Me, traded for the last 15 years. Successful for the last 8. Full time research for the last 15. Part time for the last 15. Full time for the last 3.
Here's where we disagree. Making a lot of money doesn't equate to "quality of life". I live in rural North America and am extremely comfortable. I will make enough to be comfortable for the rest of my life, travel anywhere I want, do anything I want and not be stressed by being tied to a Wall Street firm. Even if I owned the Wall Street firm I would have to answer to my clients or shareholders . . . screw em. I would much rather answer to my family and my dog. I might not make as much as some of those Wall Streeters but I consider myself a lot smarter due to my lifestyle and stress level. Oh, by the way . . . I CAN post here today because I made all I need today (Swing and Intraday trading) & slept in, and took 3 walks on the property with the dog, and took my son to school and had breakfast with my wife at the local diner and its not even 1 pm and I'm done for the day. Don't get me wrong, I love the big city but if I want to enjoy the theater, dining or culture of New York, Chicago, Philly, D.C., L.A., London, Paris or anywhere else I can get on a plane and have fun for a few days but then I have the pleasure of coming back home to the reality of the real world. I can walk away from my office anytime I want for as long as I want . . . those robots at JPM or Goldman can't ever do any of that.
^^you don't seem to make a fortune from daytrading though. If you are already semi-retired...from living in an inexpensive city, that is not an example of successful from daytrading. Everyone can do it.
Really, you just said only .0000000001% can. Which is it? I live on a nice country estate and have enough money to live comfortably for the rest of my life . . . I never knew failure could be so nice. Thanks for pointing that out to me. Everyone's definition of success is different I guess. The recently "career challenged" escapee from the grasps of JP Morgan came from the Gas Trading, Global Commodites division as V.P. He now sits in his nice appointed country estate in Canada, swing and day trading as well. I PMed him to tell him, by your standards, he wasn't a success as well. I could see his grin all the way across the country. He wanted me to tell you, "Really, a?" It's warming up here. Think I'll grab the fly pole and head to my pond. Have fun at your desk this afternoon while my dog and I aggrevate some fish. Maybe someday I'll be as successful as you . . . but I sure hope not.
^^Average Wall ST worker's salary is $500,000. It's why top university graduates' dream is to work for Wall Street, not being a daytrader. Daytrading is for the semi-retired group who have saved enough from working all their lives & who are not living in expensive city. Ofcourse, there are Wall ST retirees who are trading with $100 millions- accounts and they can even buy a seat at the NYSE; but we can't use them as example of a successful daytrader who starts from nothing.
This sounds like the nature of most of the successful daytraders I know. Most guys that can do it well, do it, make themselves more than comfortable livings and stick their middle finger up at you every chance they get. If anyone thinks there's someone daytrading billions of dollars in one thing or doing it one way everyday... You probably have limited understanding of the dynamics of the markets. I just can't believe the overall cynicism of the thought that it's a pipedream. What do you think all the boys on the floor of the CME or NYMEX are doing everyday???
If you can't make money is this low risk environment you need to find a new career. A 10 year old could make money in this rigged up market.