David interviews Mark McRae about why he does other things besides simply the business of trading.
Mark: I remember there was a friend of mine who wanted to get into trading, and he wanted to know if it was hard or difficult, and I said to him, “I’m actually psychic. I’ll prove it to you, I’ll show you how easy this market is.” It was the first Friday of the month, and it was 8:30, New York time, and I put him down on the market and said, “In thirty seconds, this market is going to shoot up — or down, but it is definitely going to go one way”, and he said “I don’t believe you.”
And he’s watching this and the market leaped like 200 points in 30 seconds, and he goes “Wow! Can you do this every time?” Yes, that was actually before news trading became so popular. You can’t predict what is going to happen to your money management, and staying in the game is the most important part.
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 and sitting on the beach somewhere just counting your dollars?
Mark: That’s an easy answer – to make money. I mean, that’s why I teach people how to check the markets. It doesn’t matter how philanthropic you would like to be, your first objective is to make money for whatever you are going to do with it. But there are lots of different parts of the business of trading, and if you think of learning trading, you probably couldn’t learn how to count, unless somebody read a book to you some time. Somebody has to teach somebody. Now here I am. I’m in Australia, in Melbourne, and I’m not trading.
So even though a large part of your trading — you really have to be active in trading if you are going to be active, even if you use daily charts, you have to monitor it on a regular basis. So when I can’t, on occasions like this, the royalties, or the money that I make from selling books and courses, or I don’t teach people anymore, but the little money that I make from the other interests in trading is what helps support me.
It takes out the fluctuations if you like, because trading, regardless of how well you do, has ups and downs. So the teaching part, or the educational part, brings in enough income to take the pressure off when I’m not trading, and affords me the luxury of doing things like this, coming over here and seeing you guys. So why do I teach if I’m so successful trading? To make money.
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 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.