Friday, April 30, 2010

My Life as a Currency Trader... (and I thought I would never say that)

Today I want to write a post which has a more personal tone than the other posts you may have read on my website in the past. A few people have asked me about my daily routine and if trading actually leaves room to "free me" from the 9 to 5 life style and provide me with the ability to spend a lot of time with my friends, family, etc. Within the next few paragraphs I will tell you the story of my everyday life so that you can see how my life around automated trading woprks and if this is the type of life style you would want to have. I have to warn you that my life doesn't include monthly cruises to the Caribbean or driving a Porsche out of my drive way but I can assure you that it has many negative and positive aspects, like any other life style has.

I am a big believer in early mornings and I usually wake up sometime between 5 and 6 a.m, usually with the first ray of sunlight. After doing this I usually check my email and answer whatever questions, doubts or inquiries people have sent me during the night, this usually takes me about half an hour although I can get even 25 emails every day which require thoughtful and precise answers (I am a fast typer by the way !). After doing this I like to spend an hour checking on the markets and the systems currently being traded, I check on all my personal, asirikuy and third party accounts and I send emails to anyone who has an account with a problem in order to correct it ASAP (most of the time there are actually no problems). Then I like to watch an old time movie - probably in the style of Indiana Jones or Independence day - or an old episode of Seinfeld (my all time favorite show) while I do my daily 40 minutes of cardio (you're all doing this too right ?).

After this I cook my breakfast and depending on the mood I either spend the rest of the day working or I take the day off and go out to have lunch and spend the afternoon with my girl or my family (which includes hers). I usually work more than 60 hours every week (no kidding), making and preparing videos for Asirikuy, writing the weekly newsletter, designing new systems, researching commercial systems, researching systems developed in forums, testing systems, analyzing data, etc. I often tend to think that the fact that I don't have a 9 to 5 job is actually detrimental to my life in the sense that I tend to over-work a lot, since there is no 9-5 span of time which limits when I work... I just sometimes work all the time !

I do have to say that there are several things I like about my life style, one of the things I like the most is the freedom to cook :o). I love cooking and I have to say that I spend about 3 hours every day preparing meals for myself and my girl when she is home. I am by no means a great cook but I am improving and hopefully in the future I'll be able to eat delicious meals everyday, courtesy of cooking skills developed over years of training. It seems that most chemists end up being good cooks, hopefully I am not the exception !

Now there are other aspects I hate, and the most important of this is that I have no control over when I can be or not be available. Trading - either manual or automated- demands a great deal of focusing and control, it is not an option but mandatory to have a 24/7 internet connection you can use all the time and you cannot simple "get lost" as there are many people (in my case) which count on you and your expertise everyday. So I actually do not work 9-5, in a few ways I work 24/7 .

Maybe I am just a hopeless workoholic but I like what I am doing and I think (at least hope !) that I am making a difference in the sense that I am providing an honest and transparent approach to automated trading without hoping for any massive reward. The earning I get from Asirikuy and this website are quite small (I would have to charge about 50 USD for the subscriptions if I wanted to live from this !) but I think that all the work is rewarded in the sense that I get to live from trading my own systems, I get to improve them as time goes by and I get to do all of this without having to be dishonest, unethical or scamming any poor soul. Will I ever get burned out from doing this and decide to just live from trading and leave the stress of handling my small -yet very time consuming- business ? Hopefully with all the good feedback I get and the satisfation this generates me this won't be the case :o)

If you would like to learn more about my approach to profit from automated trading and how you too can learn to get realistic profits using sound trading strategies please consider buying my ebook on automated trading or joining Asirikuy to receive all ebook purchase benefits, weekly updates, check the live accounts I am running with several expert advisors and get in the road towards long term success in the forex market using automated trading systems. I hope you enjoyed the article !

5 comments:

Unknown said...

Daniel,

Thanks for making your daily routine public. Here are some comments regarding it:
-It's of great importance that a person will be satisfied from what he (she) earns from. Cheers that you've achieved it!
-As far as I understand you haven't become father yet,-use this time for making long journeys to far countries (like China, Australia, New Zealand). You willn't be able to do such trips for a very long while even if you would have money to do this!
-It also would be interesting to know whether it is or isn't dangerous to be a trader in Columbia,-a country, known as drugs producer.

Maxim

Daniel said...

Hello Maxim,

Thank you for your comments and suggestions :o) I am not that much of a traveler but I will take into account your suggestion regarding time, traveling and children.

Regarding the country, it is not too different from trading from the US or from Spain - two countries where I have lived the past 10 years - since most of my money is kept in foreign bank accounts and I am quite simple in my life style I don't draw that much attention. The truth is also that Colombia is now far less dangerous than how it was 10-20 years ago, a time marked by the powerful drug cartels which keeps being part of most people's memories. I like the relaxed style of the country, the absence of seasons and the easiness to change weather (from ice cold to tropical paradise in a 2 hour drive up/down a mountain). You should come here someday :o)

Thank you very much again for your comment and interest ! :o)

Best Regards,

Daniel

townjet said...

Having children will definitely change any routine. I can't remember the last time I got up in the morning, did some exercise and watched a movie. I have to actually schedule a "free day" with my wife to find some time to peruse things such as currency trading, and other activities I like to do because the wife and child take up the rest of my time (soon to be children). When I go to bed at night, that is now talk time with my wife. She keeps me up till 1 am sometimes. So there is no way I can get up as early as some.
In it all, the path I have taken is still worth it though the sacrifice is great. At times I have to admit the grass does look greener on the other side. :)

Thanks for the peek into the life of Daniel the Currency Trader.

JT

Gabor said...

Hi Daniel,

I always wanted to ask that what are the systems that you trust enough to trade them for a living and what risk level do you take?

Gabor

Daniel said...

Hi Gabor,

Thank you for your comment :o) This of course deserves another post but I can tell you that right now I use almost all the systems available on Asirikuy on live accounts, most of the money however is managed by the God's Gift ATR and the Ayotl Trading system. Thank you very much for your comment :o) Hopefully I will elaborate on this matter in a future post !

Best Regards,

Daniel

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