My mentor strongly disapproves of day trading. I met up with him last week. Here is some of his objections (but written in my words):
1) waste of life in terms of energy and time taken
2) market is going to go where it wants to , you have no control, therefore how does watching a screen do anything for you?
3) the big money is almost always made over longer periods simply because bigger moves take more than a day to take place.
4) quality of intraday signals is weak
5) day trading is a blue collar occupation sort of like working in mcdonalds or in a factory...you're working for the market rather than letting the market, capitalism, the system, call it what you will, work for you.
6) day trading is generally entertainment focused rather than profit focussed.
7) the costs of trading distort the risk reward ratio adversely when looking for small moves.
8) daytraders are competing with algos , hft and supercomputers. good luck with outsmarting them!
9) about 5 in a 1000 (yes a thousand) day traders make serious money. some make a bit of money, but they never make it to the 5 in a thousand, the rest lose.
10) your eyes, brain and penis will eventually cease to operate if you keep staring at a screen.
11) there is no need to day trade to make money or to become wealthy
You could make a list of 1-11 of how hard it is to get into the NBA and how improbable it is for most people too. But if you're 6'6 athletic and can shoot well, that greatly improves your chances. So he may strongly disagree with day trading, but I am just going to run through your 1-11 and explain the other side of the coin. Very lengthy post, but here it is.
There are plenty of people that swing trade or trader longer than a day that also lose money. So, I don't have the numbers to compare day trading vs that, but I'd find it hard to believe there's a huge gap between day traders and people who hold longer than a day (assuming this is there main source of income).
Also, the patterns in the markets are the same from a 100 tick chart to a 20000 tick chart to a Daily chart. It's not like as you go up in time the charts respond different to buyers and sellers. And if that was the case than what's the magical time frame where they start to respond in a tradable way that would be approved by him?
(1) Some of the best time to day trade ES is 9:30 to 11:30ish am EST. While you can certainly find set ups after that, I am just saying it's not like you have to be glued to your screen for 7 hours a day.
(2) You have no control where the market goes, but neither does a swing trader. And it's plausible to only have to spend 2 hours a day trading, once you're at a more comfortable point where time > money.
(3) If you have no edge yes, the more edge you have I'd argue no. Why? Because the smaller time frame you can trade on, without losing the integrity of your edge, means you can make more profits. Because you can catch both the long and the short.
Now obviously on some days or even weeks this may not be the case, but the general rule stands. Also, some day traders will hold onto a position of their trade longer if they see a larger chart is strongly bearish or bullish. But that's more about being a smart trader, than debating short term vs long term hold. I am not against that.
(4) Again, that's his experience. Mine is different. This doesn't mean he is wrong, because that may well be his experience and reality, but that doesn't make his statement true. Every trader I know that trades for a living longer than 3+ years, some for 20+(I know 6 FT traders) every single one of them are day traders. They do not have weak intra-day signals.
Think about it for a second you really think it takes a full day of market action just to get a signal that isn't of low quality? It just isn't the case.
(5) Again, yes this can be true in general, but that's just a broad general statement. Of course if you sit at your screen for 7 hours, with no edge or plan you're 100% correct. But that isn't the reality for everyone.
(6) Same point as previously every successful trader I know, has a higher focus on day trading. It's there job, if they don't make money they don't eat or can't live the lifestyle they want. It's not a clown show to them, they take it very seriously.
(7) 1 tick of ES profit more than pays for your entry and exit. If the fees of trading are going to throw your profit factor that far out of whack, than yeah I agree it's not smart to day trade for a living under that tight of perimeters.
(8) It's not about outsmarting them, it's about trading with them.
(9) No issues with this one. Day trading and trading in general can be very hard. I don't think the actual act of trading is hard once you have everything in place, but getting to that point with so many obstacles, yes very many do and will fail. But simply switching to swing trading or trading longer than day, I don't think that would magically improve the numbers of people that would of failed day trading.
(10) Same point as stated early regarding don't need to sit 7 hours a day.
(11) Yes, there's no need, there's also no need to swing trade or trade longer than day to make money or become wealthy either. So, this is not a really a + or - to either trading style.
