day trading at 16?

J

JMayock

im 16 years old and i consider myself to have a brain for business. im always looking at ways to make money, i currently run a forum, and have always been into entrepenuership and all that stuff. i want to start getting into trading stocks, not for a living, but for a solid amount of extra cash for my car upgrades and things like that. maybe looking to make around 10,000 in a year or more. im not necessarily familiarized with trading stocks, but i used to play an online mmorpg(massive multiplayer online role playing game) game where there was a “grand exchange” which is basically like the stock market and i would buy and sell items for a profit. items had graphs so i understand graphs, when an item will rise or drop, high-risk and low-risk items, buy/sell prices and all that good stuff. i am also familiar with different types of trades, as i did several in the game, they just have different names in the stock market. but i understand how to flip an item, buy it low sell it high, and several other techniques used in real stock market trades.

So first of all is it even possible for me to even be able to day trade at 16? understood i have school when the market is open but not taking that into consideration, could i do it?

I am currently reading 'The Everything Guide To Day Trading', any other recommendations for me to read/research for me to do.
 
You should be able to at the least open a joint account w/ a parent/guardian. Email some brokers and ask if you can open yourself and if not, can you open a joint or custodial account. That should be the easy part.

From there, get a demo software and start playing with it. There's a bunch out there. I like http://www.openecry.com as their simulator (you can trade but it's fake $) is realistic. You can also just pull up free charts http://www.freestockcharts.com/ there and you can play around with http://www.stockfetcher.com or http://finviz.com/ or http://stockcharts.com/

Those 3 sites will keep you busy for awhile. My suggestion is to just start looking at charts and immerse yourself into it. You may have no idea what you're looking at initially, but get on the charts.

http://stockcharts.com/school/doku.php?id=chart_school
They also have a nice, free education section on their site. Very nice for starting out.

Good luck! You are starting early that's for sure!
 
Quote from JMayock:

im 16 years old and i consider myself to have a brain for business. im always looking at ways to make money, i currently run a forum, and have always been into entrepenuership and all that stuff. i want to start getting into trading stocks, not for a living, but for a solid amount of extra cash for my car upgrades and things like that. maybe looking to make around 10,000 in a year or more. im not necessarily familiarized with trading stocks, but i used to play an online mmorpg(massive multiplayer online role playing game) game where there was a “grand exchange” which is basically like the stock market and i would buy and sell items for a profit. items had graphs so i understand graphs, when an item will rise or drop, high-risk and low-risk items, buy/sell prices and all that good stuff. i am also familiar with different types of trades, as i did several in the game, they just have different names in the stock market. but i understand how to flip an item, buy it low sell it high, and several other techniques used in real stock market trades.

So first of all is it even possible for me to even be able to day trade at 16? understood i have school when the market is open but not taking that into consideration, could i do it?

I am currently reading 'The Everything Guide To Day Trading', any other recommendations for me to read/research for me to do.
More...


Hello,

I am 14 years old, Ive been trading since I was 10, so I think I can help.

DON'T DAY TRADE :p

lol thats the best advice I can give. It is a VERY VERY tough endeavour. Although I do day trade at high frequencies, the learning curve you'll have to go through is very hard.

If you choose to day trade, prepare to lose money at the start, and at least have 1 year before you become profitable.

However, I do recommend getting into swing trade, which is what I do mostly.

Few reasons why:

#1. Much less stressful.

#2. The biggest moves are on the day to day timeframe.

#3. You have more time to make decisions.

#4. You can trade multiple market easily without getting confused.

#5. You can employ many different tactics.

Swing trading is much more scaleable as well. If you choose to make trading a life pursuit, it will be harder to move millions day trading without removing your edge.

Hope that helps! Its cool to see another person around my age in the same business.

Julian

EDIT: Also swing trading won't interfere with school. So you can day trade during the summer and swing trade during school.

P.M. me if you want to get in touch.
 
At 16 years old...you should already be looking at attending one of the top universities or public universities that offer trading programs for students in general or business students along with fully ready trading rooms on campus especially if you're serious about trading.

I'm going to provide the below list because most high school students (those planning to attend college) start looking into what university they want to attend and talking to high school guidance counselors, scheduled university visits et cetera at the age of 16 years old (sophomore year in high school)...more so if you're in any advance programs at your high school.

http://www.elitetrader.com/vb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=217485

Many others not listed at the above link...

