most of the market participants have another job(career) good job or businesss...if you are just swing trading on position trading...than there is no need to do this full time.. back in the late 90's many people quit their jobs or business to trade full time. as a new career cause daytrading online was the new easy gig exciting....if you are trading your own captial and undercapitalized..the big money is tradinga 10 million dollar account..trading and investing with other peoples money and build a business of clients. without clients you don't have a 'real' business. if you are doing this a sbusiness,,you need to have regular cash withdrawal that shows how much you are making 'withdraw cash and spend the profits. only reason for doing this full time is daytrading or pairs trading..many doctors and dentist daytrading and swing trade too casually or many seniors do this as a hobby mostly amateurs watchin CNBC some do make money but don't do it as a living that need to withdraw a monthly pay check to pay the bills,,these seniors a well off and have other source of income like pensions etc. trading is more of a game than a business since you don't have any goodwill or assets. it's like points in a pinball game..collecting points..as funny as it sounds it's true..unless you are offering advice on the side,,this trading game is a game. the market doesn't need small traders like you and me.