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my step brother was a professional trader on wall street ... he used special company proprietary software that focused on all the important parameters of trading .
all he had to do was trade two stocks daily ,amgen and trident energy ... he would trade all day with big dollars capturing small moves watching charts and graphs ..
it worked well , until it didn't ...then that was the end of his trading on wall street
If day trading was profitable, you would think that everybody and their grandmother would be doing it.
Everybody that comes back from Las Vegas tells me they just made a huge windfall over there too. It never fails. LOL
I am 57 years old and completely burnt out on my working career after more than 30 years. Am recently divorced and have a net worth of $700,000. Social security at 62 will be approximately $2000 and if I wait until 67 it will be closer to $2800. No debt at all. Has anyone been successful at trading equities as an income replacement for the grind of the workplace? Any and all constructive advice appreciated.
Some other advice I would like to share is to set a goal. When I started actively trading, I set a weekly goal and I base my trading on 50 weeks, e.g. $1,000 a week equals $50,000 a year; $1,500 a week equals $75,000 a year, etc.
I've mentioned in the "share your trades as you make them" thread that I own TSLA. Last week on Monday when TSLA was at $819, I sold 1 option at $890 with an expiration of 22 May. I don't particularly want to part with the stock so I look at the most recent high in the past 30 days and it's $886.89. I decided that if TSLA went up 8.6% last week to get back the recent high, the purchaser of my option can call me on the stock. I'm typically selling covered calls each Monday that are 5% to 8% above the current price.
Here's my last batch of weekly covered call activity on TSLA, and some weeks I'll sell the calls closer to the current price (5%) which will pay me a higher premium:
TSLA Apr 24 2020 805.0 Call Expire Short 100 04/20/20 $2,265.28
TSLA May 01 2020 870.0 Call Expire Short 100 04/27/20 $1,284.30
TSLA May 08 2020 830.0 Call Expire Short 100 05/04/20 $519.32
TSLA May 15 2020 885.0 Call Expire Short 100 05/11/20 $627.32
TSLA May 22 2020 890.0 Call Expire Short 100 05/18/20 $499.32
There's risk in holding any stock, and I assume that risk when selling covered calls. Over the course of 2019, I was called out about 20% of the time, so it will happen. And when it does, I buy right back in and sell the covered call again unless there's been a huge run up on the stock, then I'll rotate those funds into one of my other positions, and get back into the original position when it comes back down a bit.
Last edited by FIRE42; 05-25-2020 at 12:43 PM..
Reason: typo
.75% a month returns a little less than 10% in a year. 1% a month is a little more than 12.5% in a year so you would need just over 1.5% a month to get to the 20% mark. Do I understand the math? Yes I do and that doesn’t change my commentary
I think the reason most people fail at trading is because they have unrealistic expectations and give up before they're successful. Also, everybody loses from time to time, even the pros, it's a part of the game, but most people are not comfortable with losing. It's not something where you can read a book and start making money consistently the next day, at least not for most people. It takes years for most people and a lot of failing to get good at it. If you're set on it, then it doesn't matter what the naysayers say anyway. Spend the first 2-3 years studying as much as you can and paper trade while you continue holding down your day job. And probably don't expect to be consistently profitable until 4-10 years into your adventure. When you're starting out, try swing trading first. Handling your emotions, like some of the other posters have said, is a majority of it. That might be why it takes so long, because you're pretty much unlearning all of your natural human habits that causes you to lose. Like some have said though, if you're just looking for a way out of your job, there may be other alternatives like doing real estate, starting your own business, teaching, etc. I don't think anything is "easy" if you want to be good at it but it probably wouldn't take as long to start consistently making money and it can be less uncertain.
Last edited by Gabriella Geramia; 05-25-2020 at 06:21 PM..
I am 57 years old and completely burnt out on my working career after more than 30 years. Am recently divorced and have a net worth of $700,000. Social security at 62 will be approximately $2000 and if I wait until 67 it will be closer to $2800. No debt at all. Has anyone been successful at trading equities as an income replacement for the grind of the workplace? Any and all constructive advice appreciated.
I'm 55 and burnt out on my working career also that officially started when I joined the military straight out of high school, which doesn't count the unofficial jobs I had growing up (typical things like grass cutting, spring cleaning, fall cleaning, and even babysitting). Would love to be in your position having a net worth of $700,000.
Personally, I wouldn't risk any of that money day trading. Most people who day trade fail. After following stocks off and on since the '90s I finally had a small amount of money to invest with. On April 15th I took $880 of the gov't check they sent to people due to the Covid-19 pandemic and set up a TD Ameritrade account and was able to fund it and start trading in minutes. Added a total of $374 from my next couple of paychecks for a total of $1254. Eventually took a little money out that I replaced short of $60 which leaves me with $1194 of my own cash invested. I was aggressive with my investing and through some luck, a lot of research, and for the most part good decision-making, I grew my account to $2,971 and some change by the end of last Friday after I sold some of my stock that went through the roof.
With the money I made from that trade plus whatever else I had in my account I put it all on one stock that I am comfortable enough with to believe it wont totally crash, that I also believe will make me a couple hundred dollars, at least, on the run up to the earnings release late afternoon Thursday. Maybe it will, maybe it wont. But I wont sell until I realize at least a 10% return, even if it takes a week or two.
