QuoteOriginally posted by: DisptraI am also wondering what it is like to trade like a pro. Is it much different from trading with my own money, just with better tools? I have tried day trading with my own money. What I learned from that is what does not work in the long term. It is a valuable experience for me. I developed my own mid term trading strategy based on those and have been making solid profit for 3 years in a row. I am pretty sure it takes much more than lucks to beat the market for a long period of time. It definitely involved adaptability to the changing world every day. Have made zero trade this year due to bad market condition. Hey, I beat the market again so far by 12%. Lol.Have you read "Fortune's Formula"?

QuoteOriginally posted by: tsunamijonWhat are acceptable reasons for becoming a trader as opposed to a quant?Traders earn way more than Quants ever can. A decent options market maker can earn 500k after only a year or 2 trading exp

QuoteOriginally posted by: sjconQuoteOriginally posted by: tsunamijonWhat are acceptable reasons for becoming a trader as opposed to a quant?Traders earn way more than Quants ever can. A decent options market maker can earn 500k after only a year or 2 trading expThat's if they don't blow up. High risk, high reward. There is a downside...

QuoteOriginally posted by: spiceWhy not be a quant full-time, and trade with your own money as a hobby on the side-lines? You get the best of both worlds. If things get bad, you have the option of keeping your position open and wait for the tide to turn.:-)Yeah, you can trade all sorts of stuff by yourself in the internet. I have an online broker that lets me trade fixed income (including convertibles), options, and stocks. One could get pretty fancy with this stuff. The only problem is that you are the only one to blame if you blow it.

QuoteThe only problem is that you are the only one to blame if you blow it.And that's the nub of the matter! Payoff profile for an institutional trader: min(F(profit), zero). Payoff for a private trader: min(profit,loss).