I’ll fess up. I love the markets. I love economics. I read about 6-8 hours a day papers on economics, company research, etc. I day trade stocks, options, and futures (commodity only). I’ve done this for about the last 8 years seriously.
I’ve made tons of money and immediately gave it right back. I stayed completely out of the dot com deal but to be honest I really wanted to short it when the nas was about 3/4 the way up. Thank god I didn’t.
My feelings are its only good as a hobby. You trade what you can lose. I have other accounts that I rebalance once or twice a year that actually make me money but I’d have to say I’m probably flat when it comes to day trading. I know I made some dough the last few years but the last 8 months has killed me in my day trading accounts.
You have to have a fundamental view about what your trading (and it also has to happen to be right). Then you only trade in the direction of your view. Doing both of these will make you money but you can also get whipped out of money if you use leverage and time it wrong.
There is no free lunch and its especially true with the markets. Some guys can see through the noise to the true fundamentals and those are the ones you learn from. Definitely not day trading only on technical analysis or listening to guys like me on these blogs. I’m talking about guys with great track records like Warren Buffett, Jim Rogers, Marc Faber, Jim Sinclair, etc.
I have yet to see a day trader post his trades in public. I guess its possible to make it but I’m a skeptic and I am one.
