Day Trader Demographics

I have never kept a white paper that I've found useless. So - you are correct in that I cannot "back up" my opinion.

Since everyone's opinions are just that - why don't you start a poll here on ET with some well thought out demographic questions in order to collect the information you are seeking ?
 
 
I think it's going to be difficult to find accurate data.

- AFAIK, brokerage firms don't request ethnicity or language information, and the employment questions they ask are vague and updated (at best) only once per year.

- As discussed elsewhere on this site, the employment and income questions are mostly to lessen the brokerage's liability; people can and do make up information and some of the information, even if accurate once upon a time, can be quite stale.

- What is the definition of a day trader - volume, frequency, holding period, only sole proprietors, whether the trader is part time, full time, dabbling in retirement to fend off boredom, etc?

- Unless the brokerages have a standard definition of day trader and are required to report on the activity (and demographic slices) to a regulatory association, then it's hard for me believe that any studies you come across are going to be statistically valid or even useful for marketing purposes.
 
Brighton said:
I think it's going to be difficult to find accurate data.

- AFAIK, brokerage firms don't request ethnicity or language information, and the employment questions they ask are vague and updated (at best) only once per year.

- As discussed elsewhere on this site, the employment and income questions are mostly to lessen the brokerage's liability; people can and do make up information and some of the information, even if accurate once upon a time, can be quite stale.

- What is the definition of a day trader - volume, frequency, holding period, whether the trader is part time, full time, dabbling in retirement to fend off boredom?

- Unless the brokerages have a standard definition of day trader and are required to report on the activity (and demographic slices) to a regulatory association, then it's hard for me believe that any studies you come across are going to be statistically valid or even useful for marketing purposes.
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Hi Brighton,

Thanks for your thoughtful post. My journey in locating this data, thus far, is proving that your points appear to be spot on.

However, I'm still hopeful I might find what I'm searching for.

Kind regards,
Ric
 
gmst said:
Dear Ric
People on ET have a habit of claiming a lot of things that they later on cannot back. So, learn to take everything you read here with a large grain of salt.
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LOL gmst, I'm learning that. :D Thanks!
 
Maybe look at the demographics of folks attending an online trading academy seminar.

Mostly old, have retirement nest egg to blow, and white????

Retired doctors, dentists, engineers or lawyers?

I'm just going by all the seminar videos I've seen on youtube. Mostly old white people. Most very gullible to shell out 2k for a seminar.
 
STC Capital said:
Why even waste your time compiling such a study or demographic? Is it for the purpose of discouraging others to try their hand at day trading?
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If you'll re-read my post carefully, you'll see that I'm not looking to compile a demographic study. What I'm looking for is an existing up-to-date study conducted by a professional demographer.

And no, it is not "for the purpose of discouraging others to try their hand at day trading? " Why would you even make such an assumption?
 
Grandluxe said:
Dunno. Just on CNBC few minutes ago, the reporter was speaking to a trader on the floor and the guy was like it's brutal nobody's making money this year. :confused:
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What the heck does this have to do with Day Trader Demographics??????
 
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Hello traders,

While I appreciate the effort of all those who have sincerely attempted to help me, this thread has been inundated with posts that are not germane to my original post and thread title, "Day Trader Demographics." So it appears, that readers either are not carefully reading that post and the initial back and forth replies, or they don't understand certain terms and what it is that I'm actually searching for. Therefore, I'm going to repost, in extremely well-defined terms, what I'd like to find.

Let's start by looking at definitions of the key terms:

"Demographics" defined: "Demographics are the quantifiable statistics of a given population. Demographics are also used to identify the study of quantifiable subsets within a given population which characterize that population at a specific point in time. Commonly examined demographics include gender, age, ethnicity, languages, education level, income, disabilities, mobility, home ownership, employment status, and even location."

Demographics are collected and analyzed by "Demographers"

"Demographers" defined: "A demographer studies population makeup, distribution, changes, and other factors concerning human communities. To become a demographer, one typically needs a master's or doctoral degree."

"Current" defined: "1. of the immediate present; in progress: 2. most recent; up-to-date"

So with that as a background, here is what I'd like to find, in one simple statement:

I want to find a current demographic study on Day Traders conducted by one or more demographers.

Here are some things I'm NOT interested in: I'm not interested in a link or list of links to articles/pdf files just because they contain the term "day trader" and/or "demographics". I'm not interested in out-of-date demographic studies conducted in in the late 90's, or early to mid 2000's. I'm not interested in conducting an unscientific poll on this or any other board. I'm not interested in studies on how much money a small group of day traders make or lose per year, etc. [/FONT][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif][FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]I'm not interested in the profile story of a 49 year old man day trading stocks in California. [/FONT] I'm not interested in forum members making assumptions coupled with negative comments about why I want this information. [/FONT][/FONT][/FONT] I'm not interested in a story of a mother who use to trade stocks, but when she had her first daughter she started trading forex. (Yes, a link to this was actually posted in this thread as germane to this topic, and to "help" me...really?....sheesh.....lol. In fact all of the above have been posted)

So anyway, if you have any legitimate lead (such as a contact, website, etc.), or an actual study that at least comes close to, or meets the criteria outlined above, I'd really appreciate knowing about it. The study I am searching for might or might not exist. But if it's out there I'll find it.

Great trading to all,
Ric
 
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