David holds an interview with Trader Mark McRae over his interests outside of trading.
Mark: There was a good friend of mine at one point who wanted to try trading, and his question to me was exactly how difficult it was. My answer was: “I’m actually psychic. I’ll prove it to you, I’ll show you how easy this market is.” At that time it was the first Friday of that month, and the time was eight thirty, Eastern standard time. I put him on the market and told him that it was going to go up, or it was going to go down in about thirty seconds, but it was going to go in one direction regardless. Naturally he did not believe me.
As he watched, he was amazed when the market went up two hundred points in the period of time that I had predicted. He asked me if I could always do that, and I said yes. You have to understand that this was the time before news trading became popular. Predicting what will happen with money management is hard, and staying in the game is of crucial importance.
David: Okay. This leads me to a question I do want to ask, because it is one thing that crops up all the time. People always like to know, if you are so successful trading the markets, why is that you are out there teaching others how to do it? Wouldn’t you be better off trading the markets using your own trading system and sitting on the beach somewhere just counting your dollars?
Mark: That’s not a bad question, and it’s actually a pretty simple answer. Why do I do anything I do? I do it to make money. This is why I teach others how to use the market. Almost no one would be able to use the market if someone didn’t teach them the business of trading, and money should be the primary goal. For instance, I’m not trading right now.
Throughout your trading career, you need to be active. Sure, you might be using daily charts to keep track, but you need to watch them as often as possible. Right now I’m making money. Copies of my books are being sold and I’m making royalties from them, and that miniscule amount of money will help me to get by.
When you trade you will find that it goes up and down a lot, and when I teach, making money that way, I don’t have to deal with the fluctuations. The pressure is gone, and it lets me do other things. For instance right now I’m talking to you guys.
David: I think that’s a good answer. What are your thoughts on how much money do you need to actually make trading your full-time gig. Should other people look at other things as well, like yourself? You’ve got courses about stock trading system and things like that that you do. Is that something that other people should aspire to, or what are your thoughts on that?
Mark: I think you should do it. As long as it is morally acceptable to you, there is nothing wrong with doing anything inside the business of trading or any other business that you want to do.