Why do people believe day trading will get them rich quick?

[1prometheus]

It depends on what you mean by "quick"

If it means sit down at a computer and with low capital, no experience, no knowledge (other than reading market wizards) and then print money, well that is so improbable as to be realistically impossible.

If it means become wealthy to extraordinarily wealthy over a 10-15 year time horizon, that is possible.

I know that a number of people who post here somewhat regularly fit this profile.

 

[emg]

Quote from 1prometheus:

It depends on what you mean by "quick"

If it means sit down at a computer and with low capital, no experience, no knowledge (other than reading market wizards) and then print money, well that is so improbable as to be realistically impossible.

If it means become wealthy to extraordinarily wealthy over a 10-15 year time horizon, that is possible.

I know that a number of people who post here somewhat regularly fit this profile.

more than 90% believe day trading will get them rich quick the like of george soro, warren buffet, etc etc.

 

[Cheese]

Lets look at what a volatile market can offer the daytrader.

Lets take CL. And lets look at the last 5 days, Jan 5 to Jan 11.
Using a minimum span of 40 points per swing, lets look at the gyrations day by day, namely the sequential swings up and down, open to close. And lets take those five days in sequence, Wed to Tues, citing the number of swings per session by the mean average points per swing: 8 x 88, 9 x 83, 7 x 99, 20 x 58 and 4 x 100.

Lets look at those maximum daily points; 711, 749, 669, 1175 and 401. Now lets total all that for a 5 day maximum: =3705 points!

Could an amateur trader learn (or eventually learn) sufficient to take a net 20% from such weekly maximums with just one contract? That would be $7410. Could such an amateur, (not even compounding by increasing his stake size) do that for 50 weeks? That would be $370,500 :eek:

Making yourself rich is a choice.

 

[failed_trad3r]

Because daytrading is a zero sum game where the better daytraders make money of the worser ones.

It is mathematicly impossible to get certifiably rich of daytrading, it has no true edge.

And I dont mean rich as in millionaire, but it is impossible to there be 10+ daytrader billionaires ever.

The math doesnt work out.

 

[Locutus]

Quote from failed_trad3r:

Because daytrading is a zero sum game where the better daytraders make money of the worser ones.

It is mathematicly impossible to get certifiably rich of daytrading, it has no true edge.

And I dont mean rich as in millionaire, but it is impossible to there be 10+ daytrader billionaires ever.

The math doesnt work out.

Given the way intelligence and other relevant factors are distributed (normal) it's also unlikely that the division will be anywhere near equal (i.e. 5 losers for 5 winners) but more likely 8 losers for 2 winners, even when those in the upper ends of the distribution participate.

 

[Locutus]

Quote from Cheese:

Lets look at what a volatile market can offer the daytrader.

Lets take CL. And lets look at the last 5 days, Jan 5 to Jan 11.
Using a minimum span of 40 points per swing, lets look at the gyrations day by day, namely the sequential swings up and down, open to close. And lets take those five days in sequence, Wed to Tues, citing the number of swings per session by the mean average points per swing: 8 x 88, 9 x 83, 7 x 99, 20 x 58 and 4 x 100.

Lets look at those maximum daily points; 711, 749, 669, 1175 and 401. Now lets total all that for a 5 day maximum: =3705 points!

Could an amateur trader learn (or eventually learn) sufficient to take a net 20% from such weekly maximums with just one contract? That would be $7410. Could such an amateur, (not even compounding by increasing his stake size) do that for 50 weeks? That would be $370,500 :eek:

Making yourself rich is a choice.

Randomness is a choice? hahaha. Dude. I've never really heard of a consistently profitable CL daytrader (swing trader yes of course, but daytrading CL isn't a real good idea). You're better off looking at a year's range and swing trading it.

 

[achilles28]

Quote from Locutus:

Randomness is a choice? hahaha. Dude. I've never really heard of a consistently profitable CL daytrader (swing trader yes of course, but daytrading CL isn't a real good idea). You're better off looking at a year's range and swing trading it.

CL trades no different than anything else. The more volatility, the better (from a daytraders perspective).

 

[Locutus]

Quote from achilles28:

CL trades no different than anything else. The more volatility, the better (from a daytraders perspective).

Ok, well, hat's off to any succesful CL trader. I think it's scary and unpredictable. I'm more of a position trader anyway. Tried daytrading, which gives me an edge in position entry and exit I think but pure daytrading was never profitable for me.

 

[achilles28]

^That's fair. Everyone has their niche.

 

[vk60546]

Quote from jinxu:

I honestly don't understand why you use that quote b/c it's referring to someone who is pretending to be rich but really isn't.

Anyways, you could just simply post some recent blotters like this one of mine. It doesn't have to be audited or anything. Just provide some hard evidence for credibility.

Hi Jinxu,

But your blotter is for a paper trading account. How does paper trading prove that one is successful? I can show you a blotter with any dollar amount in papertrading.