how do you learn to be a day trader? can you get hired by a firm and learn the ropes

trytrytry · Apr 12, 2005

how do you learn to be a day trader? can you get hired by a firm and learn the ropes

would love to be a day trader. How do you learn the ins and outs. Are there investment firms that train and teach you things?

I know some firms hire people to work on the floor exchanges and teach you the value, arb, and other systems to make cash on options and such.

anything like this for day trading?

Illini · Apr 12, 2005

To me, day traders lose, because they don't know what they are doing. When everything was going up in the late 90's, "day traders" simply bought stocks in the morning and sold them in the afternoon. It seemed like the easiest thing in the world. The day traders got smashed once the market came back down to reality. I prefer the simple term investor. A firm is not going to train you how to make money for yourself. However, there are some books you can read to learn how. It's simply a work thing. Not rocket science, but takes a lot of daily discipline. Check out "How to Make Money in Stocks" by William O'Neill. He is the founder of IBD- Investor's Business Daily newspaper. He has a few other books as well, and the newspaper does so much of the daily work for you. You just have to learn what causes stocks to go up, so you know what companies to invest in. Once you have good companies, then you pay attention to market signals to know when to buy and sell them. Trading good companies all the time. Not buying KMart because a friend heard from a friend that it's due, or an analyst on tv said it was going to go up. Analysts suck, they are just like touts. Pay no attention to them. Keep in mind, there are always good stocks to buy. I could show you stocks that went up 300% a year and more in 2000 and 2001, some of the worst market years in history. And you can always go short, too, but that's an advanced strategy. Check out that book, though, as you will learn a lot just by reading it.

Coast2Coast · Apr 12, 2005

The first thing you should do to be a day trader is to learn the job. No different than any other job/profession. There are a few very good training programs you can take. There are a few organizations that offer ongoing support to new day traders, including a number of daily training "lessons" using real situations. You participate in these training sessions...some of which are done entirely online...you participate in daily day trade exercises and "learnings"....and you develop your skills. At some point, you develop specific situations you look for, you recognize them and you work only those situations. As you get better at that, you gradually expand your range of strategies. I did this several years ago in between jobs and it was an interesting process. I know others who have done it and continue to do it successfully in all kinds of markets. As in any strategy related to the market, you have to be very disciplined. Will organizations hire you to be a day trader? Very unlikely. Most day traders for major firms started at lower desk/runner positions in the trading departments in their firms and moved through the chairs. Some day traders are MBAs who moved over from research or IB positions, but most spent time on trading desks and moved up.

TTinCO · Apr 13, 2005

Illini, it's not really that bad. I actually fared pretty well at it for a few years doing it part time & for small money. It's a b!tch....if you think staring at a DB screen all day is rough, you haven't seen anything. You're trying to get a feel for the general momentum of the market, and also hope to not get blindsided by any (rare) unexpected big news.

One really simplistic thing that seems to hold true is the "Buy late Friday afternoon, sell Monday" theory. Few buyers are around on Friday afternoon & it's often very soft.

THE SHRINK · Apr 13, 2005

JUST SAY NO...

For me personally, it is rather easy to make money in a bull market but I struggle a lot when stocks go South...

I do much better in Sports Betting...

THE SHRINK

tatehill2000 · Apr 13, 2005

there were a FEW firms in Boca,,,,, they were looking for successful Traders to work at their company and use their EQUIPMENT, and train them in their Techniques,,,andn trade their money,,,, I know a few of them are still around,,,, I thought about applying 5 years ago ,,,,, but the stress was Fing Incredible,,,,

tater

monicus · Apr 13, 2005

I used to manage a day trading office in FL and I can tell you that day-tradings hey-days have come and gone. In 1999-2001 it was a license to print money. The players in the office would average making 5-10K per day. That was back when everybody was trading internet stocks. In about 2002 the bubble burst and so did trading volatility, which is what the day trader feeds from. Now it is much tougher to make money but it can be done. If you want to try it you need a few things:
1 Another source of income other than trading. You can't trade knowing you have to make $100 today to cover your nut.
2 Be ready to lose money while moving up the learning curve. Trade only 100 shares until you really "get it".
3 A good office with someone in the office who is willing to teach a profitable system. There are many styles so find an expert in the style you are looking for.
4 Be open minded and willing to admit mistakes. Those who can't understand why their stock is going down don't get it. It is not up to you to understand, your job is to react and be ready to get out if your theory about a stock is wrong. Don't come to the office knowing what you want to do. Learn from the pros.

If you want to trade I know some places in Boca FL that you can learn and I know one place that was teaching people remotely if you want to look into it.