The reason I'm telling you about this stock, GERN, is because after I bought 587 add'l shares this morning, for a total of 1,627, the price has dropped (now 1.67, I bought this AM at 1.80). Daytraders set limit losses. Odds are some of them would have already had their positions closed out. I'm down $233.49 but I'm not worried about it. I've been watching this stock since before I signed up with TD Ameritrade, and it was going to be my first buy but I changed my mind at that time. I did buy it later making a decent $89 profit. I'll wait until this comes back and make a profit again.
I'm poor and swinging for the fences, while trying to make good buys. It's worked out well except for two stocks, my biggest loss was $5.24 and the other $.42. It doesn't seem you need to swing for the fences. If you want to invest I'd suggest either long trading for the tax benefits, or short term trading (not day trading) like I do, without my swing for the fences mentality I've been using. I need to check that a little and diversify so I'm not risking everything on one to three stocks.
There are a lot of stocks that are undervalued, many banking stocks for example, that would good ones to buy and hold until they come back in price. Some have dividends that might interest someone in your position.
There are people on Youtube that brag about how much they make, and how they trade for an hour a day and make six figures. Even if they do most people aren't going to be able to match that. One guy I watch who's videos I actually enjoy has made those types of claims. He also has classes that I have a feeling are very high priced. I'd never pay for them, even if I wanted to be a daytrader. There are plenty of places to find that type of information. Keep in mind some of the trading sites have simulators you can practice on before using real money.
I'm 55 and burnt out on my working career also that officially started when I joined the military straight out of high school, which doesn't count the unofficial jobs I had growing up (typical things like grass cutting, spring cleaning, fall cleaning, and even babysitting). Would love to be in your position having a net worth of $700,000.
Personally, I wouldn't risk any of that money day trading. Most people who day trade fail. After following stocks off and on since the '90s I finally had a small amount of money to invest with. On April 15th I took $880 of the gov't check they sent to people due to the Covid-19 pandemic and set up a TD Ameritrade account and was able to fund it and start trading in minutes. Added a total of $374 from my next couple of paychecks for a total of $1254. Eventually took a little money out that I replaced short of $60 which leaves me with $1194 of my own cash invested. I was aggressive with my investing and through some luck, a lot of research, and for the most part good decision-making, I grew my account to $2,971 and some change by the end of last Friday after I sold some of my stock that went through the roof.
With the money I made from that trade plus whatever else I had in my account I put it all on one stock that I am comfortable enough with to believe it wont totally crash, that I also believe will make me a couple hundred dollars, at least, on the run up to the earnings release late afternoon Thursday. Maybe it will, maybe it wont. But I wont sell until I realize at least a 10% return, even if it takes a week or two.
The reason I'm telling you about this stock, GERN, is because after I bought 587 add'l shares this morning, for a total of 1,627, the price has dropped (now 1.67, I bought this AM at 1.80). Daytraders set limit losses. Odds are some of them would have already had their positions closed out. I'm down $233.49 but I'm not worried about it. I've been watching this stock since before I signed up with TD Ameritrade, and it was going to be my first buy but I changed my mind at that time. I did buy it later making a decent $89 profit. I'll wait until this comes back and make a profit again.
I'm poor and swinging for the fences, while trying to make good buys. It's worked out well except for two stocks, my biggest loss was $5.24 and the other $.42. It doesn't seem you need to swing for the fences. If you want to invest I'd suggest either long trading for the tax benefits, or short term trading (not day trading) like I do, without my swing for the fences mentality I've been using. I need to check that a little and diversify so I'm not risking everything on one to three stocks.
There are a lot of stocks that are undervalued, many banking stocks for example, that would good ones to buy and hold until they come back in price. Some have dividends that might interest someone in your position.
There are people on Youtube that brag about how much they make, and how they trade for an hour a day and make six figures. Even if they do most people aren't going to be able to match that. One guy I watch who's videos I actually enjoy has made those types of claims. He also has classes that I have a feeling are very high priced. I'd never pay for them, even if I wanted to be a daytrader. There are plenty of places to find that type of information. Keep in mind some of the trading sites have simulators you can practice on before using real money.
Over and out with the rambling.....
How about MA and V? You can buy fractional shares over time (brokerages are allowing fractional shares soon). However seem high now, maybe buy on dips?
How about MA and V? You can buy fractional shares over time (brokerages are allowing fractional shares soon). However seem high now, maybe buy on dips?
Thanks. I like buying the lower priced stocks. I realize it's about percentage of increase, but stocks in the three figures are not something I'm researching right now. Maybe in the future after many more successful trades with no losses. Figure the odds on that one. Just hoping I don't 'blow up' my account as they say.
I am 57 years old and completely burnt out on my working career after more than 30 years. Am recently divorced and have a net worth of $700,000. Social security at 62 will be approximately $2000 and if I wait until 67 it will be closer to $2800. No debt at all. Has anyone been successful at trading equities as an income replacement for the grind of the workplace? Any and all constructive advice appreciated.
Immediately? No.
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Figure the odds on that one. Just hoping I don't 'blow up' my account as they say.