Saint Joseph University @ http://www.sju.edu/academics/hsb/finance/wstr/

Penn State (smeal school of business) @ http://www.smeal.psu.edu/traderoom

University of Texas, Carnegie Mellon University, University of Richmond, University of Rhode Island, UC Irvine. McMaster University, George Washington University, Bentley University, Ball State University, MIT and many many other university trading rooms.

How many more? I saw a list somewhere back in 2009 that listed 47 well known 4 year colleges that had trading rooms for students and some of these universities offer such as classes/credits towards undergraduate degrees (e.g. business, economics, finance) and/or as credits in business school grad programs.

Mark
 
Quote from JMayock:

im 16 years old and i consider myself to have a brain for business. im always looking at ways to make money, i currently run a forum, and have always been into entrepenuership and all that stuff. i want to start getting into trading stocks, not for a living, but for a solid amount of extra cash for my car upgrades and things like that. maybe looking to make around 10,000 in a year or more. im not necessarily familiarized with trading stocks, but i used to play an online mmorpg(massive multiplayer online role playing game) game where there was a “grand exchange” which is basically like the stock market and i would buy and sell items for a profit. items had graphs so i understand graphs, when an item will rise or drop, high-risk and low-risk items, buy/sell prices and all that good stuff. i am also familiar with different types of trades, as i did several in the game, they just have different names in the stock market. but i understand how to flip an item, buy it low sell it high, and several other techniques used in real stock market trades.

So first of all is it even possible for me to even be able to day trade at 16? understood i have school when the market is open but not taking that into consideration, could i do it?

I am currently reading 'The Everything Guide To Day Trading', any other recommendations for me to read/research for me to do.
More...


Your day trading would be limited b/c of school. You could day trade only part time.

Your mindset and some trading experience in MMORPG should help a bit.

If you really want to day trade, you should do it. In addition to gains and losses, you will find out a lot about yourself and day trading. Most people will tell you not to do it b/c they can't day trade.

I wish I started earlier like at your age.

You could also follow Julian's advice which is pretty good and accurate.
 
Quote from SteveNYC:

I wish I started earlier like at your age.
More...

< dad mode on >
Why? What's the advantage of starting early? The markets will still be there in 10 years, when you hopefully have more capital to put to work. And more importantly, hopefully you'll have more life experience to choose between the multiple excellent other careers out there.

Call me old fashioned, but I firmly believe a 16-yr old (and in fact, anyone less than 22) should have one primary task: kick ass and take names in school. Realistically speaking, you will never, ever be given another chance to improve upon this part of your resume. Once you're past 22... you don't get a do-over. You will (most likely) never have a chance to attend a top tier university, network with future senators/presidents/CEOs, and learn from Nobel prize winners.

On the other hand, I don't see what's different about starting to daytrade at... say... 16, 26, 36, 46, or 56.
< dad mode off >
 
Locally, Ashland University has a pretty pimp trading room:

http://www.ashland.edu/programs/finance
http://www.ashland.edu/programs/finance/eagle-investment-group


Seriously, look at this trading room. That's your 'classroom':

2aexdp1.png



When I was a broker we recruited there and I have seen the room first hand. This is a brand new building and they spared no expense anywhere.


Video from the Eagle Investment Instructor:

<iframe width="480" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/uOhx3woitBE" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>


Info reposted on threads Mark highlighted as well
 
brownsfan019,

Thanks for the image and video. Many of these university trading rooms are looking like institutional trading rooms...wow.

Wish that stuff was around when I was in college in the late 80's.

Mark
 
I'm not sure I'm qualified to speak for all... but I did have a few lab sessions in here during graduate school:

http://mitsloan.mit.edu/finance/stl.php

And I really question the educational value of these labs. I think a few weeks on the job would quickly surpass what you would learn in a university lab.
 
Quote from heech:

I'm not sure I'm qualified to speak for all... but I did have a few lab sessions in here during graduate school:

http://mitsloan.mit.edu/finance/stl.php

And I really question the educational value of these labs. I think a few weeks on the job would quickly surpass what you would learn in a university lab.
More...

I agree.




And to the OP, its great that you have a passion for the markets at an early age. You have a long road of learning ahead of you but if you're persistent you can make it.

Your goal is to devise a very detailed, accurate, thoroughly tested, and proven methodology. Drawing lines all day on your charts won't help your progress. Work on the method,prefect the process, and once you find something that works follow it with discipline.
More...
 
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