Can you really make a living as a day trader? by Jon Morgan https://www.quora.com/Can-you-reall...Jon-Morgan-28?ch=99&share=b03947a0&srid=3zJ4G
hes crazy . had about 20 trades in 1 day . I day trade future from 8 am to 12pm . aprox 3-4 trades only . I dont think any one can be focused day trading for more than 5 hrs much less 20 trades a day .
The guy lost all credibility with a lot of the dribble that he wrote... Especially this... "... So, yes, I can make a ‘living’ trading. Can you? Probably not. And I say that with the most utter and supreme confidence that I can muster. There are very few things I am absolutely certain about - but you becoming profitable as a day trader from your home? Not gonna happen." ...But to your question? No - you don’t make a living as a day trader. ...But I will tell you right now - DO NOT TRY IT, EVER." You know what I say to that guy? How dare he sit on his mighty throne and say that nobody can do what he does. He does a disservice to the entire day-trading community by espousing that shit. Unless he is all tongue-in-cheek and I am missing it.
I think people on this forum know that it can be done, but I was kinda taken back by below ... At what cost? "They’ve lost their families and their sanity. They’ve experienced such psychological and emotional suffering from their journey to profitability that they are forever blessed and cursed from that journey."
I understand where he's coming from on that front, in that it can be very draining for some folks. He seems to have an exaggerated way of expressing his experiences. But I think it is A.) Wrong for him to tell people that everyone will suffer in the same way and to what degree he did, and... B.) To tell others that unequivocally, and especially as compared to his stellar results, all other readers of his article will fail, they will lose everything, and to not try it ever. P.S. My mind is the opposite of that belief. I believe that most people CAN make a living at it, if they work at it hard enough. I believe in encouraging people rather than dissuading them. After all, the more people we can keep in the markets, the more liquidity there is. And this is good, yes? Yes.
Trading is only stressful if you let it be. Studying stoicism and minimalism may help. The irony is that if you are focused on the end result (money), you will have problems. If you don't care about money at all and focus on the process, your results will be better. Being a trader allows you to free your mind and see the world how it really is. It is an incredibly liberating way to live.
Great post. But in practice, it is very difficult to remove all emotions from the trading. When I am focused in sim, I do very very well. When I am focused in live, I do much less well.