full-time trading vs trading as side hustle, real talk

[Ethan]

ive been trading for 6 years, profitable for 3, considering going full time. my day job pays $95k, my trading P&L last year was $42k. on paper i could 'survive' full time but the variance scares me.

for those whove made the jump: was it worth it? did your trading actually get better with full focus or did the pressure of needing income hurt your decisions? specifically interested in the psychological transition.

[carterw]

went full time in 2022 after similar setup to you. truthful answer: my trading actually got WORSE for the first 6 months. needing the income made me over-trade and take marginal setups i would have skipped before. survived it because i had 18 months of expenses saved. only after i mentally separated 'income need' from 'trading decisions' did things stabilize.

[wildnorth]

did the opposite - went back to part-time after going full time. quality of my trading improved when i had a salary covering basics. the pressure of trading for full income was poisonous for my decision making. now i make less from trading but my hit rate is better and i sleep at night.

[itsliam]

how much should i have saved before going full time? is 6 months living costs enough?

[nightwalker]

real answer: 18-24 months of full living costs minimum, AND your trading should have generated more than that amount each year for 2+ consecutive years. 6 months is enough for one bad quarter to wipe you out emotionally and financially. dont be the person who quit at 6 months savings and had to crawl back to a worse day job a year later.

[william_h]

+1 strongly. the financial stress of trading-as-only-income is brutal. budget for 18+ months. and have a 'return to work' plan documented so you dont feel trapped if it doesnt go well.

[westcoastjay]

everyone says quit your job to trade full time. literally nobody is asking why. the answer: more time to trade = more opportunities to blow up. day job is the best risk management most traders have.

[Dominic]

i went full time, hated it, went back, and now i trade better part-time than i did full-time the lesson for me was that having a non-trading source of income made me a better trader because i could be patient. trading needs patience

[mattlive]

i went full time in 2020 and never looked back. but i had: 2 years savings, a profitable system with verified track record, and partner income covering essentials. the warnings here are correct for MOST people. for the right person with the right setup it works great. honest self-assessment is key.

[Adam]

depends. usually dont.