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my question would be, can an average joe do this? can an average joe pick up a bunch of books, learn the market and make himself rich if he is good enough and lucky enough? don't you need money to make money in this field? (unlike poker where a small deposit can lead to great things if you're good)
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Short answer is no. I work on an energies trading floor (gas, coal, electric power), one of the very few to have survived and prospered over the last 10 years. (I've been there 7 years.) IMO:
1. Poker skills would and do transfer well: successful traders are analytical, highly disciplined, almost never tilt. But,
2. Successful gas traders know much more about the gas market than could be learned from books (and there are some
pretty specific books). It's complicated, and they need to be 100% up on its structure and on current events. The books only get you to rank amateur status.
3. Successful traders require significant organizational support: capital, custom analytical tools, colleague traders working related markets. It's a team game. While the distribution of return results is going to be insanely broad (6-10% one-day moves in gas occur with alarming frequency), trying to go the gas market alone would amount to infinite arrogance.