Has anyone really defended the decision to day trade as a 'wise' choice, yet? What do you think? I mean, you 'love the markets', cool (so do I!), but why day trade? On what basis is a better choice than longer term trading? I can't think of any. (I can think of plenty that I used to tell myself, but now that I'm looking at it with my head rather than my heart, those reasons don't fly at all.)
Danny, I am somewhat unique in that when I started in 97' I had absolutely no intentions whatsoever to "day-trade". All I knew was that I had made alot (for me then) of money swing/position trading from 93 to 97 and when I couldn't get my business plan financed (best thing that ever happened to me ) I figured I would just live off of my account and continue to trade (equities weeks to months and in some unique cases -- US Robotix and Mcafee Software to name two, years) until I had made the capital I needed to start the biz. Nine months and 75k later when I had the money made I was having soooo much fun getting stoned and researching stocks all day that it seemed ridiculous to do what I had initially intended to. I guess my point is that I am not a "day-trader". I have never been interested in nickel and diming the market. There are people out there Danny who do what a lot of part-time swing and position traders do, but just without that other thing called a 'day-job'. All that said, I think if someone has the proper experience, is well capped (min 100k - pref 200k), and comes in with reasonable expectations, this is about as smart a risk as any of the myraid of businesses you can choose to start. I am truly sorry that you didn't cut it, because I genuinely like you. But I have to say that in your case it was probably 1/3 stupidity (for thinking you could make a living on 30k), 1/3 not enough experience/skills, and 1/3 you simply didn't have enough heart for what you were doing. Anyway I wish you all the luck in the world with whatever it is you choose to do with yourself. PEACE, Commisso
spect..... I haven't read all the thread, but have you considered a combination of day trading and swing trading?
Osman..... I'm just going to give you a warning this time. Positive thinking/comments are generally not allowed around here!!!;-)
lack business planning is the main cost of business failures. that leads to lack of capitalization. most people think they can make money when they started. this is especially not true for businesses, because they need a good period of time to be known to the public and a chance to gain loyal/repeat customers. it usually takes more than a year. most sucessful business have planed (enough cash) to stay open (unprofitable) for more than a year. it is somewhat analogous to trading. people think they can make money immediately. but not knowing that the learning curve is very high. and it requires hard work. hard work is not most day trader came to do! thats the attractiveness of day trading in the first place. quick money!!! they learn it the hard way, and the big boys on wallstreet are not affraid to take the cash.
"coulda...shouda...woulda...only if.....etc..etc..." these string of words used very frequently in the dating scene. i could've done this, that, blah blah blah. loser talk. the same goes for trading. decisions were made, i lost. what happend? why did i do this? i swing trade. it is very hard to look back at my trading mistakes in the beginning. it hurts. it hurt even more after i made a string of mistakes. but its something i starting to get used to inorder to learn much more from it. to learn about the self, learn about why i did it. after many careful studies, i can spot the coulda... shoulda situations. but when i cover up the chart back in to to the position where i actually made the decision, i can see the subtle details that suggested i violated my trading rules. i think most traders are soo pumped up that they cannot face their mistake, therefore, never learn from it. any thoughts on that one?
I believe that when one decide to trade for a living he should first ask himself how much he wanted to make every month. Most of the people I know when I tell them I can make 100% a year they are pretty impress and wanted to try trading for a living. Some will quit job and pursue trading for a living. When taking a closer look they actually wanted to make $5000 a month with only a $10000 account. (90% of the people fall here which is why most people losses money in trading) For me I only withdraw profit after a year because I know that during months of trading some month I will make $20000 while some month I will lose $10000 but important is I will achieve my 100% in 12 months time. When I told people that if you want to make $5000 a month or $60000 a year you need to have at least $60000 in your account + a very good system. The moment they hear me saying $60000 in the account they look at me like a idiot and venture on their own. Nevertheless most of them join back the workforce in a couple of months time.