As I said, an altruistic group. Particularly the cocky little, ffl leading, hanging upside down from the bottom of the planet, Islam loving, left wing radicals like Dan. A fine example who makes us all look good (who loves ya baby?) Peace, rs7
I never really thought about whether I was useful to society or not. I trade because it's what I want to do. As long as it last, I feel like the luckiest person in the world, because I'm doing exactly what I want to do. Is there something wrong with that?
trading opens up avenues that would otherwise be shut off. the time that can be spent with wife, kids, or family is irreplaceable. nothing means more to me than one day being able to do as i please with my family, and being able to enjoy life. ask any professional out there if they look forward to going to work everyday. they know they will be there until dark, and be beaten nonstop with work, oftentimes menial tasks that dont mean much. that has to suck. if you cant wake up everyday excited about what lies ahead of you, then you have a miserable life. thats not what i want, and trading provides an escape from that. i read that happiness is: 1. having someone to love, 2. having something to do, and 3. having something to look forward to. if everyone in this world really asked theirsevles if they were happy with life, many would find that they are empty. that is so sad, when we have 1 life to live. ask yourself that question, because at the end of this life, thats all you got to hold onto.
The basic premise of the original post of this thread is that making money in the competitive market environment we work in is not contributing to society. Do big brokerage firms serve a purpose for the millions of investors who invest through them? All we're doing is managing our own funds to increase our net worth and provide a level of financial security for our families. We're taking what just about every other American attempts to do on a very limited basis to a higher level. We've decided to take direct control of our futures and be solely responsible for the outcome! If that doesn't excite a person and get them out of bed every morning, then they probably should not be daytrading! If contributing to society through employment means working for a corporation whose goal it is to maximize profits while minimizing expenses (ie - salaries), then I choose to contribute to society through non-employment means! What's more, I believe providing liquidity to the market and keeping market makers and specialists more honest (or less dishonest) than they would be otherwise does provide a huge contribution to society - all Americans have benefited by the onslaught of direct access trading and increased competition among on-line brokerages. Think about the world we used to live in where brokerage houses made huge killings on spreads, and charged you an arm and a leg to execute a trade! I know daytraders are not directly responsible for all the improvement, but we haven't hurt the process. When people ask me what I do for a living, I'm proud to tell them I'm a Daytrader or that "I'm self-employed, I manage my own investments". Frankly, I don't care what they think, I'm not responsible to them anyway!
Just to build on what Boomer said above, if it weren't for this opportunity, I would not have been able to work at home and raise my kids, while at the same time making a good income. The benefit to society is significant. Not to mention the simple little fact that I do pay taxes and do not pollute much - I just walk to my office, upstairs. Still, someone could argue that this benefit is not specific enough to daytrading (but belongs to every job that can be done from home.) That does not make my argument null and void however, it just begs for something more specific. More specific to daytrading, I believe that the market, like anything that runs (e.g., a car, plane, etc) needs both gas to fuel the movement and oil to make the movement of its internal parts efficient. Both gas and oil are essential. It seems to me that investors provide the fuel, raw movement, and we provide the oil, greasing the skids, making it all more efficient. Imo, without us, the market would burn up and stop
do you actually trade at all? you post like 15 times a day and it's usually tripe. daytraders do a ton of good, far more than most people. we provide liquidity, fairer markets, take on large risk in providing liquidity, do arbitrage to keep relationships fair, blah blah blah - the list goes on. it goes far beyond sitting in front of a computer like a jackass all day. telemarketers sit in front of computers and punch in numbers - we do the things that run economies. if you think this is just about sitting in front of a screen wacking off, you'd be better off as a telemarketer...
Not necessarily, though. Arguably, the Nazi economy or a slave economy is pretty efficient. Do you want to have anything to do with either?