dude it wasn't "easy" back then. if this forum was up back then, you would hear talk of high commissions not covering trading costs (im pro proprietary but if you were retail and traded with mb trading it was nearly 18 bucks a trade for direct access) , amongst the other gripes of the day. whenever markets are tough you see millions of these posts that its "over" for the individual trader. I am hoping this is still the same old thing seen each decade when markets get difficult to trade. im not sure, but there is generally nothing new about this cycle of tough market - lots of complaining. Remember, 90% of all people in the markets still, after all of this time, have the strategy of buying and holding, those people are having a tough tough tough time whenever the market moves up and down or sideways...they take huge losses when they are on the wrong side and get eaten by fees when it's sideways. the other thing to think about is...do you think all of these automated programs are making money? I mean, lets really look at this, the programs are programmed by humans, if you look at human trading, 90% of traders supposedly lose to 10% of traders and the brokers...soo...what makes you think the automation is somehow taking all the profit....i surmise MANY of the automated guys lose too. i wonder how many automated guys override their system when it experiences a large drawdown? or when the markets get too volatile? I have no data...but I think the automation might change trading, but it cannot change losers into winners. The market has always had a high percentage of losers compared to winners. I think that will probably always stay the same.
trading 10 years ago or so was night and day compared to how it is today. in todays market you can get chopped up 10 different ways. back then it was more of a straight ahead approach. funny thing is i didnt even trade size back then i was just starting out. but remembering those setups back then compared to now no contest. big bids and offers, leaning, tape reading, bullets, mocs those are all gone now many traders killed it when this style was booming. my money has been made since 2000 through today i never really got to enjoy that type of trading. what you got to remember was the programs that were started back then were idiot programs. very easy to read and game. today they have smartened up considerably and that is why you are seeing more and more traders struggle.
by the way those high commissions back then of 20 bux or so meant nothing if u were making 6 figures in a day which was not uncommon. today i am happy making 4 figures in a day. i never got to experience days in which traders were making 50k to 100k in a day. those days now are far and few between.
trading wasn't difficult in 2007 2008 or 2009 for me, nor was it difficult in 2002, 2003 or 2004 or 2005, i started in 1999, it was difficult for me in 1999 2000. the one thing you mentioned, bullets, how does the elimination of that make things more difficult for you? i have, except for my merger arb employed days as a trader, been a short only trader from 2003 until now, the elimination of bullets has not, to my awareness, hurt me. the elimination of the uptick rule has made things easier, negating the effect of bullet elimination. am i missing something with that....do you understand it differently? thanks for your response. i appreciate it.
all i am saying is those edges i mentioned dont work as well today as they did back then. bullets were a great way to get around the uptick rule today with the elimation of it you dont need bullets i agree. the overall orderflow is disquised a hell of alot better today than it ever has been. this in turn makes it harder to identify a trend or ride somebody elses coat tails.
I have a strange feeling that we'll be seeing a lot more of these "R.I.P" related threads on day trading in the future. I said it before: Unless traders learn to automate their trading, 99.9% of traders just wont make it. I'll give the benefit of the dout to those here that claim to be pro day traders, in which case... "Congrats to being in the .01% club!"
nope. the nyse giveth, the sec can taketh away. look for the sec to create anti-automation programs slowing down or outright eliminating flash trades, front-running, hft's, and algos, to where the balance of power is restored back to the original intent of the securities act. the world can't sustain another crash like 2008 or 1929 again. and it won't. QUOTE]Quote from konviction: I have a strange feeling that we'll be seeing a lot more of these "R.I.P" related threads on day trading in the future. I said it before: Unless traders learn to automate their trading, 99.9% of traders just wont make it. I'll give the benefit of the dout to those here that claim to be pro day traders, in which case... "Congrats to being in the .01% club!" [/QUOTE]