You are definitely one of the few, Ironchef, one of the few that does not come to ET with an ego but with simple honesty and humility. And, you have not been lucky at all. You just observed the opportunities presented to you and took advantage of them. I would loved to have been in your circle and known you in real life. Best wishes to you in your second retirement although I know you will always be in the market in some aspect.
Am I the only one that looks at the opportunity cost of Day Trading(high paying job with benefits)?? I am also assuming no one here is talking about Day Trading right out of college,or under 25
that a Gap up / Gap down happens on the stock and the Option I am holding gets slaughtered... just happened to me last week on DDOG
I have a sneaking suspicion that you arent a "derivatives trader" which is probably a good thing. If you are employed,working from home and trading a time frame > 15 minutes, that seems like the best of both worlds..You can always set aside funds for longer term investing..
No, this was I realisation I had when I was younger and somewhat more naive than now. I had quitted my job to go for daytrading. My friends slowly climbed the corporate ladder and bought bigger and bigger homes, while I was stuck and had to admit I failed. I also realized that trading needed a much higher return, eg a minimum of 600k p/a to become somewhat comparable with a 'riskless' job. Suppose you pass 40 and the last 8 years on the resume are daytrading, it is somewhat difficult to explain. Possible yes, but difficult.
Its a terrible bet...... Its one thing if you have accumulated a decent chunk of change, have a solid resume,and could still land a job if Trading isnt as easy as anticipated. And I am talking a 1 year "hiatus"... I had an intern when I traded equity derivatives at an IB..He was probably 25,no rocket scientist and was probably getting payed close to 200k.I believe he was part of a diversity program.. He told me he was leaving to trade on his own,and I couldnt talk him out of it.