I think we all have, at some point, read an article or biography on the best traders in the history of the markets and just stood back in awe of these people. So many names who have made great story's; Buffet (ok.. "investor"), Williams, Darvas, Lynch, Livermore, Cohen. But when I remember back to all those famous traders I have read about, how come I can't remember any of them being day traders? I suppose you would also have to take into consideration the fact that modern 'daytrading' in the sense of the word has only risen in the last 15 years or so, but still. But are there any famous day traders? One's who could stand up to the likes of the titans? I'm only posting this because 95% of the people I come across, even on a great forum such as ET, are interested in day trading. Now, I don't want to judge or point fingers, but does this figure also not seem like the percentage of people (or close to it) of those who will fail at this game? I am making this thread to discuss what some of these great traders would have in common with each other; some common denominating fundamental set of rules or character traits that allowed them to achieve in the markets what so few of us can. Thoughts?
Once the account size grows over 10 million, it's too tough to daytrade in stocks. Just can't hit 50k shares on the bid, can you... Currently most famous traders manage money in billions.
Yes you have a good point there.. But that's not the itch I was trying to scratch. They might manage money in the billions NOW, but I wanted to talk about what allowed them to get to that level.
I have no hard evidence to support my claim, but might it be that the true DAYtrading masters of the past were usually pit traders? Those in the Chicago pits and on the NYSE floor? These guys (and a smattering of women) were mostly flat at the end of the day, counting their winnings. This might be where we want to focus our search...