quote:

Originally posted by FishOn:
Very bad idea. He will fail at it 99.99% odds. Paper trading has very low correlation with real money success. With today's HFT machines out there, day traders do not have the edge they did in the 90s. You may hit one or two good trades, but over time you will not succeed imo. Swing trading over cycles gives a much better chance for success. Also, we are near the end of a 10 year bull market and trading in a bear market is much harder.

Well said. I did it successfully in the 90s.

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A friend was a day trader on margins in the 1990s. He became a multimillionaire and then was broke in 2000.

Same here. I had days I was making over 50K.
But I was never smart enough to quit and walk away. In March of 2000 the momentum suddenly stopped. I went from brilliant to an idiot all at once.

There are a lot easier ways to lose everything that are more fun. Day trading = bad idea.

Stock options would be the way to make some money trading - assuming you have some money to begin with. Even then you would need the data and analysis tools to even begin in a serious manner.

That's how you get patches on your britches.

I hesitated to post this, as what I have to say probably isn't anything much different than what has already been said. And it's still a bit of a sore subject....

In the 90's I was working in IT networking as that sort of thing was becoming very popular and as a young guy I was making a lot of money for someone in their 20's. I had a customer that was a "day trader". Neat guy and claimed he retired twice already, but got bored and kept trading. He had an ADT? connection in his home to allow him to trade stocks. He paid a hell of a lot of money for this connection and was before high speed internet was an option and folks used dial up modems to get on the early internet.....

I got the bright idea that I would try my hand at trading since I thought I knew what I was doing, being in the tech industry. I made a lot of money in the beginning. A lot of people were killing it in the market at the same time. I couldn't walk away in time and lost all of that, and more. Luckily, I never leveraged my house equity to invest.

Hard lessons were learned. My investments now are mainly retirement related and are managed by folks that actually know what they are doing. I will be content just saving money and making money other ways....

Not to say it can't be done. I just ain't gonna be doing that again.....

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Originally posted by Jimineer:
There are a lot easier ways to lose everything that are more fun. Day trading = bad idea.

Stock options would be the way to make some money trading - assuming you have some money to begin with. Even then you would need the data and analysis tools to even begin in a serious manner.

The problem with options is the time factor. You may be 100% right on the direction, but if you are wrong on the timing your options can (and frequently do) expire worthless. That can sting a bit.

My older brother has been a day trader for decades. He has the mind and the drive to do it.... I could never do it. He gets up everyday at ~ 4:30 A.M. and prepares for the opening. He eats AT his computer, and likely doesn't use the bathroom while to market is open. He has been very successful at it, but it is a job with long hours, and requires the right mind set. There is no way I would even consider doing it. I buy a few good blue chip stocks and leave them alone, along with bonds and CDs. I am not a gambler, and learned that lesson many years ago.

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Originally posted by GT-40DOC:
My older brother has been a day trader for decades. He has the mind and the drive to do it.... I could never do it. He gets up everyday at ~ 4:30 A.M. and prepares for the opening. He eats AT his computer, and likely doesn't use the bathroom while to market is open. He has been very successful at it, but it is a job with long hours, and requires the right mind set. There is no way I would even consider doing it. I buy a few good blue chip stocks and leave them alone, along with bonds and CDs. I am not a gambler, and learned that lesson many years ago.

Same with me, I don't think I could do it - all day every day.
I wonder if my friend who is attempting this can too?
I imagine the lure of fantastic fortunes is what is driving him.
He generally does not calculate adversity well and looks primarily on the best case scenario.
There needs to be a balance of skepticism and optimism, IMO.

A local psychiatrist became a day trader. He is again a psychiatrist but working much longer hours.
I know a number of professional poker players. Another hard job.
I invest and have been fortunate.

Hookers and blow would be more fun but you might go away with more than you came with.

I know a guy in Houston that can hook your friend up.

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Originally posted by Jimineer:
Hookers and blow would be more fun but you might go away with more than you came with.

I know a guy in Houston that can hook your friend up.

Thanks but I doubt he swings that way.

There are a couple of programs out there, one by Thomson Reuters and the other by Bloomberg which have an incredible amount of information I would say would make trading much easier. We used them last week during a finance residency at school. But I know for at least one of the programs, the information was delayed by 15 minutes as the intent for them leasing it to the school was for education purposes and not investment purposes.

I have made some money and lost money day trading. Personally I would not do it again. Spent big on GBTC last year and sold some while losing my ass along the way. Held on to some in hopes of at least breaking even at some point. In the holdings I still have, I'm about 4% away from breaking even.

I also hold gold and I'm 27% ahead on that. I primarily hold JNUG or JDST for gold and they seem to have an inverse relationship. My thought is if I'm holding them both, one will make the money while the other is getting ready to make me money.

I was stupid and failed to buy AAPL after it split in 2014, price fell to about $70 and now it's around $200. I believe the general thought is with reinvesting dividends you can double your money in 7 years, AAPL has nearly tripled in 5 years...

Day trading, isn't it like gambling?

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Day trading, isn't it like gambling?

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Pretty much. Betting against Wall Street brokerage houses, computerized trading, inside traders etc.
Odds are better than loaded dice or slots though.

The quickest way to double your money is to fold it in half and put it in your back pocket. — Will Rogers

Day trading is a zero-sum game...less a percent or two. Made lots, lost lots.

A better approach might be to recognize there are economic cycles (however strange these days) and watch for the signs. Then wait a month.

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Originally posted by mcrimm:
I had a client who considered himself a sophisticated trader. He inherited a bunch of cash and now had nearly $1 million to play with. It didn’t take him long to loose it all. I felt sorry for him as he was a good guy.

How to make a small fortune in day trading. Start with a large fortune.

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Originally posted by chellim1:

I had days I was making over 50K.

OMG It takes me, well, a very long time to make $50k.

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Originally posted by Graniteguy:
For every success story in day-trading, there are probably a dozen hard luck stories.

!!

Your numbers are a little low.
Way, way more than a dozen hard luck stories. Sprinkle on some straight out "dumbassery", some "what were you thinking?" A lot of "I really don't know what the hell Im doing, but I think I do"

Sure, there's money to be made in day trading, and the market is going rather well right now, but there's a lot of "stupid" a novice can get into.

There's ALWAYS stories out there that sound the same...
"I was up... no, really UP! Then I lost, then lost some more..."

(Someone said it earlier, it IS a lot like gambling. You need to know when to walk away!)

If he is a good friend, to keep him that way, make very clear straight away that you Will Not lend him money...

As for any advice -- point out well worded beggar's signs and some good locations he may want to remember...

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wait, what? Someone is paying him to do what? Why would any "mentor" do this?

yep. I suspect there is more to that story he is not telling you