There is a world of difference between day trading and trading. Forex is a joke-no idea why people think they can succeed, frankly. Sure 1 or 2% might make money some of the time but it is mostly a delusion that people can trade short time frames successfully. I trade options with a time horizon from 4-40 days. I 'undertrade', make money and sleep very very well. I keep seeing people beating themselves up because they cannot figure out day trading. They think it 's a noble cause, and doubtless they are good people, but why oh why would you stack the odds against yourself? Don't jump in the bear pit, or try to cross minefields when you don't need to. In fact it's like crossing a busy street blindfold.
How can you know how long it takes to learn something that you cannot learn? Something is wrong in your statement. The problem is that those who can teach, will not. I teach. First of all it takes months to be able to copie my trading behavior, it is not just knowledge, it is mainly and most difficult about "behavior" and reprogramming the human brain to act in a different way. And do it fast. And second I teach to my children only. Why teach to future competitors? And for how much money? A few thousand dollars? I compare it with an invention. Nobody will give away his "invention" that is generating a constant flow of income, unless for millions or even billions of dollars. Google "patent", all these people could teach but don't want to.
People mentor for all kinds of different reasons, usually for the wrong reasons and they not very good at it, some mentor when they get large enough "bank" of funds and don't feel they will see it as competition. Those who teach for huge fees are done after weekend or a week cause they know whatever they teaching is not going to work or they be automating it or manually trading it themselves. And when you mentor someone, you better expect to be still be there for them up to few years, as it is going over the same concepts day in and day out. You have to take a person who tried to do it on their own and 1000 reasons of why they don't get it, you have to change their ideals of everyday living is opposite when you trade, you go over areas so many times as you have to change what is keeping them back till you break how they view trading. Let's face it, we are all sheep when we first start trading, we all do same things and unless a boulder hits you in the head, you be going at it alone many many years to come. Money equals STRESS, and anytime we are willing to just give it away, most of us go into shock, can't think, like deer staring into headlights, there is much to overcome, way too many have it spent before even knowing how to turn on computer. It is a game that is addictive, and thankfully for many they lose. The best get the proceeds and others continue to dream. Don't ever think those who finally get it are out on golf course by 10am, they have put in years of work on solving their behavior problems and lack of testing. It is doing what others see as waste of time. It is taking position who others see as fool hardy. If I had to, I can get up exactly when market opens and start trading, but then there be no coffee. I trade day after Thanksgiving and any day market is open to see if I am good enough, we all have our flukes. You either stay on top of your game or you dream bout getting good again.
IMO the trading is probably 80 percent intuition. Familiarity with your market or product is everything. A strategy rounds out the remaining 20 percent. How many decades have the pitch of winning strategies and training/education been bleeding the pockets of wide-eyed newcomers. If what they were selling and preaching were truly the answer, there would be a ton of consistently profitable traders.
I am happy I never received that advice, or I would be by now a poor average Joe. There are a lot of inventions that needed much more than 5 years to come to maturity. A good trading system is also a kind of "invention".
So true, and like Edison and lightbulb who didn't invent the lightbulb, nor did anyone of us invent trading, Edison kept improving all his inventions and takes years to get good with inventions and one's trading. http://www.edisonmuckers.org/thomas-edison-lightbulb/
If we treat trading as a skill then it may take less than five years. If we treat trading as an invention it may take many years. Second thing is efficiency. Chart reading is a creative skill. Data reading is an analytical skill. Treat trading as an art you will get the most out of it and in reasonable time. Treat it as science you will become more of an inventor than a trading businessman. A fundamental thing is that trading is a business which is basically an art. Tell me one business in the world where business decisions are automated. Business is predominantly an art not science. Analytical personality has to die for the creative personality to be born. This is all about game of attachment and transformstion. Attachment towards our old personality will not allow us to create a new personality. What is there to analyse in swimming or drving a car. Just do it. Trading is a creative business skill. It is an art of business psychology.
How many years needed to learn day trading ? How long is a piece of string?...It varies with each trader because traders apply different levels of complexity to trading and thus have different interpretations of what learned trading is. As others have mentioned, if you adopt a simple approach and filter through all the misinformation quickly you can probably learn a solid method in about 2 years.