become a day trader? (percentage, sell, bank, 100k)

[Humanoid]

Whenever the markets get like this people start talking about day trading. You can make money doing this sort of thing in some market conditions, but it others its much harder. Day traders tend to have very short careers.

You could always become a professional gambler and move to Vegas. At least you wouldn't be sitting in your house all day.

[lchoro]

I could come up with the required $25,000 (for PDT) plus some additional to cover, although I'd be trading with my future rent money if I lost my job.

You're undercapitalized. You haven't said how much you need for living expenses. You don't appear to have another asset that generates income to cushion your losses. As a hypothetical case, if you needed $10K/yr to live on and you had $200K that could earn 5% without risk. You wouldn't be able to daytrade without putting your living situation in jeopardy. You would have to draw down on your $200K to support both your home and your trading. Once you started to lose, you would have to go out and look for employment with a substantial hole in your resume. Unless you've owned a business or worked in a professional business (doctor, lawyer, CPA, etc) where you can put up your shingle, start again on moment's notice, and market yourself to new clientele, you're at the mercy of the labor market.

[Nepenthe]

Originally Posted by Humanoid

Whenever the markets get like this people start talking about day trading. You can make money doing this sort of thing in some market conditions, but it others its much harder. Day traders tend to have very short careers.

And that would be okay, since I wouldn't intend to make a long term career out of it.

Originally Posted by Humanoid

You could always become a professional gambler and move to Vegas. At least you wouldn't be sitting in your house all day.

I totally wouldn't mind sitting in my house from 8:30 through 3:00! In fact, I'd love to be able to telecommute for my career a few days a week. The way I see it, a day trader can make his own hours. Taking the day off or the afternoon off is allowed, and at any rate the main market closes at 3:00 my time, which gives plenty of time to head out to the park and enjoy the rest of the day.

[Nepenthe]

Originally Posted by lchoro

You're undercapitalized. You haven't said how much you need for living expenses. You don't appear to have another asset that generates income to cushion your losses. As a hypothetical case, if you needed $10K/yr to live on and you had $200K that could earn 5% without risk. You wouldn't be able to daytrade without putting your living situation in jeopardy. You would have to draw down on your $200K to support both your home and your trading. Once you started to lose, you would have to go out and look for employment with a substantial hole in your resume. Unless you've owned a business or worked in a professional business (doctor, lawyer, CPA, etc) where you can put up your shingle, start again on moment's notice, and market yourself to new clientele, you're at the mercy of the labor market.

You make a point. I presume I would be able to draw unemployment (for up to 9 months now) which i could easily live on. Beyond that, I have several months of living expenses in my checking account beyond the $25K and change for the day trade account. I'd have to look over my finances carefully, however. Thanks.

[lchoro]

FAS didn't move up 33.6% in an hour. It took all day to move from the low. FAS has a large bid/ask spread which will work against you. Some people won't trade it since you can still lose money on it even if you get the move right.

FAS has a large bid-ask spread of about 1.25 points.

FAS: Summary for FINANCIAL BULL 3X - Yahoo! Finance

[Nepenthe]

Originally Posted by lchoro

FAS didn't move up 33.6% in an hour. It took all day to move from the low. FAS has a large bid/ask spread which will work against you. Some people won't trade it since you can still lose money on it even if you get the move right.

FAS has a large bid-ask spread of about 1.25 points.

FAS: Summary for FINANCIAL BULL 3X - Yahoo! Finance

No, you're wrong. On Friday November 21st, FAS did indeed move over 33% in just one hour. And another 80% in the past three days.

You're also wrong on the bid-ask spread, it's typically 2 cents for FAS. You can never look at bid-ask spreads when the market is closed and expect to get any kind of accurate data (by design). Look at MSFT right now for proof.

[Humanoid]

Originally Posted by Nepenthe

The way I see it, a day trader can make his own hours. Taking the day off or the afternoon off is allowed, and at any rate the main market closes at 3:00 my time, which gives plenty of time to head out to the park and enjoy the rest of the day.

A day trader doesn't make his own hours. You do most of your "work" when the markets are open.

[Nepenthe]

Originally Posted by Humanoid

A day trader doesn't make his own hours. You do most of your "work" when the markets are open.

Yes, but there's nothing saying you have to be there every second of every single trading day, that's my point.

[lchoro]

Originally Posted by Nepenthe

No, you're wrong. On Friday November 21st, FAS did indeed move over 33% in just one hour. And another 80% in the past three days.

You're also wrong on the bid-ask spread, it's typically 2 cents for FAS. You can never look at bid-ask spreads when the market is closed and expect to get any kind of accurate data (by design). Look at MSFT right now for proof.

The spreads seem to be very wide after-hours and at the beginning and end of the day. One has to time their entries and exits accordingly. On days like the 24th, you can get really screwed after 3:30 pm when you're trying to close out positions.

[thebigr]

Originally Posted by jamestkirkland

It's a very risky business because people sometimes don't adhere to their rules. They say the key is to eliminate human emotion. The new day trading of today is using automated trading bots. People are reporting absurd returns in doing so.

Oh yea, how much does it cost? Where can I get it? I want to be rich!!