26 year old professional day trader Marcello Arrambide of WanderingTrader.com works a couple of hours a day trading futures while travelling the world. In this interview Marcello explains what day trading is, how he got started and talks about some of his travels.
Interview Summary
01:11 Where are you now?
(Buenos Aires)
01:39 What is day trading?
(Essentially taking profits from the differences in moves in the stock market.)
02:04 What exactly are you trading?
(Indexed futures.)
04:50 Do you make money on every trade?
(No, losing is part of the game. It is all about probability. Make sure you win more than you lose.)
05:18 Do you have negative months or weeks?
(No, negative days. That is about it. When people get consistent enough it is rare to have losing days in a row.)
05:50 Do you have some algorithm or computer program that helps you determine when to buy and sell?
(It is a set of indicators. It is not a red light or green light that tells you when to get in. There is a set of rules you have to follow but within those rules there is some wiggle room for discretion in terms of profit targets… In the stock market it all works with probabilities. The same things happen over and over again.)
06:55 It sounds a little risky, on your about page it says you lost $25,000 when you started?
(It is the simplest hardest thing to do because it is simple to understand but hard to execute. It comes down to emotion and discipline and if you can follow the rules.)
07:39 How did you learn?
(I bought a few courses, did a lot of study, spent hours of back testing… I spent so much time to develop a strategy.)
08:20 And you are teaching others how to day trade now?
(Yes.)
08:23 What is more profitable, teaching how to day trade or actually day trading itself?
(They are about even.)
08:37 How long does it take for a novice to learn how to day trade?
(Depends on how much time they put in. Ballpark between a month and six or seven months.)
09:00 What would they learn? How to use a system? How to look for the right opportunity?
(It depends on the system you use. -He explains why he doesn’t like automated systems.- With a discretionary system… it takes practice to learn how the market moves and where to get in.)
10:00 You can’t just go on and trade, you have to wait for the right moment?
(Right, there may be a day when I don’t take a single set up… There is a split second to take advantage.)
10:40 Tell us a little about your travels?
(I’ve been travelling since I was little. I am from Venezuela. I lived part of my life in Venezuela. Part of my life in the United States. Then I moved to Italy. … Sicily, Malta, The Caribbean, Canada, Uruguay, Argentina, Paraguay, Iceland.)
11:22 Do you have a favorite country?
(No, it is favorite things from specific places.)
11:45 How about a least favorite?
(Venezuela because it is backwards there at the moment.)
12:11 What is the cheapest country you have been to so far?
(Paraguay)
12:36 Can you give us an idea of your travel expenses?
($1500 to $2000 per month.)
13:46 Any advice for aspiring day traders or nomadic travellers?
(Do your research. You don’t want to get burned. The best way to find an apartment is to go and stay at a hostel then look around the city. If you want to find places online, I recommend Craigslist. )
Links
WanderingTrader.com Marcello’s blog.
Follow Marcello Arrambide on Twitter
Excellent interview!
I have met and spoken to a few people involved in spread betting (which from what I can gather is day trading on indexes) and forex trading over the past few months. After sitting down for hours with these guys trying to gleam tidbits of how I can get started, I am usually left just as confused about day trading as I was before I started the conversation. After checking out Marcello’s site however and reading his day trading introductory posts (linked to below) I think this is something I will be diving head first into over the next few months. Thanks for the introduction to what seems to be a brilliant way to fund a travel filled lifestyle, here are the posts I referred to earlier:
http://www.wanderingtrader.com/2010/06/04/whatisdaytrading/
http://www.wanderingtrader.com/2010/05/25/ever-thought-of-owning-your-own-business-working-for-yourself-consider-day-trading/
http://www.wanderingtrader.com/2010/05/27/owning-your-own-business-working-for-yourself-%e2%80%93-get-started-day-trading-part-2/
Thank you John, Marcello and Lewis. This was a barrage of information, that is very useful!
.-= Slava´s last blog ..Mountain Treks in Northern Thailand =-.
Day trading is easier said then done regardless of the instrument traded. Proper risk management is very important. Risk management should be the main priority when investing and is more important then thinking about all the profits one can potentially make. Your readers should do their due diligence before thinking about “day trading for a living”.
It’s great to hear that Marcello is doing very well and with no monthly losses either, that is impressive (that would put him as one of the best in the world… ahem, sure, ok, whatever…). But I have to question; why bother teaching when one has a track record of no monthly losses? The profits one can make trading futures is huge such that the income from teaching would be irrelevant. Sorry, but not buying his story… just my two cents.
A very interesting interview, John, and dig the video! Using iMovie?
Always been interested in stuff like this, though I’m not sure I’m disciplined enough to sit down and learn the market well enough to justify any kind of significant trades.
@Lewis Thanks for the comment and links Lewis. I appreciate you digging up some more background information.
@Slava Thanks for taking the time to comment. I appreciate the feedback.
@Marco I agree that day trading sounds very risky. I have read stories of many traders that lost huge amounts of money. I hope it didn’t come across as being easy in the interview.
I did ask Marcello about why he was teaching, but it was cut out of the interview because of the YouTube 15 minute limit. He said that he enjoys the teaching part but the trading is more profitable.
@Alan I am getting back to these video interviews because of our conversations. Thanks! Yes, it was done in iMovie. (Very easy to use.)
I don’t think I am that disciplined either, although I did look into day trading in the past. I also know someone that did well from European sports betting arbitrage. I looked in that also. My feeling was that both were a lot of work and time for something that would only be very stressful everyday.
Interesting interview. Always great to see how other people manage to fund their world travels. We met Marcello in Montreal and Toronto and he is definitely not hurting for money, so I tend to think that he is doing okay in the day trading department. Love the video and summary, great idea!
Greetings Dave and Deb,
Thanks for the comment. Marcello is the first travelling day trader I have heard of so it was interesting to hear his story.
We were in Montreal as well this summer but left on the day I discovered Marcello online. I should have looked you two up as well.
I kind of agree with Marco. As a trader myself (not day trader), I discovered with time that traders (and human in general) remember more their good shot than their bad shot. A lot of trader you talk with, they will give you the impression they make a lot of money at first. Then, when you start knowing them better, they often confess that they also lost a lot, and at the end if you sum everything together, the profit isn’t that high. I don’t think they do it in a mean way or with bad intention BTW. I think it is just human nature, you tend to talk about your good side & stories first.
On the other hand, I do have some moral issues with day traders. These people are not bringing anything to this world, they are just sucking out money from the system. If everybody was doing that, the system would just crumble…
Just my 2 cents & sorry if I offended any day trader :p
@Marco – every day trader loses money. Losing money is part of the game. I do not lose money often but I can tell you that I do lose money. Any trader that tells you he doesn’t lose money is a liar. I do however have about a 70-90% win ratio and win roughly 15-20 days out of a 20 day trading month. Marco I actually teach and day trade simultaneously and when I am not teaching I trade on my own.
@Pascal – I would agree with you if I was trading actual stocks that would affect the market. I trade in the futures market, emini S&P 500 to be exact. I do not take possession of any stock nor do I sell it. Since these contract are based off the S&P the actual movement of the index is based by the buyers and sellers of stock in the companies in the actual index. I am a mere speculator, I take calculated risks based on previous patterns and probabilities and then minimize my risk as soon as possible.