no i don't do investing. investing to me is more than 1 year. i do short term swing trade which mean i hold stocks in days, weeks and months. for day trading, i hold position in minutes. but i always close out by end of day. i don't mix the 2 strategy: day trade and swing trade. i found that i tend to do better day trading than swing trading. my colleague that works on the trade floor, he told he is an investor. for example, he told me he hold ge many years and recently double down on ge on 11/10/18. i told him ge got an ugly chart and is a loser. the very next day, it gap down. i told him i'm not an investor and would never trade in a loser like ge. i don't do warren buffet value investing and don't believe none of that crap. i recommend to him that he should replace ge with a better stock. but he said ge pay good dividends. i said ok, stick with a loser and you will become a loser. i keep a trading journal and average about 30-40 trades a month. last month, i made about $3200. so far this month. i'm up about $3100.
I'm an electrician myself. Ignore buddy up there. Traders like to give themselves all kinds of fancy names. When you get down to it anyone who buys anything expecting to sell it later for a profit is a trader plain and simple.
Had a coupla jobs... Fitter / Machinist Fitter Wine Steward Barman Carpet layer Powerstation operator Serviceman trades machinery Serviceman automatic doors Fibre Optics installer Trades assistant electrical Salesman boiler equipment, steel, pipe, valves Maintenance scheduler Trader Ps: Forgot one, bellhop in the Netherlands
Decide whether you want to be a swing trader or a day trader. Audit your weekly schedule and your personality to see which style suits you best. Then, choose the markets and instruments accordingly.
Just out of curiosity, if you don't mind me asking, where are you from? I know it says you currently live in NYC,but it seems english is not your first language( It's not my first language either).
I had a career unrelated to trading and several unrelated jobs after I became disillusioned with that. I'm now enjoying early retirement (second time round actually). Some of these jobs are mildly interesting but the common thread through all is that they gave me virtually 100% the wrong disciplines to become a good trader. Not just no help, what they teach, plus almost everything about a conventional education, effectively creates obstacles to good trading.