How can struggling daytraders cope with the social stigma of being called losers?

He bought a house he couldn't afford, lives off his wife, refuses to get a job and has blown hundreds of thousand of dollars. Errr, I'd say that he IS a loser!

Quote from latinotrader:

An acquaintance of mine is a daytrader. Unlike most daytraders he lives in a nice big house. He got this house with no down payment during the bubble.
He did not bring home the bacon for a long time a few years in fact.
His wife supports the household. He even sold his 2 cars to keep trading and lost it all.
Now he's trying to get funds to trade again by trying to get hired at micro hedge fund which many people think it's actually a ponzi scheme.
His wife gets a ride home from a male coworker who is "just a friend" she says. I suspect his wife is actually dating this guy.
His house is almost empty with no furniture as he only was able to get the house but he never actually had the income to live in such neighborhood.

Of course people call him loser. Even the condo watchmans and janitors treat him badly. People mock at him when he's walking to the public transport station.
Even his wife spends long hours "just talking" in her coworker car at the condo entrance, after he gives her a ride home.

What would you advice to such a guy? What would you do if you were him?
I suggested him some jobs he could apply for but he was not interested.
BTW told me he has blown up 3 six-figure accounts.
 
Quote from Larson:

This is actually good advice.

He screwed the pooch with his soon to be ex-wife. She no longer respects him if the OP is be believed. She has got to go.

He needs to minimize expenses because if he blew 2 six figure accounts, then he was swinging for the fences with S&P futures contracts, prolly the big ones. He needs to aim for singles that the market turns into doubles, triples and inside the parks. Low expenses eliminates the need to score a bunch of runs with two out in the bottom of the ninth.

He needs to trade forex because he cannot blow up. If he is left with a dollar he can trade it.

He can work a full time job on second shift and miss no trading action.

Lastly I am explaining all this because the OP needs to know why I am telling him to do these things.:)
 
It's not the lack of price movement that will kill the profession. It's the attack of legislation that will kill it. The writing is on the wall. Be prepared for it should it happen during your career.

Quote from Red_Ink_inc:

Trading is a dying living? As long as prices change there are opportunities to profit from it. I do not see a day coming when prices do not change.

Why do the vast majority of your posts include descriptions of how well you're doing? A lot of your posts make me think I am reading a resume. It's like you have something to prove.

The point you miss about trading for a living is the trader is not beholden to anyone. Could you get on a plane to Greece this evening and piss off for a month without a word to any business people?

I bet at this very instant your cell phone is no more than 3 feet away from you. You may make tons of money but it does not sound like you own your own time. The trader may make less than you but he/she owns their own time and answers to no one. That is worth more than money.
 
Quote from RCG Trader:

He screwed the pooch with his soon to be ex-wife. She no longer respects him if the OP is be believed. She has got to go.


I am not convinced that she doesn't respect him. She hasn't done anything wrong in my eyes. He ought to be straight up with his wife though and ask her: 'are you happy with the marriage?' 'Do you want to leave?' If she wants to leave, let her go. Does he really want to be with someone who would rather be with someone else? Doesn't make any sense. If she wants to go, no hard feelings. She should be entitled to pursue her happiness as any free person should. Marriage is a bs arrangement anyway. We make a promise we can't keep and then are expected to stick it out anyway.

As others have said before me: this dude really shouldn't give a rat's ass what anybody thinks about him anyway. It you give other people that kind of power you're not living your life. I used to be like that when I was 17, but I grew up. I don't give a rat's ass what anybody thinks of me, except myself. I control my self-esteem. Anything less is just bad thinking.
 
Quote from olias:

I am not convinced that she doesn't respect him. She hasn't done anything wrong in my eyes. He ought to be straight up with his wife though and ask her: 'are you happy with the marriage?' 'Do you want to leave?' If she wants to leave, let her go. Does he really want to be with someone who would rather be with someone else? Doesn't make any sense. If she wants to go, no hard feelings. She should be entitled to pursue her happiness as any free person should. Marriage is a bs arrangement anyway. We make a promise we can't keep and then are expected to stick it out anyway.

As others have said before me: this dude really shouldn't give a rat's ass what anybody thinks about him anyway. It you give other people that kind of power you're not living your life. I used to be like that when I was 17, but I grew up. I don't give a rat's ass what anybody thinks of me, except myself. I control my self-esteem. Anything less is just bad thinking.

Perhaps. Perhaps I am a traditionalist and insist that if you have a male best friend it be your husband or bf or whatever you want to call it. She is talking to another man about me, and that man is not gay, or her brother, or father? Seriously? No. Not acceptable. If she is found out, then she is fired, that simple.

Again, that is a personal bias.
 
Quote from the1:

It's not the lack of price movement that will kill the profession. It's the attack of legislation that will kill it. The writing is on the wall. Be prepared for it should it happen during your career.

Unless they require a certain hold time, then I do not worry about the rest. Trading will be a viable way to augment income and in time support you and your loved ones, as long as they allow us to trade our signals. If they want kill intraday trading, expand the timeframe to daily. If they attack daily trading, then we will have an issue.
 
The regulations aren't heading in that direction. Man can't control time, although in your scenario I suppose you could argue against that. What's more likely to happen is something like the PDT rule for futures or contract limits, which has already been discussed; or, of course, that dreaded 1/4 of 1% tax. I forget which European country it is -- Germany, I think -- who recently voted such a tax. Can such a thing be coming to a country near you? The US is becoming more and more socialist everyday so the answer is clearly, yes. It's possible.

Quote from RCG Trader:

Unless they require a certain hold time, then I do not worry about the rest. Trading will be a viable way to augment income and in time support you and your loved ones, as long as they allow us to trade our signals. If they want kill intraday trading, expand the timeframe to daily. If they attack daily trading, then we will have an issue.
 
Quote from Fireplace:

Wait, you ARE, CRGARCIA! The same man who was banned for constantly bashing daytraders!
CRGARCIA and the like are essential parts of society. Without them, we would be closer to the lower end of the food chain.

:)
 
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