Has anyone thought about quitting their job and day trade stocks instead?

TranceNation

Platinum Member
Jan 6, 2001
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I've been trading stocks for 4-5 years now and currently thinking about just doing that now. I figure I would need to make about $200 per day to be equal to my job and that should be quite doable for me. So has anybody else thought of this?
 

Orsorum

Lifer
Dec 26, 2001
27,631
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Not worth the time. Tell me how many people on the Time 200 Wealthiest list are day-traders.
 

bigdog1218

Golden Member
Mar 7, 2001
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You must have a really horrible job, and thats probably a bad idea considering stock brokers who day trade don't make a huge amount of money, and you can easily lose thousands of dollars in a day, 4-5 years of trading really isn't much experience and you'll probably end up losing money in the long run.
 

slycat

Diamond Member
Jul 18, 2001
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Originally posted by: TranceNation
I've been trading stocks for 4-5 years now and currently thinking about just doing that now. I figure I would need to make about $200 per day to be equal to my job and that should be quite doable for me. So has anybody else thought of this?

i would go for it for say a few months and see how it goes
 

dxkj

Lifer
Feb 17, 2001
11,772
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hrm, your making 200x5x52= 52k a year? Thats pretty much guaranteed, or you could blow a lot of money by trying to learn the market ;).

 

gopunk

Lifer
Jul 7, 2001
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i think i heard somewhere that the amount of people who can beat the s&p 500 over a 10 year period is basically 0
 

Hector13

Golden Member
Apr 4, 2000
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Originally posted by: bigdog1218
You must have a really horrible job, and thats probably a bad idea considering stock brokers who day trade don't make a huge amount of money, and you can easily lose thousands of dollars in a day, 4-5 years of trading really isn't much experience and you'll probably end up losing money in the long run.

absolutely agree with this. There are many people on wall st. who get paid lots of money to "day trade" and still can't beat the market consistently. And these people have much better access to tools and "research" than you will ever have (not to mention their commissions will be less than 5% of what yours would be).
 

NogginBoink

Diamond Member
Feb 17, 2002
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If you can reliably make $200 a day by day trading stocks, let's do this: I'll pay you $200 a day to do the trading and trust you with $100K of my money to manage.

The chance that you can make $200 a day trading stocks is so close to zero that the distance isn't worth measuring.
 
Apr 5, 2000
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Originally posted by: Orsorum
Not worth the time. Tell me how many people on the Time 200 Wealthiest list are day-traders.

And how many of those people are average joe blows? None. The people on the weathiest list either had a great idea or are just smart businessmen. Doesn't mean it's not worth the time or effort to be a daytrader.
 

Howard

Lifer
Oct 14, 1999
47,986
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My dad's done it. He pulls in about $150 USD a day, on average. This is when he doesn't do contracting. One of his friends (a whole bunch of his friends day trade with him) can get anywhere from $150-400 a day.
 

Shantanu

Banned
Feb 6, 2001
2,197
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Day trading is retarded.

Hell, "stock trading" in general is a tedious, costly exercise.

The only technique that works is buy-and-hold.
 

gopunk

Lifer
Jul 7, 2001
29,239
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Originally posted by: Howard
My dad's done it. He pulls in about $150 USD a day, on average. This is when he doesn't do contracting. One of his friends (a whole bunch of his friends day trade with him) can get anywhere from $150-400 a day.

how much is he investing? because if he's putting in a million, then sure, i believe you.
 

shootsfor3

Member
Jun 7, 2003
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Originally posted by: gopunk
Originally posted by: Howard
My dad's done it. He pulls in about $150 USD a day, on average. This is when he doesn't do contracting. One of his friends (a whole bunch of his friends day trade with him) can get anywhere from $150-400 a day.

how much is he investing? because if he's putting in a million, then sure, i believe you.

