Insight into being a Pro (Advice for a youngster)

[404]

Paul Redmond
Age: 28
Firm: Rooster Trading
City: London
Trades: DAX futures
Trading up TO 4,000 lots a day in the fast-moving DAX futures market, Redmond is quickly cementing his legend. Raised in Iraq, he later moved to Ireland. He started at Dublin’s Geneva Trading in September 2001, deftly handling the frenzied post-9/11 equities market and earning the sobriquet “The Rooster” for his cocky behavior.

The following spring, he switched to the DAX and began steadily increasing his volume from four lots per trade to 4,000 lots per day, which market participants say is exceptional. Now based in London, Redmond runs his own three-member firm and reportedly rakes in as much as $20,000 a session.

He has also begun training younger traders, teaching them how to manage the enhanced risk that comes with sizable positions — risk, he says, that his youth helps him handle. “When you’re young, you’ve got nothing to lose,” he says. “You’ve got no kids. You can start again.” Given his performance so far, though, we doubt he’ll need to do so.

[404]

Thoughts on Paul?

[404]

I was reading about this "top 30 under 30" trader ( Traderdaily.com , Trader Magazine), and was wondering about some things.

[waveslider]

"the harder they come, the harder they fall" - Jimmy Cliff

These high risk people don't last. If you have read the trader vic book, you know that it doesn't matter how smart you are, it's how much exposure you have.

If you have a lot of exposure and the market goes against you, you're @#$%ed. No one has the midas touch, eventually markets go against them.

Smart traders who last in the biz learn how to hedge and control exposure. In other words, risk management is the key to success, not trading quantity.

That's my 2cents 404.

[404]

From the experienced "pro" traders...lend some insight on this:

What are the different types, or levels of being a pro trader?

example: you have guys who trade successfully but only enough to really cover bills and living expenses, guys who are trading at a level that would be similar to running a small hedge fund, really making some solid returns and earning a good amount of money doing it, guys who make 500K+ (random number) who are at the top of their game and could be trading for large corporations or funds, but just choose to stay independent...

These are just examples, but what I have found in researching trading as a full time occupation, is that nobody really like to discuss the successes and give real life examples. We all know that 95%+ of traders fail, but what can you accomplish if you are in that 5%? What does that look like?

[smwinc]

There are plenty of successful people who make 7 figures trading, year in year out.

I read that same article about those traders.

I basically didn't like that firms 'nominated' traders. These guys are no doubt exceptional, but there idea it's a 'top list' is a marketing ploy.

IMO, someone who should have been on that list, at the top, was Paul Rotter.

4,000 lots in the DAX is huge, yes. However, Paul Rotter doing 200-300,000 round turns a day blows this guy out of the water.

http://www.trading-naked.com/paul_rotter.htm

(TraderDaily Interview) "the mercurial Rotter is a hugely successful trader. Though he wouldn’t confirm any compensation figure beyond saying that he takes in more than $5million per year, some say he pulls down at least that much per month."

[404]

great link smwinc...thanks for the read

[waveslider]

404, if you are a hedge fund manager there are restrictions about what you can say to the public regarding performance. That's why you wouldn't hear from that portion of traders.

I manage a hedge fund. But I make most of my personal income from trading futures. The fund is conservative and consistent.

I believe that to earn a living and become wealthy by trading, you have to start slowly and scale up as your trading proves itself.

The only fast road is the path that runs you out of the business quickly. That's what the other 95% have learned. When you hear about guys like the ones you mention, look where they are in 10 years. Chances are they are selling real estate somewhere.