Day trading for a living - Almost impossible

[Drawdown Addict]

Day trading, swing trading and even long term investors* have high failure rates.
Never understand the animosity directed solely at us day traders. Jealousy hmm?

Don't worry, be happy, which ever way you play the game.

* in the case of long termers, failure to beat the major indexes over long periods.

Try something if you will, open a thread that reads "Swing Trading : Almost impossible" and add anything you like to it. You will see that no one will insult you directly, no one will call you a loser and you won't attract the worst kind of this forum.

You can treat it as a confirmation that day trading is full of gamblers that are too addicted to handle the truth.

 

[oshjdf]

There are very profitable day traders out there , they are aliens.

If there are any alien day traders, they're the ones who capable to interpret those fundamentals data (inventory, interest rates, import/export/sanction, geopolitics, etc). They increase risk per trade when the fundamentals/catalyst align with their technicals, increase price target than usual base system or let profit run or even hold the position to become swing trade. That single trade's profit may equivalent to total yearly profit of normal technical trades.

 

[Coin Flip]

Yeah, I just love trading forums and communities, everybody knows the answer but no one bothers to ask the right questions.

I started up a management consulting business post-GFC and built up the treasury over 10+ years. Now I run its 7-figure (soon to be 8-figure) portfolio, I retired from corporate life 3 years ago. I've been "making a living" from the financial markets for nearly 3 years and honestly am too old to give a crap whether anyone believes it or not.

I believe, but chalk and cheese.

You kept pumping capital from your management consulting business into your investing account.

The question is, let's say you start off with $x, say $100,000 in capital to be generous and no further capital injection. Can you live off investing income alone? The answer is no.

 

[Coin Flip]

What if I told you that my expenses are around 500 euros a month?

Fair enough. That's why I prefaced it as U.S. investor.

If you are lucky enough to live in a country with low cost of living, then yes you can live of investing income as long as your capital base is large enough.

 

[SunTrader]

Try something if you will, open a thread that reads "Swing Trading : Almost impossible" and add anything you like to it. You will see that no one will insult you directly, no one will call you a loser and you won't attract the worst kind of this forum.

You can treat it as a confirmation that day trading is full of gamblers that are too addicted to handle the truth.

Reinforced my point with your post.

Oh and BTW 500 euros a month must not included property taxes and insurance, or you don't own?

 

[deaddog]

Fair enough. That's why I prefaced it as U.S. investor.

If you are lucky enough to live in a country with low cost of living, then yes you can live of investing income as long as your capital base is large enough.

High on my list of why traders fail
Undercapitalized
Unreasonable expectations.

 

[Dollar_McGavin]

I believe, but chalk and cheese.

You kept pumping capital from your management consulting business into your investing account.

Errr no, I didn't pump capital from the business into my investing account. As I wrote:

"I started up a management consulting business post-GFC and built up the treasury over 10+ years. Now I run its 7-figure (soon to be 8-figure) portfolio, I retired from corporate life 3 years ago."

As in I still own the business which makes its money from its investment portfolio that I run instead of consulting.

The question is, let's say you start off with $x, say $100,000 in capital to be generous and no further capital injection. Can you live off investing income alone? The answer is no.

Strawman argument, I never said anything about $100k in capital, that was you that assumed that for my case.

If you're asking whether someone with a $100k USD account can live a comfortable life in the US off of investing income alone, then I agree with you. My answer would also be no, minimum $1M USD needed or keep the day job.

 

[Sekiyo]

If you're asking whether someone with a $100k USD account can live a comfortable life in the US off of investing income alone, then I agree with you. My answer would also be no, minimum $1M USD needed or keep the day job.

Let me turn this 589$ acc into 1M within 12 months

Yeah … barrier to entry is low but …
That’s why 95% traders fail

Depends who we are, and where we come from, but living off a 50K account might be possible. If a trader can make 20 ES points (x5 contracts, 10k margin) profit per month … it’s $5,000 per month.

If I had 100k I would retire asap.
Oh … wait … I am unemployed.

Most don’t have 10k to begin with … anyway.
Or they had 100k and used it as a tuition fees lol

 

[Drawdown Addict]

Reinforced my point with your post.

Oh and BTW 500 euros a month must not included property taxes and insurance, or you don't own?

I do, if you live in a cheap area everything is cheap. 500 is a rounded number I gave. I normally spend from 400 to 420. Adding things that I don't need like going out when I want, I reach about 1K a month in expenses.
But if I live like a monk is 400.

I live in Sierra de Cádiz, in case you want to check. House prices are around 40K euros. Council taxes are according to those prices.

 

[SunTrader]

Errr no, I didn't pump capital from the business into my investing account. As I wrote:

"I started up a management consulting business post-GFC and built up the treasury over 10+ years. Now I run its 7-figure (soon to be 8-figure) portfolio, I retired from corporate life 3 years ago."...

What does this mean?

Meant to ask first time you posted it.