Satuki @ Home

There is a lot of aspiring day traders out there.  I think that they would ditch their day jobs in a heart beat if they know they could day trade for a living. This statement is not exaggerated considering all the freedom that trading can bring you.

First of all, let’s define what a successful day trader is.  A successful day trader is not necessarily some one that makes millions a year.  It is someone who can consistently reproduce his income that he would otherwise make from his day job. There is no stress/dramas/draw-downs since trading has become a routine for him day in and day out.

This is the ultimate goal that an aspiring day trader needs to reach. We all know that the success rate of reaching that goal is quite low. Or everyone around us would be a day trader.  But there are extremely successful examples around us too.  These successful day traders worked their butts off and sacrificed a lot to get where they are today. Hard work is the only answer.  But here comes a dilemma for an aspiring day trader. 

This typical trader normally has a day job. He went to a four year college and got a job that is paying him 70k per year now in a small town.  That money is decent although he has to deal with a lot of BS at work.  He dreams about trading for a living one day. He clearly knows he has to put in a tremendous amount of hard work into it.  The question is “how could he find the time to put in the hard work?”

Have you ever heard of a successful part time day trader?  I have not.  “Part time” and ” successful day trader” are contradiction.  Simply put it this way. If he were successful, he would go full time.  Day trading requires one’s full attention.  He can not blatantly open a streamer at work unless he has a corner office.

One might think that he should quit his job so that he could devote all his energy and time practicing it.  This is not an easy decision to make.  He has all kinds of bills to pay and might have a few mouths to feed every month. How about health insurance? Health insurance is very expensive in the US. Canadians score 1 and Americans sore 0 here. If day trading does not work out for him after 3 years of dedicated practicing, his opportunity costs would be 210k. In addition, he might lose some money during these 3 years. All these factors will deter quite some aspiring day traders. For the most determined, a few of them will rise from the ashes eventually.

I hope I have scared you enough so that you would look at trading as a hobby, which includes swing trading while holding onto a full time day job.   If you are among those most determined and die hard aspiring day traders, I will talk about how to prepare for the first couple of years as a full time day trader.