My track record goes a lil' something like this: 98-99: Didn't trade real money too much, just gave my dad advice. My "tips" did well, but everything did well. Honestly, I didn't know what the hell I was doing. 00-01: Open my first own account with 2k, trading actively on Datek with $10 commission. Yeah, start laughing...Now here's the real punch line, I didn't even know what shorting was... Basically lost it all and fast 01-02: Spent time read books and ALOT on the web. Starting trading with real money again after about 6 months. Came in with 5k, expected to be a millionare by the time I graduated, but lost about half of it 02-03: Things went well grew account and recovered all previous losses 03-04: Starting selling (writting) QQQ options since researching many stocks takes way too much time. School and work really get in the way. So I keep it simple only having to predict the general direction of the market. I win 2 out of 3 times automatically (because of the time decay factor), if the market goes the way I predict or if it remains flat. Account at over 10k.
And BTW, I think INTC is great and all, but computers just aren't my passion. When I was deciding on a major back in high school, I literally picked up an occupations book and saw what majors made the most money with the least amout of school time. Back in 99-00, CSE majors were not only making the most after 4 yrs of college, they were getting HUGE bonuses... Anyways, I think all of you know what I will end up doing no matter what anyone tells me. Yeah I know only 10% of day traders make it, most of them lose ALL thier money, etc... But trying to tell an aspiring day trader that is like telling a little kid that he probably won't grow up to be an NBA player...
But trying to tell an aspiring day trader that is like telling a little kid that he probably won't grow up to be an NBA player... And about as realistic. peace axeman
I hope your end-result is a little better than the kids dreaming about becoming NBA players. I think you should stick with Intel for 3 years or so to build up your experience. Once you have enough experience that you can easily find a job, then take a year off and trade. At this point, it seems like you don't have much experience in your field (internships don't count for much), and Intel would look pretty damn good on your resume. -Fast
man, And I thought CSE majors were smart. Or maybe you are just a naive kid. You ARE a newbie if you haven't heard the story about prop trading and "daytrading" in the era of decimalization and range contraction. You'd go to waste . Get a job, with your background work on developping a system, build an EOD system so you can make money "automatically" like you say.
If you have any trading skills at all, you can make good money with EOD data. I did it for years. The idea that you need to daytrade to make money as a trader is ridiculous. And you'd be a fool to give up solid opportunities to gain professional experience. You can always trade full time later in life when you have grown your account, gained confidence, and have a career to fall back on.
Trade part time while working at intel. Your aim should be to make 300-400K just from your trading account before you become full time. It appears you have 10K now, add some capital over time to make it 50K and then don't add anything and try to achieve the 300K goal. Also managing 300K is very different than managing 5K. I think one needs to learn to trade bigger accounts first before they go full time. This will be a painful and long path but in the long run you will have a much higher chance of actually making it as a full time trader. People under-estimate the time it takes to become a good trader. Unless you really make the mistakes, you won't truly learn and appreciate the lessons, and you need time and capital to overcome your initial set of mistakes.
why do you think it is easier to turn 5,000 into 400,000 trading part time then it is to be a succesful day trader?
I think many of you are correct. Made me realize, why should I change my strategy when what I'm doing is working perfectly fine? I could work and trade, its probably the smartest thing for me now. "Risking it all" is more of a hollywood story, and as we all know this isn't hollywood... Damn. Damn. Damn. Would have been fun... Thanks for the help and the reality check. I still may take up day trading in the future though, after I've established myself.
Hey kid, Screw these naysayer's. You'll be surprised at what you can achieve when you really want to. Follow your dreams. I did. I started in the business late, I was 25. I'm much older than that now. I've always regretted not starting at 18. You're going to be fine either way. Best, Dr. Z You can read this thread and tell who makes make money and who doesn't