Daytrading leads to Inevitable Failure? Is Swing Trading the only Viable Path?

[TrueProp]

Quote from Loki:


I met plenty of daytraders, most of them have the best intentions and some are truly commited. They study and follow the market 8h + x day. The problem is that no one is consistent. Most of them loose their cool. It seems that the market is slowly burning them and draining them emotionally and financially. All the daytaders I know are normal people like me, trading from home.

It's so hard to make good decisions under pressure, I have no idea how they will be able to last 3-5-10 years staring at the screen like that. In my opinion daytrading is truly fashinating, but it is also the hardest way to make money. I can't do it, but if you can it is truly impressive !

Don't misunderstand me, it can be a very touch job psychologically because there is so much immediate feedback -- feedback that is great and feedback that sucks. That's part of the game.

Making decisions isn't hard. Pressure is a decision. You should decide not to put yourself in situations where you're under pressure.

As a trader, no matter the timeframe, you know what needs to be done in regards to your position (whether you will do it or not is another conversation). It just so happens that daytraders are faced with those decisions multiple times day-in and day-out. After you make these trading decisions day-in and day-out for long enough, if something doesn't look or feel right, you get out of the way because you know it's only ONE trade. ONE trade! I'm not a huge trader, but I typically trade 100k+ shares per day on average volume days, so missing one trade where the reward COULD be huge, but the risk is totally unknown isn't worth my psychological capital.

I'm on year 3 right now, and I have to tell you that if need be, I can do this for another 10 years. I'm 26 years old btw.

I know a lot of traders. I don't know anyone that has NEVER had a down day that has traded for multiple years. I'm sure people like that exist; performance like that is impressive and not the norm.

Lastly, aren't there a million other occupations where people sit and stare at a screen all day!?! If not a screen, is staring at paperwork more gratifying?