I was a professional trader for hedge funds. We have more resources, money and information than you will ever receive. Chart reading is mandatory and works on four hour charts and dailies bc it will capture everything we did that day. But during the market session, charts aren’t as accurate for you because we are forming the patterns and will change them because we can . We know when and at what price the day traders are more active, since they all behave like a herd, and it only takes one guy to clean them out, on purpose. You watch volume. We know the volume. Is the market maker net short or long and how aggressive is he and at what price can we do trades of different sizes? Which other fund is looking to buy or sell at any price? Who screwed who and is now getting punished? Blah, blah. Thousands of examples of a market small traders should not be in.
Skip is one of the most experienced members of our community. If you don’t believe me, listen to him, he has a ton of experience! Thank you for sharing this with us.
I am a 20+ year Full Time Day Trader.. And I have to agree, although I love day trading, and I have a crazy track record (only 3 months ever red in 20 years) The truth is I barely know anyone (real people) who can do it. I have had so many friend come and go in this business. I think those numbers are acurate, over 90% of traders lose money. And for myself, although I continue to find new edges in the market day trading, every month I take those profits and lock them away in solid investments with low risk. Two completely separate accounts.. Day Trading account to make my income, and investment account to build my future..
Thank you very much for sharing your experience with us, your comment is incredibly valuable. I believe it is our responsibility to talk more about this and to push back against the image that has been created by these “gurus” and influencers. I know there are very few people who speak openly about this, since it is “bad for business.”
There are very few people who have the lifestyle, schedule, and personality required to be successful day traders. And you are definitely not the average person people can compare themselves to or use as a reference point. I could talk for a long time about why day trading is such a bad idea for most people.
Congratulations on what you have achieved; not many can talk about a 20+ year career. I wish you at least another 20 years of health and success in the financial markets.
Thanks for the kind words. Yeah, I feel totally blessed to do this.. Last night I was out with a group of friends on a ebike/escooter ride (there was like 15 of us, so were almost a biker gang lol) anyway one of the kids with us, maybe 15ish asks me, if you could have any job, what would it be? (Just your average kids question) I said "exactly what Im doing."
Very cool story haha. For me, it was when I noticed how I feel on Sundays. I used to get Sunday anxiety because on Monday I had to go to work. Now, on Sundays I am super excited for Monday when the market opens.
I also used to hate doing anything extra on the weekend. Now I love every single moment I spend doing this, even when market humbles me ha
For example, I don’t know if you know Shawn and Neil from TraderTV Live. They’ve made six figures, and sometimes even seven figures, per year from day trading, and they still keep long-term portfolios with conservative, “safe” investments. (and I know lots of other proffesionals that do the same)
And that raises a fair question: if they’re so successful, why don’t they just deploy 100% of their capital into day trading and scale it infinitely?
Because day trading has constraints: liquidity, slippage, execution quality, mental pressure / capital is a huge one also, and the fact that your edge can shrink as size grows. Long-term investing, on the other hand, is scalable and lets capital compound with far less operational risk.
So it’s not “either/or” at the high leve, it’s “both,” with the right role for each.
I was a professional trader for hedge funds. We have more resources, money and information than you will ever receive. Chart reading is mandatory and works on four hour charts and dailies bc it will capture everything we did that day. But during the market session, charts aren’t as accurate for you because we are forming the patterns and will change them because we can . We know when and at what price the day traders are more active, since they all behave like a herd, and it only takes one guy to clean them out, on purpose. You watch volume. We know the volume. Is the market maker net short or long and how aggressive is he and at what price can we do trades of different sizes? Which other fund is looking to buy or sell at any price? Who screwed who and is now getting punished? Blah, blah. Thousands of examples of a market small traders should not be in.
Skip is one of the most experienced members of our community. If you don’t believe me, listen to him, he has a ton of experience! Thank you for sharing this with us.
Thanks for pointing him out so I could follow
I am a 20+ year Full Time Day Trader.. And I have to agree, although I love day trading, and I have a crazy track record (only 3 months ever red in 20 years) The truth is I barely know anyone (real people) who can do it. I have had so many friend come and go in this business. I think those numbers are acurate, over 90% of traders lose money. And for myself, although I continue to find new edges in the market day trading, every month I take those profits and lock them away in solid investments with low risk. Two completely separate accounts.. Day Trading account to make my income, and investment account to build my future..
Thank you very much for sharing your experience with us, your comment is incredibly valuable. I believe it is our responsibility to talk more about this and to push back against the image that has been created by these “gurus” and influencers. I know there are very few people who speak openly about this, since it is “bad for business.”
There are very few people who have the lifestyle, schedule, and personality required to be successful day traders. And you are definitely not the average person people can compare themselves to or use as a reference point. I could talk for a long time about why day trading is such a bad idea for most people.
Congratulations on what you have achieved; not many can talk about a 20+ year career. I wish you at least another 20 years of health and success in the financial markets.
Thanks for the kind words. Yeah, I feel totally blessed to do this.. Last night I was out with a group of friends on a ebike/escooter ride (there was like 15 of us, so were almost a biker gang lol) anyway one of the kids with us, maybe 15ish asks me, if you could have any job, what would it be? (Just your average kids question) I said "exactly what Im doing."
Very cool story haha. For me, it was when I noticed how I feel on Sundays. I used to get Sunday anxiety because on Monday I had to go to work. Now, on Sundays I am super excited for Monday when the market opens.
I also used to hate doing anything extra on the weekend. Now I love every single moment I spend doing this, even when market humbles me ha
Thanks for writing this. Do long term investors become day traders? I always thought it's the other way around once people lose money day trading.
Yes, but the ones at the top do it the right way.
For example, I don’t know if you know Shawn and Neil from TraderTV Live. They’ve made six figures, and sometimes even seven figures, per year from day trading, and they still keep long-term portfolios with conservative, “safe” investments. (and I know lots of other proffesionals that do the same)
And that raises a fair question: if they’re so successful, why don’t they just deploy 100% of their capital into day trading and scale it infinitely?
Because day trading has constraints: liquidity, slippage, execution quality, mental pressure / capital is a huge one also, and the fact that your edge can shrink as size grows. Long-term investing, on the other hand, is scalable and lets capital compound with far less operational risk.
So it’s not “either/or” at the high leve, it’s “both,” with the right role for each.