Day Trade for a Living?

[Terry Tang 0]

Hi,

I've been day trading with BBT for about a year now and I'm still in SIM. So far I haven't been able to come up with a consistence result with a very fluctuating equity curve. My plan is to go live if I can have a positive equity curve trading in SIM since trading live with real money is a lot harder mentally real money is on the line. 

So day trade for a living seems like a distance dream for me at the moment, perhaps I need a little inspiration... except for the BBT moderators, anyone here day trading full-time for a living?

If so, would you please share your success story?

I would really appreciate it if you would share your tips to make my journey a lot easier.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Milos Randelovic 3]

I also want to hear from someone who day trade for living. I have been trading for 1.5 and so far I only break even of with small profit. 

[Terry Tang 0]

55 minutes ago, Milos Randelovic said:

I also want to hear from someone who day trade for living. I have been trading for 1.5 and so far I only break even of with small profit. 

Breaking even means you have over 50% win rate after all the running costs such as DAS, screener, commission, etc...  Day trading is a minus sum game! I think you are on the right path. 

[Adam Lewis 64]

Day trading for a living... Clearly this is possible. However, for me it is the very final step of a long journey, on which I'm still at the early stages after 9 month in sim. Don't think in terms of doing it for a living. Think in terms of smaller more achievable steps. First, break even consistently. Second, make small profits and have it as a side hustle. Third, scale up and develop a cushion. Only after this are you really ready to make this your full time career. Along the way the key is to learn from mistakes. Journal thoroughly. Scrutinise your performance. Do more of what's working and stop doing what isn't. If you notice patterns that are leading to loss, try to prevent them. This is about the best you've got.

[Adam Lewis 64]

Just now, peterB said:

this is not true man. do not focus on the win rate so much. see my win rate for this month. still +8R

100% correct Peter. Good risk management allows profits with less than 50%. My stats for February were similar, c. 40% win rate but 20R profit for the whole month. This month hasn't been so good thanks to a few days mid-month when for some reason I figured I'd not be disciplined for a bit and surrendered 7R!

[Milos Randelovic 3]

Thanks for your answers guys. I’ve been through those risk controls, R’s, win rates and all the stats, and while this is important it did not give me the profits to live of day trading. I would like to hear from someone who is day trading for living. So far I have met more than 10 people who are doing day trading for 2+ years and non of them is day trading for living or making any significant money. 
I know it is possible to do it so if someone is making money I would appreciate to come out and give us all some guidance.

[Terry Tang 0]

6 hours ago, Adam Lewis said:

100% correct Peter. Good risk management allows profits with less than 50%. My stats for February were similar, c. 40% win rate but 20R profit for the whole month. This month hasn't been so good thanks to a few days mid-month when for some reason I figured I'd not be disciplined for a bit and surrendered 7R!

So what's your average R per month? My goal for now is to have a upward equity curve. I'm not too concern about how much I made as long as I'm not losing money. 

[Adam Lewis 64]

2 hours ago, Terry Tang said:

So what's your average R per month? My goal for now is to have a upward equity curve. I'm not too concern about how much I made as long as I'm not losing money. 

Much to my frustration I only started seriously tracking in February. I was making consistent losses until the end of 2020, then worked on discipline. Fixed risk hot keys changed my game, helped me manage risk and position size correctly. I now simply never lose more than 1R on a trade, and often I'll come off earlier if the position degrades. The link below is to a post where I go through my February stats in a little bit of detail. March was also profitable until.... Well, until it wasn't! This was entirely my fault. I'm currently about -3R for March, I think. 

 

[Adam Lewis 64]

8 hours ago, Milos Randelovic said:

Thanks for your answers guys. I’ve been through those risk controls, R’s, win rates and all the stats, and while this is important it did not give me the profits to live of day trading. I would like to hear from someone who is day trading for living. So far I have met more than 10 people who are doing day trading for 2+ years and non of them is day trading for living or making any significant money. 
I know it is possible to do it so if someone is making money I would appreciate to come out and give us all some guidance.

You sound frustrated Milos. Unfortunately trading is a very, VERY personal thing. You need to find your own style. Some people are scalpers, some trade reversals, some are really really good at ABCDs over 2 hour trades. The only guidance anyone can give you is find your style that suits your personality, patience and risk tolerance. I'm still very much doing this. 

[Davis418 2]

I have been a member of this community since 2017, and I really gave a Day Trading a try for about 6 months in SIM and did VERY well overall. Read Andrews books, and took all the courses etc, and really dove in head first. I have a finance background, and have a high paying job I have just never been happy doing it as it is very stressful.

The community wasnt nearly as developed as it is now, and wasnt as much about having a trade book, etc at the time, and I stopped trading after I went live in a choppy market and lost $1,000 (even Andrew was having a hard time and was breaking even or losing at the time). I always regretted not giving it more time, and wonder 'what could have been' a lot since then. I login and watch Andrews recaps a lot to see keep tabs on the community, but one thing that has always been discouraging is what the original poster said. It seems like no one talks about their success story, and I don't really see anyone that does this for a living (this thread was directed at that very topic and still no one came out to say that they were). Does this mean it's really not possible? Or only a VERY select few can? It's hard to be motivated or want to do something like day trading if the ultimate dream is ultimately unattainable.. It seems that you need to be a moderator paid a salary by a community or sell a course to make any real money at this, and I dont want to believe that!  So hopefully some of you can come out and prove that it is possible. 

Edited December 23, 2022 by Davis418

[Milos Randelovic 3]

This is well said Davis. After so many years of day trading I still wasn’t able to find person who really day trade for a living. On the opposite I found many who claim they do but they sell courses or couching. The question is why they waste their time and energy on courses, chat rooms and all that when they can focus their time and energy on trading and their personal life. Of course some people do really want to help others and find enjoyment and pleasure in that but it is definitely unusual that everyone who claims that makes money day trading always has something to sell.