“Trading is not the solution to a safe salary and anyone who makes it believe is in bad faith”. To support him, without too many words or false promises, and Andrea Unger, the only one to have won the world championship of trading 4 times, the World Cup Championship of Futures Trading. Yet, despite this, the number of improvised or semi-professional traders is growing year by year reaching six-zero numbers, photographing a phenomenon that is increasing exponentially especially in these two years of pandemic and economic uncertainty. To reiterate this is also a survey conducted by ByTek – a company active in digital marketing – in which it emerged that the searches on Google of keywords related to trading increased by 140% (from 1.5 to more than 3.6 million) .
“Many – explained Unger, a professional trader since 2001 and honorary member of SIAT (Italian Society of Technical Analysis) – have the mistaken belief that one can live on investments, replacing this activity in the workplace, perhaps doing some online courses” . And in fact, as much as some platforms or propagandas let you believe, for the four-time world champion there is no linearity in the revenues: “seeing what happens to me and to many traders of my colleagues, I can assure you that the stability of the entering trading is not linear enough to live on that alone. In fact, it is normal that there are months at a loss, so the important thing is that there is a gain in the long run. Things get complicated in the case of a monthly income, especially if the goal is to have some sort of salary. In fact, if for three months in a row you gain one and then the fourth month you lose three, clearly you will be back where you started. Indeed, maybe you have even spent something, so you will be under ». For the Italian trader, no strategy can present a completely stable trend. «Some strategies can be for a long time and then, suddenly, they stop being and when this happens, they hurt so much. So, despite the final gains there are, we need to evaluate how we got there and also how we felt on a psychological level “. «Some strategies can be for a long time and then, suddenly, they stop being and when this happens, they hurt so much. So, despite the final gains there are, we need to evaluate how we got there and also how we felt on a psychological level “. «Some strategies can be for a long time and then, suddenly, they stop being and when this happens, they hurt so much. So, despite the final gains there are, we need to evaluate how we got there and also how we felt on a psychological level “.
Therefore, trading must predominantly be a passion or a hobby. Of course, it can also be a job, but with the awareness that it is not a permanent job, with a regular salary and predefined hours. «The point is that trading is not the solution to a safe salary, and anyone who makes you believe this is in bad faith. Trading is fascinating, it is beautiful, it can be profitable, it can be a source of satisfaction, but it will never be a source of full economic tranquility, much less that of the classic employee who brings home his salary at the end of the month. To trade, you have to roll up your sleeves and study. It is possible to earn, but not to think of having a constant monthly income, because in fact it is very difficult that it will exist for a sufficiently long time to guarantee our tranquility ».
In trading, the higher the risk, the greater the performance: «I remember, in this regard, that it is never worth raising the risk beyond a certain limit. A truly good systematic trader who adopts a risk percentage of 1-2% per single trade, configuring a hypothesis of a drawdown of 10-15%, perhaps even 20% in cases of extreme market turbulence, can aspire to a earnings of 30-35% per year. Someone will say that 30% is very little, but in fact it is a realistic estimate. Let’s be honest, to say that you can achieve 500% performances, like what you see in the championships, would be a nice and good scam. It would be a bit like if I told you that anyone can run the hundred meters in 9 ”58 just because Usain Bolt can do it. You must never be clouded by mind-boggling figures ».
In fact, examining different brokers, it appears that 76.06% of trading accounts are at a loss, while 93% of traders quit after 5 years. For Unger, therefore, more than talent, it is a question of method: «This means that once the procedure has been explained, even those who do not have a particular talent still manage to put the systems on the market. Of course, there are also people who are absolutely not inclined to trading and to these, for their own good, I advise against it. Trading is not for everyone. It is an activity that yields results thanks to study, application and a proven method ».
