Millionaire TradersQ: During the day, are you trading intensely every hour from
8:30a.m.to 3p.m.?
A: Yes, as long as the market is active. I think to me, or at least for
what I’m doing, it’s getting harder the longer I’m in the business.
So I’m actually working harder. I’ll probably start now at about 7 or
7:30a.m.,and I’ll even trade after hours now when the earnings are
released. I don’t get out much. My wife brings me a bowl of cereal
at noon and that’s about it [laughter]. I just lock myself downstairs
and trade.
Q: How do you maintain your focus for seven, eight hours a day
like that?
A: Well, the market hours are only six-and-half hours long. I
always thought if you can’t work six-and-half hours you’re in big
trouble. It’s a heck of a job and lifestyle, and I enjoy the freedom
to sacrifice six-and-half hours versus going out and working 8 to 12
for somebody else—that scares me worse. So I have no problem
sitting here.
Q: Trading these days obviously costs so much less. You went
from a penny and a half now to basically about a half a penny per
share. Also leverage is quite different these days. Can you talk a
little about how your account is structured now? Do you maintain
as much capital as you used to or do you maintain only a sliver of
equity in your account and keep most of the money elsewhere?
A: Yeah, the model really changed. It went from 2-to-1 buying
power to 4-to-1, so that helps. The LLC model is popular, very
similar to that of a prop model. They pool the buying power and
require a reasonable amount of risk capital.
Q: And then every month you sweep your profits out of the
account and maintain a certain amount?