All the daytraders I knew, -knew, past tense-, now are into other jobs/business. They ALL lost big money, many blew up their accounts, one of them still owes money to the CFM. In the other hand I know many retired buy-and-holders that have done quite good over the years, with minimal effort. I also know some very good position traders (including me, thanks god).
You never met any serious day traders then. I on the other hand know many day traders that have a tight lock on so many discplines of trading that they can scalp or position the market like its an ATM machine.
ever notice, before buying a new car... you start seeing the car you want everywhere. universal law - you find what you seek.
Every guy I met who could play baseball really well either never got signed with a team or never got out of the minors. Therefore I conclude that no one can make money or succeed in baseball.
Then you don't know any pros. What makes day trading any different than longer term? If you don't over leverage, no diff, just time frame. For the record, its all I've done for 21 years now. Full time. I used to work in an office with 20 of them, and the few I am in contact with are still doing well. It is harder for the equity guys as market direction makes a difference to them. Easier for us futures traders when equity markets tank. BTW, I've been a futures trader the entire time if that makes any difference to you I bet you started this thread just cause you can't do it and are frustrated right? Think about it for a minute. If everyone lost money, where does all the money go? Certainly not to the wire houses at today's ultra low commission rates. Gotta go somewhere. Jay
I know pros. All they are managing other people money at financial institutions, with longer time-frames.
What a stupid response. This THREAD is about daytrading and Jayford was pointing out you don't know any pro DAYTRADERS (read his response). You already said you don't know any and how you DO know long term successful traders. You should just say "yes, Jayford, I don't know any pros like you" and be on with it. Why people think that just because THEY don't know something it means it can't possibly exist
You don't know any DAY trading pros. That is what the thread was about wasn't it? try calling Bright in Vegas (and they are only retail, but they will speak with you), and ask for their top trader. Then ask him how long he has been doing it. oh, and what he makes. Dude, you obviously don't know much about the industry if you think all the day trading pros blow up. ANYONE who blows up is trading with too much leverage on any time scale. My style, for example, makes it impossible to do so. i never risk more than 2%, dropping to 1% when I go bad. Losing streaks for talented day traders also have nothing to do with market direction, so they can keep chugging along in crappy markets. Its usually a mental thing, unless they are system traders, but I don't know many day traders that are. Why don't you try this. Go into the ES Journal, which is a day trading site for most of the people there, and find the guy with the most posts. Email him and ask him how long he has been at it. Sure, he could lie, but so could the position guys, so that point is moot. BTW, i am 46 and could retire now if i wanted. From day trading, of which i have spent about 80% of it.
I first daytraded in 1998, and apart from a break of a couple of years where I stopped active trading, I'm still going strong 10 years later.
then why are you here garcia? don't worry, you can always fall back on the family business of lawn mowing. those will always be in demand. good luck