I never heard a friend who runs resturant goes belly up, but I frequently heard some people lost money in the market. trading is mor chanlleging than a normal business. trading terrain is so dynamic. also you can not see who is buying and selling. you just see the up/down of the ticks. this volatility will create eyesight blindness. but in a business, you know who is your custmoer, you can study them, and deliver what they want. to be honest, I bleive trading is easier than a business. why? since everyone has no visibility, it is a fair competition. in business, others have some business partiner networks, or more capitial, or more political/social advantages,.. if you want to run a retail sale around wal-mart, that is noway you will survive. this also says running a business is better than trading if youhave those advantages.
You really think everyone is as blind as you in the markets? The information flow for 95percent of the people on this board is as bad as grandma Millie as she tries to understand her electricity bill.
Right ... like big brokers see client order flow and may front run big orders, or the HFT that supposedly provide liquidity.
You don't even bother with day trading , you better off fixing cars and doing carpentry for long term , you can always swing trade and make more money.
Trading is less risky than starting a business because with trading you can hedge risk with options and diversification (IE SPY and options trading)
The more you work at business the more you make. Trading without the magic you will just keep losing no matter how hard you work. There is no correlation between business and trading your own money. Zero nada zilch.
oh yeah.. this is true ok..you are hedged. cool. this mean what? guaranteed profit or limited loss? how is this different from having stop for example?
I am an owner/operator of a small business, and I also trade, although I tend to be more of a position/swing trader, which is much easier than day trading, IMO. I find both are very difficult. Obviously it has to be that way, or everyone would be doing one or both. Who would put up with being unemployed or facing the corporate world, if owning your own business were easy? The same could be said for trading obviously. The real answer to your question, is that it probably depends on the skillset of the individual. Personally, I find operating and building a business more challenging. Any time you have customers and employees (and we have a lot of them because we're in a low per-employee/customer business), you have a lot of stressful bullshit to deal with. There is rarely a month that goes by that someone doesn't threaten a lawsuit (mostly employees but sometimes customers). You have: -Worker's comp claims by employees -Liability and property claims by customers -An endless amount of governmental regulation and paperwork -Tons of liability defensive practices, which is mostly wasted time. -I literally have months where I average 110+ hours/week of work time -Obtaining financing -Sales tax, unemployment taxes, income taxes, employer payroll taxes, use taxes as well as 6 different forms of insurance coverages and countless permits, fees and licenses go along with businesses. Of course trading has its own set of problems. Both are very difficult, and mathematically improbable, which is exactly why you have such high income potential.
Seriously if you don't know the answer to your question, you should leave trading and never look back.