This has been on my mind a lot recently. I am seriously considering taking the plunge and becoming a full-time daytrader. My gains have been modest, but atleast I'm still in the black. I am having difficulty understanding why I want to become a daytrader. The money can be nice and the action can be exciting at times (but can be rather boring when I follow my rules to the 't'). I'm sort of in a quadary. I graduated from a top-10 university and was planning to go to law school until I was bitten by the trading bug. I just hope if I pick trading as a career, it won't be short-lived for whatever reasons. So fellow traders... what were your original motivations on becoming a daytrader. Has your drive waned since? Are you still happy with this "career"? How long have you been in it? Thanks everyone!
Burnout at times, but then I just take time off. I also trade in blocks of only about two or three hours most days. Original motivation was the freedom it provides to do anything I want, and live where ever I want. Still stoked as far as that is concerned. Can't think of a better career. I've been a full time day trader since April, 1987 (yep, just a few months before that little episode in October of that year). I have taken sabbatical of up to 5 months on a few occasions though, where I did nada. Jay
Make sure you know how to run a proper business, make sure you have been profitable for the last few years, make sure you have ample capital, good risk/money management skills.... Trading as a career can be a great one, but also a very bad one. Make sure you don't base your decision on what other people have to say. If you think you can do it, give it a shot! The perks that a prospective trader thinks and bases their decision on in terms of whether to peruse this career or not, is simultaneously the beginning and end of their trading career. -Kastro
To answer the title question: YES. A little over five years now and it is more interesting now than when I started. You will never learn all there is to know about trading in one lifetime, imo.
Thanks for all the response guys! Is it a bad sign that my parents are very against it? I think they are against it for the wrong reasons though. They feel that I dropped $120k in education for nothing and that "anyone" can just be a trader. Pssssh. How long did you guys trade before you decided that you were going to do it as a career?
Did your parents pay for school? If they did, then I would have to agree with them! You must understand how they feel and not fight with them on it. It's risky, VERY risky, so understand that they want the best for you. Help them understand what you plan to do with this career. I think it is very foolish to start trading full time now! Get a good paying job, make some money and then trade. The markets will always be here, so try not to rush it my friend. -Kastro
Why can't you continue as a part-time student and part-time day trader? Consider that people who have become disenchanted with day trading for whatever reason, are probably not following this board. You're not hearing their opinions, or possibly regret, about taking up daytrading fulltime.
Your parents are correct, ANYONE can be a trader. Get a good job and make a steady 100k a year, trade on your spare time. When you are bored with life, come back and be a trader or trade part time. This is coming from someone who's been around the block.
You only live once, and if you are making a calculated risk early in life, I dont see what the problem is. You have to remember, most people on this planet are doomed to mediocrity, whether they want to admit it or not. The markets are one of the few avenues that allow the avg person to make large sums of money "relatively" quickly. Almost all other career structures limit your ability to really excel financially to the same extent as the free markets. So, if given adequate time combined with hard work and the right attitude, you can make great things happen for yourself. Of course, most will never succeed in this business, but, to those that do, life can be pretty sweet. I, myself (27 yrs old), started full time trading towards the end of 2003 and fully became profitable (5K+ a month at least) in Oct 2004. There were many times that I thought about doing something else when I was struggling for the first year, but I kept at it and am now pretty financially stable (hope I didnt just jinx myself) .