Day trading as a living should be impossible

A

abdul_mcgee

Warning: noob alert.

I find some contradiction in these forums. Day trading, I'm sure, is controversial so I would expect some contradiction. But this is plain weird. One thing I noticed is that some on this forum think that it is nearly impossible to reliably generate a 8-10% return.

That, to me, doesn't make sense. Say you had $100K to use as day trading capital and your monthly living costs ran you 8-10K, taxes in. You'd have to be generating a monthly return of 8-10%, regularly, to make a living from it. So either it is possible to make a living from it or some people are full of it.

Are you meeting your living costs and more through trading? What are your daily targets?

Thanks.
 
It's possible but you have to integrate yourself in the new age of trading. Swing trade is the way to go, you'd better get your technicals ready. But I believe volume trade will be back if Mary Shapiro at the SEC decides to do something to regulate the HFTs.
 
Thanks.

I don't trust the market over long periods of time. I want to be in cash at the end of every day, profit or loss.

A few days last week, I did some intra day paper trading. My net is about $8K on my risk capital of $100K. Of course, this says nothing about long term prospects but it does excite me to the possibilities. I only aim to make one trade a day in one 3x ETF and then close up shop.

Is there hope for me?
 
Quote from abdul_mcgee:

Warning: noob alert.

Say you had $100K to use as day trading capital and your monthly living costs ran you 8-10K, taxes in.
More...

your assumption is not reality. who has 8-10k per month living expense with only a 100K trading account. Either increase the account size or lower the expenses
 
Quote from rosy2:

your assumption is not reality. who has 8-10k per month living expense with only a 100K trading account. Either increase the account size or lower the expenses
More...

Wow! So what kind of capital should someone be using?
 
Quote from rosy2:

who has 8-10k per month living expense with only a 100K trading account. Either increase the account size or lower the expenses
More...

Someone who trades one ES contract per 5k in cash..goes home flat and manages to eek out a point a day NET on average. Not a bad living.

Leverage is king if you are able to handle it. But most cant.
 
Quote from SWScapital:

Someone who trades one ES contract per 5k in cash..goes home flat and manages to eek out a point a day NET on average. Not a bad living.

Leverage is king if you are able to handle it. But most cant.
More...

If you are trading a 3X ETF, the leverage is built-in to the stock. Why take on the leverage risk yourself?

Maybe my calculations are wrong but you can expect similar results if you have 3X leverage (good luck with that) in a SPY-like stock or a 3X bull/bear like TNA/TZA.
 
Quote from abdul_mcgee:

Warning: noob alert.

I find some contradiction in these forums. Day trading, I'm sure, is controversial so I would expect some contradiction. But this is plain weird. One thing I noticed is that some on this forum think that it is nearly impossible to reliably generate a 8-10% return.

That, to me, doesn't make sense. Say you had $100K to use as day trading capital and your monthly living costs ran you 8-10K, taxes in. You'd have to be generating a monthly return of 8-10%, regularly, to make a living from it. So either it is possible to make a living from it or some people are full of it.

Are you meeting your living costs and more through trading? What are your daily targets?

Thanks.
More...

if you get to a prop firm, you can get 10x-20X leverage for your capital. Also yes your living costs are too high, and even if you coudl generate 10% returns a mth its not going to last forever. The prob now for me and i suspect for many daytraders as well, is finding enough signals to trade. sadly, i am also moving towards swing trading, but the turnover just isnt that high...
 
Quote from MohdSalleh:

if you get to a prop firm, you can get 10x-20X leverage for your capital. Also yes your living costs are too high, and even if you coudl generate 10% returns a mth its not going to last forever. The prob now for me and i suspect for many daytraders as well, is finding enough signals to trade. sadly, i am also moving towards swing trading, but the turnover just isnt that high...
More...

All taxes in, I think my costs are pretty average for a family of 4! When I say taxes, I mean /all/ taxes. Sales tax, personal income tax, corporate income tax. I am goddamn anal when it comes to finding out who is stealing from me. $2k/month is spent in taxes alone.
 
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