OP, sounds like a wise idea to give day trading a break. Certainly some people make a living entirely from trading but a safer bet is to have a good paying day gig and trade/invest on the side. The beauty of this approach is it comes without the opportunity cost looking at the screens all day comes with. I was a full time trader back in 2003 for 18 months. It didn't work out but I left with my capital and sanity mostly in tact. Went back to work in my profession (software)... improved my coding skills all the while knowing I would make some sort of return to trading. Fast forward 7 years later and me and two co-workers are about to release a kick ass web based stock analysis tool. All's well that ends well. fan27
oh boy...another one of these threads....here goes... Get out while you still can...everyone will not be successful I remember spending years of my weekends holed up in the house like a mad scientist only to lose money during the week (ok...I'm exaggerating a bit...I partied like hell too during those times)....took me 12+ years to understand this thing.......it will only click when it clicks nothing is more important than family, friends, and health........let it come to you....in the mean time purse your academic interests
This guy says he is a trader , I don't know but his trading record seems plausible : http://videodl.msri.org/SimonsInterview100311/SimonsInterview100311.m4v it's clear the OP has never had an edge or has been unable to execute it..
What did you want to do, make money every month?? Trading is feast and famine, like many other businesses. Would be nice to make money every month or even every quarter but thats not realistic, so you got to have that patient mindset, otherwise a trader will just get frustrated. But you know all this already. In the last six years i probably made a million dollars trading, paid about 15% in taxes, another 35% went in living expenses. I could of made a similar amount as an IT consultant with less stress, although much more boredom. I stick with trading because of the freedom and potential for hitting a home run feast year.. million dollar+ in one year.
the trick is to buy edges if you can't discover them. 75% of my systems are created by others. I still trade them profitably. however they are only 4% of the edges i bought. so 95% were turds.