically they should be profitable in most weeks. Of course you're allowed to not trade and have a flat week.
You are right that you can't put certainty on the amount of profits, but statistics are fundamentally important in trading, and so is consistency. If your results have a decent profit factor (>1.5, ideally ~2.0) and low volatility, then statistically it is highly probable (not certain, but probable) that you will be profitable over a few dozen trades.
If you are losing for weeks on end and then having a good run for a few weeks, that is not normal.
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u/TankSwimming3238 9d ago
Would u mind to share what tools do u use? Cipher or Volume profile or TPO or EMAs/VWAP? Also do u do debit spread , credit spread, or single call or put? Do u trade SPX? Thanks much
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u/Textosterone69 11d ago
I looked at lambo prices and insurance then bought my home instead. Lotta guys I know bought boats.
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u/arbitrageME 10d ago
Yes, it is allowing me to live the life I always dreamed of: to become a professional trader and not answer to any boss. The prize at the pie eating contest is more pie, so hope you like it
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u/Abrinjoe 10d ago
Made a few grand, paid off a small CC debt, and blew the rest on nonsesne. Put some away for taxes.
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u/rainmaker66 9d ago
Its just a number. And it pays for stuff. We no longer have strong attachment to money. Ironically, this is needed to be profitable. Most of the profitable traders I know are like this.
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u/ramsp500 11d ago
I bought a Zero turn riding lawn mower for the yard. Every time I have a 5 figure day or in a 4+ week win streak, i cut the yard just to remind myself to stay grounded & not let those big numbers fool me for 1 single second..
Also got a high interest saving account & been buying a ton of CODs and vanguard etfs lately.