Next year will be the big 5-0 and I'm happy that one of the top drummers in the country has named me as one of the hottest guitarists he's ever played with (I'm a shredder and he's 25) and I love scalping. Looking forward to the next 10 years and getting hotter on the guitar and the markets. You're as young as you feel! My brain feels sharper than ever and I expect to be die looking at a screen and daytrading - God willing that will be years from now. God bless and thanks to those many years older than me who have contributed to this thread and encouraged me that I'm still a young buck. If you're younger than me - kick ass!
I am one of the four or five remaining charter subscribers to Futures Magazine (used to be called Commodities), that is how long I have been trading and I am in my sixties. I love to trade and I am day trading ER2 and Crude these days and I have never had more fun trading. What younger people do not perceive is that as one acquires more experience one is getting away with using fewer of ones resources and trading is actually easier and it also helps that the entire trading environment has evolved to facilitate the trader. Scalping and day trading is not just robotic activity but also gamesmanship and if there is one thing where an older person may have an edge is being more cunning, at least I know I am.
I'm a retired USAF fighter pilot whose reflexes may have been above par in my twenties and are now still pretty good, but I rely on experience. I keep my eyes open and am always watching. After a while you get to the point that a trade either looks good on instinct or it doesn't-end of story. I am highly adept at computers and I still prefer manually trading as opposed to auto. Happy Holidays to all mjh
i am 35, well... 36 in 5days, i think and the first pc i had was a zx81 [1k-byte of memory!!]at the age of 9. second pc was a zx spectrum16k then upgraded to 48k. those were funny gadgets few of us had in the whole country and boy if i miss those rubber keys!
I found it amusing how often you had to redefine the term: "daytrader", and had to reclarify what you meant. The other term that used to be used was sophisticated investor. There really is a difference between the licensed broker that trades frequently for his/her own account and the retail investor that trades frequently. That was another category that perhaps was missed being described.
I started as a straight in, straight out equities daytrader and made out nicely in the bubble... Decimalization cramped my style as did a period of demotivation... I am now a position trader (long and short) who makes a living on perhaps 5 plays a year... this style is NOT income generative, it is all about capital growth... my annual % returns are larger than I made as a daytrader (except during the bubble)... and this is taking into account that I am now playing with considerably less of the house's margin (just goes to show the power of sitting with plays that are working out)... To trade this way, you need other income stream/s since the whole point about position trading is that you stay with your winners for as long as possible, meaning that a substantial amount of your capital is tied up... I suppose though that daytrading is the only viable way to trade for the less capitalized trader, which we all once were....
With age comes "KNOWING" what you are looking for, knowing what you want, knowing what to expect, knowing what to except, knowing what to forget, knowing the odds, knowing the probabilities, knowing the truths, knowing what is bs, knowing who you are, knowing your shortcomings, knowing your goals, knowing what counts, knowing when to throw in the towel. I could go on but many younger think they know it all as it is. ... A thought: Think about the trading game relative to many other things in life. Trading requires 2 minds to operate successfully in. #1 You are told to cut losses fast, ok, cool. (easy for me) #2 You are told to let profits run, ok, great. (not easy for me ) Being fast on one is great , being slower on the other is not cool. Been doing this for awhile. (54) Trading is about learning a piece at a time, it is a game of conflicts. Age helps dissolve many conflicts, but trading is a longer learning curve. NO TRADER is ever whole, never complete, never done learning. You young wet behind the ears pups just hope you make it to old age. ... Good Luck, Merry Christmas to all