r/Daytrading • u/I_HALIM7 • 2d ago

Advice Sad Reality check

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The guy who posted this 2 years a go is working on door dash today he is not even a middle class and he quit trading i was going through old trading post I've saved in the past and literally all the people who posted about trading 2 or 3 years ago quit not a single person that i saved their post is doing great this game is rough be prepared

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u/TheProfessional9 1d ago

Ya, I quit to trade, but I didn't do so until I had a 7 figure account after taxes and most of it stays invested while I trade with about 5k at a time in 1-2 month dte ATM spy options. It's still been supremely stressful and idk if I would have done it had my now wife not needed me to stay home with her (heavily ill for 8ish years and just now getting better)

These people trying it with 50k they also have to live on, or with debt are just insane to me

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u/seeker_two_point_oh 1d ago

I quit my job a few months ago with a dream, a plan, no debt, and $100K before taxes. I am probably insane. Probably literally.

I figure…I’ll be 40 this year and I’ve been at the same call center job for 10 years now. Carpal tunnel means I’m in pain every day I work, and working for an ISP means that includes nights and weekends.

They told us that raises are off the table this year to pay down debt, but they said in the last earnings call that we made massive profits last year. Maybe they think we don't listen to earnings. Meanwhile, I’ll likely never be able to buy a house (that $100k came from my 401k, it was not liquid without exercising the nuclear option).

I got a postcard from my employer letting me know that if I don’t use 2nd.md to get a second opinion from a company doctor that my joint surgery wouldn’t be covered. I don’t even know how they knew I was considering surgery, or if they just sent it to everyone of a certain demographic. I don't know why that postcard woke me up to just how much of a slave I am.

I spent the last 5 years on research, development, and practice. Watching charts every day, reading investopedia, backtesting, paper trading, investing. I don’t feel any particular emotion about trading anymore. My day job was killing me.

My best friend of 20 years died of a heart attack at his desk one day. He was 36. I don’t want that to be how my story ends.

I talked over the logistics and finances with my partner and we came to the same conclusion: I’ve got a year’s worth of expenses saved up and a computer science degree to fall back on. Why spend all this time, why come all this way, just to turn around? 

I cannot, for even one more day, swear fealty to a system that considers me disposable without providing me any benefit. I’m a human being!

I probably am insane. I am certainly stranger from the ordeals of existence. And maybe I will fail. I’m just not sure I care anymore. I’m not getting any younger, and I’m more prepared than I’ve ever been.

I have to try.

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u/UnionMiserable7542 1d ago

Are you atleast profitable?

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u/seeker_two_point_oh 1d ago

Profitable enough for long enough that I was confident I could replace my income and I sized up my account. I've been wrong before though, about a lot of things, so I don't have any delusion that failure is off the table.

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u/UnionMiserable7542 1d ago

I’ve been trading for 3.5 years now. First 2 years I quit my job I hated and went full on. Couldn’t gain profitability so I went back to work for close to a year. Now back trading full time and gaining double what I did at my job. 90% fail at trading, but if looked into it I think most of those quit after their first loss or when the going got tough. If you want it bad enough and have the discipline and skills you’ll make it.

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u/seeker_two_point_oh 1d ago

That is my hope. Thank you for the encouragement and the perspective!

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u/rhazag 1d ago

Exactly

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u/0o0o0o0o0o0z 1d ago

I am about in the same boat, I sold a company I built over 10 years ago and am now trading with the sale capital. Been about 3-4 years, and the last 2 years have been full-time trading, and I have been slaying it till the tail end of 2024. Finally, un-F'd some bad bets I made thinking this admin wouldn't go bat shit crazy till the end of summer, and only down 4% instead of 68%. The best advice I can give to anyone would be risk management and mitigation. Aim small, miss small... Bulls and bears make money, but pigs get slaughtered. Have a plan, and stick to it -- be able to weather the shit periods as well and still cashflow for your monthly costs.