Ragnar Lodbrok's answer to Is day trading a real career?

For 99% of people who try to make it a career, the answer is NO. For the few that figure it out, it’s a great career.

I have been at this a long time, and have walked through the valley of death, and know what it takes to be successful, and I can tell you who is full of shit and who isn’t by what people post on these forums.

Most of what you read is from daytraders who are not making money. At best they are breaking even, but more than likely their account is slowly dwindling away month after month.

They stay in the game because they win about as much as they lose, but are not profitable. The commissions are slowly eating away at their account, and they are frustrated, because they believe they are good at this, but their P&L does not reflect this. They have convinced themselves they are really close to turning a profit, but it never happens.

When they finally throw in the towel , they will post things like…daytrading does not work, nobody is making money, if you daytrade you will lose money, the system is rigged against you, etc. Those that don’t throw in the towel but should will post things about how simple it is, you buy here and sell here , and you do this and do that, and here is how I am making money. When they tell you how they are making money, that is when your BS meter should go up. Nobody ever wants to talk about losing money or losing trades, just the winners. The guy in chat is always talking about the winners, but never the losers. When I talk to people about trading, we never talk about winners, just the losers.

There are a whole bunch of reasons why people are unsuccessful daytrading, and can’t make this a career, but the biggest hurdle is you. Trading comes down to you making decisions. The way you make decisions, the thought process, how your mind works under stress, all influence how you trade. As humans we are all hardwired the same way, have been taught the same things, and react to certain things the same way. If you were in a shopping mall and heard gun shots, what would most people do? They would run. They would run away from the gun shot sound. Others would take cover. How many would do nothing? Almost nobody would do nothing, because we equate gun fire with being shot and possibly killed, so doing nothing is crazy.

When you are trading, and price goes against you, you are going to react like the 99%. Just like those that ran or took cover when they heard gun shots. You are going to react and make decisions, predictable decisions, just like the 99%. The market understands this human behavior and trades against the expected behavior. You will never be successful, and being able to think about day trading as a career, until you change behaviors, which is very hard to change.

I go into every trade expecting to lose. You go into every trade expecting to win, and have already calculated how much you expect to profit, and what you are going to buy with your profits. Different mindset.

I am okay with losing 50% of my trades, if I am trading according to my plan. You are not okay with a single loss and the idea of losing is painful. Again different mindset.

If I am winning too much, I see it as a bad thing. You see it as you are incredible trader, and you are the shit!. I see it as me getting out of winning trades too early. You are focused on your win / loss ratio. I don’t care about win / loss ratio, because it does not mean anything to me. Different mindset

I only know how much I am willing to lose on a given trade. You only know who much you plan to win on a given trade. Different mindset.

I have outlined a few characteristics of how a successful trader thinks vs an unsuccessful trader. Be honest and ask yourself which one are you.

Daytrading can be an incredible career but you have to know what you are doing, and have to be humble and respect the market…and most of all protect your capital at all costs.

‏Source www.quora.com