It's day trading , not investing. Buy the stock and sell 1 minute later perhaps. Maybe sometimes hold a position for 30 minutes or an hour. It doesn't take $1,000,000 worth of capital to make $400/day trading stocks intra-day b/c for example 1000 shares of a $40 stock is what? $40,000. If he make 40 cents, that's $400 b4 commission. Need around at least $100K to daytrade. But there are many other factors, such as how many positions he trades at once.
 

shootsfor3

Member
Jun 7, 2003
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Originally posted by: Orsorum
Not worth the time. Tell me how many people on the Time 200 Wealthiest list are day-traders.

I know ur trying to make a point, but he didn't mention Time 200 list. If he's making 50K/yr now and he can make 100K/yr trading then it's not all that bad. I'm not saying he will make that much b/c the odds are against anyone who daytrades. But if u can learn to make $$ consistently by intra -day trading, then it allows u alot of freedom that one doesn't get from an average job.
 

shootsfor3

Member
Jun 7, 2003
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Originally posted by: Shantanu
Day trading is retarded.

Hell, "stock trading" in general is a tedious, costly exercise.

The only technique that works is buy-and-hold.

Day trading is retarded?? What kind of job do u have? If someone flips burgers or waits on tables, are they retarded for not finding another job? Day trading is another type of job just like flippin' burgers or waiting on tables. It isn't for everyone.
 

DaveSimmons

Elite Member
Aug 12, 2001
40,730
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If you enjoy the thrill from making the bets, you might as well do it.

My stock money is 100% in mutual funds so I can forget about it and spend the time doing something else, but that's just my preference not the "only right choice for everyone." The odds are way in my favor compared to the average day trader (most lose money over time) but that doesn't mean you aren't above average, just like I am in my field :)
 

Shantanu

Banned
Feb 6, 2001
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Yeah, but at least the person who is flipping burgers is adding some value to society. WTF does day trading do?

That, and on average day traders make damn sh|tty money.
 

shootsfor3

Member
Jun 7, 2003
147
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Originally posted by: Shantanu
Yeah, but at least the person who is flipping burgers is adding some value to society. WTF does day trading do?

That, and on average day traders make damn sh|tty money.

All of a sudden we're talking about "value to society"??
 

Orsorum

Lifer
Dec 26, 2001
27,631
5
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Originally posted by: shootsfor3
Originally posted by: Shantanu
Yeah, but at least the person who is flipping burgers is adding some value to society. WTF does day trading do?

That, and on average day traders make damn sh|tty money.

All of a sudden we're talking about "value to society"??

Maybe he is referring to day traders contributing to the volatility of the market.
 

shootsfor3

Member
Jun 7, 2003
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Flippin' burgers= value to society lmfao

Shantanu makes it sound like flippin' burgers is a charity organization. :D
 

Lucky

Lifer
Nov 26, 2000
13,126
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A daytrader making 100K/year will add infinitely more value to their community than a minimum wage burger-flipper. How? Taxes.
 

PushHands

Senior member
May 22, 2002
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Originally posted by: cavemanmoron
health insurance?
retirement

Vacation
sick days

Holidays etc

You're really asking the wrong crowd here. cavemanmoron is probably the most useful of the few I read in this thread.
My opinion is to take into consideration your assets and if you then can afford it, try it out.
 

gopunk

Lifer
Jul 7, 2001
29,239
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Originally posted by: shootsfor3
Originally posted by: gopunk
Originally posted by: Howard
My dad's done it. He pulls in about $150 USD a day, on average. This is when he doesn't do contracting. One of his friends (a whole bunch of his friends day trade with him) can get anywhere from $150-400 a day.

how much is he investing? because if he's putting in a million, then sure, i believe you.

It's day trading , not investing. Buy the stock and sell 1 minute later perhaps. Maybe sometimes hold a position for 30 minutes or an hour. It doesn't take $1,000,000 worth of capital to make $400/day trading stocks intra-day b/c for example 1000 shares of a $40 stock is what? $40,000. If he make 40 cents, that's $400 b4 commission. Need around at least $100K to daytrade. But there are many other factors, such as how many positions he trades at once.

day trading, investing, lets not get into semantics. you must have misunderstood; i never said i wouldn't believe him if it was less than a million, that was just an example of a figure i could believe.