Why Trade?

It's a simple question really, but I think it bears some pontification. Why do we trade, what do we hope to accomplish and how do we hope to benefit? Many of you might be silently thinking (or even thinking out loud); we trade to make money (duh). This is certainly one answer, and a valid one at that. However, I think that there are plenty of other ways to make money as well. So why does a person choose this method of making money? Or is that the only reason we trade?

For my own personal journey into the world of trading, I started off wanting to find a business model that was successful and either start or purchase my own business. The primary motivation at the time was to pursue a career that couldn’t be taken away from me by downsizing, rightsizing or any other crazy corporate nonsense. Although I hadn’t personally been through this, I had watched several friends and family struggle to rebuild their career after the rug had been pulled out from under them. Additionally, I feel that the least intelligent people tend to rise to upper management and that I didn’t want to be ruled by idiots. Lastly, I wanted the personal freedom to set my own work hours and vacations. One of the most criminal things is seeing low-paid employees having to beg to get more than 3 days of vacation at a time.

The goal of finding a financially and emotionally rewarding business led me through a series of different interests until I finally discovered the Forex market through a friend of mine. The markets interested me with several key business benefits not found in most other businesses: 1) interesting work, 2) flexible hours, 3) work anywhere, 4) no employees (gotta love that), 5) no customers (even better), and 6) low initial capital investment. Although some of the other factors were important, for example flexible hours, the best and most compelling aspect was that I found this work to be interesting and not tedious. And if you think about it – that is the ideal business.

Two years later and many markets, timeframes, indicators and strategies later, I still feel the same way about #1. I haven't yet quit my day job - but I feel that day is coming soon. I enjoy getting up each morning and trading the markets – it’s the best thing I will do all day (whether I’m profitable or not that morning). As long as that remains true, I will continue to trade. How about you, what is your reason to trade?

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