How many daytraders are still out there?

Discussion in 'Trading' started by andrasnm, Jan 19, 2003.


  1. this is what i don't understand: why work that hard for a lousy $60,000?
     
    #31     Jan 20, 2003
  2. Beats working at Starbucks ...
     
    #32     Jan 20, 2003

  3. this is inane. who cares what it's called?

    long term trend followers make 100 times more money than all daytraders combined. for example, Dunn Capital made approximately 50% in 2002- on a billion dollar plus capital base.

    scalability is the only way to really break free. if you measure your output in dollars per hour and can't make money sitting on the beach, you're still in the rat race, no matter what you call yourself.
     
    #33     Jan 20, 2003
  4. That's what I wanted to say, but I didn't want to sound rude. I would never disrespect a persons choices, but while I was daytrading, the stress was much higher, and I was still locked into a 9 to 5, even though I was at home.

    When I became a competent swing trader, I went back to daytrade some, but I realized that , for me, daytrading missed the whole point of why I wanted to go into this business. I wanted freedom from the time constraints, not just the corporate political game.

    Just my 1 cent
     
    #34     Jan 20, 2003
  5. Well, I would agree that if it is was a race to a million dollars, then I would be thinking only about the bottom line. Daytraders do not face the monster gap that swing traders might.

    I was long and large on CNXT on 9/11.

    I was long and large the the day EIX declared bankruptcy, and I thought I was being safe sitting in a utility. ( Doing fundamentals probably would have saved me here, but I am stictly a technical system trader, and I had not learned scalability yet.)

    So I can relate to what you are saying, if it is about the most money in the fastest time.
     
    #35     Jan 20, 2003
  6. Why not work that hard for 60k or whatever.....
    Would you rather take orders from somone in payroll???? Its such a easy way to make a living and it allows more time for one's wife and kids? or whatever one pleases!!!! seriously what more can one really ask for?
     
    #36     Jan 20, 2003

  7. there is only one way to make easy money in this world: be in the right place at the right time, and make sure you're at the head of the line.

    show me a successful trader who doesn't work his butt off and i'll show you the tooth fairy, bogus ET braggarts notwithstanding.

    if I had to choose between employing a low capacity strategy sweating in front of a screen vs working for megacorp and dealing with "payroll," I'd rather make six figures as a suit and plow my cash into real estate partnerships- then quit the job once I had developed a solid income from rental properties and other passive investments.

    if i'm going to put my blood and sweat and tears into trading, i'm going to make absolutely sure that the potential long run returns are huge, and that requires a scalable strategy that can handle serious OPM.

    unless you're going for the major score and building up to take the deep swings, which means scalability to the tenth power and a longer term perspective than intraday, there are just too many other easier ways to attain financial independence than trading.

    jmho
     
    #37     Jan 20, 2003
  8. le140

    le140

    I have a very decent day job, hi pay and the freedom to do what I want and yet I want to eventually leave this job and daytrade fulltime.

    it's the thrill of finding that trade and cashing it in. I have been doing it since 97, not daytrading back then, but it's the thrill of being right. I cant wait til the market open everyday. I've built homes, do rental, fixer upper and many office job... nothing beat this daytrading thing.

    As for sitting in front of the screen all day, my style is for stop loss of 1 or 1.5 pts against me and I trail with stop loss when I have a profit so where is the stress ? also with my risk being small I dont feel the stress. On top of that, u dont have to be in front of your screen every minutes. I put in doublle order for stop loss and cashout when my target is hit and check 1/2 hr or so just to cancel the other order.

    at 3-400 shrs and 3-5 bucks per commission, what 100k /yr in commsions? ~ 7 trades per day X200 trading days = 14k /yr in comm.

    wake up 5min befor the market open and decide what u are going to do to make that kind of money? we are way over pay...:)
     
    #38     Jan 21, 2003
  9. daytrader doing just fine here.:D darkhorse, tough week man?? sorry to here it. never heard so much negative vibes. bad moon rising:Dyeah there are easier ways too make a livin but you aint that goodlooking:D
     
    #39     Jan 21, 2003
  10. vorzo

    vorzo

    le,

    The need to be right is one of your worst enemies, as trading is a probabilities game. You can't possibly be right on every trade because ANYTHING can happen in the market once you take a position.
    You don't have to be right about the market, but rather to act correctly (to your advantage) on the information the market is giving you.
     
    #40     Jan 21, 2003