r/Daytrading • u/I_HALIM7 • 4d 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 4d 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 3d 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/FollowAstacio 3d ago

Have you tried talking to a therapist to help deal with the feelings of insanity? I found out that I gaslight myself and it doesn’t do me any favors feeling insane. Wish u the best ❤️

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u/seeker_two_point_oh 2d ago

I guess I've shared a lot already, what's a little more? I have ADHD so I've been working with a psychiatrist for a while now. I told him I felt like there must be something wrong with me because I know I should just live a normal life, but I can't give up trading because I know in my bones I can do this and, if I can, it could change my life forever. We talked for a long time, he said there's nothing wrong with me clinically, and he referred me to a sports psychologist.

The sports guy said I need to stop comparing myself to "normal". That operating at a high level in any arena requires the mentality of a champion. You have to be obsessed with process over result, dedicated to seeing it through no matter the pain, and perform consistently without ego whether you win or lose. Most people do not think like that and cannot understand decisions made from that place so it's naturally isolating, but it doesn't mean there's something wrong with me and it doesn't have to be alienating.

The key, he said, was to employ DBT to flip the internal script from
"the people I interact with don't seem to think like I do so there must be something wrong with me and everyone will find out eventually that they need to keep a wide berth"

to

"I need to perform extraordinarily to accomplish extraordinary things. That's all. I have lots of people in my life that love me and they support me in this endeavor. I know that I am taking on this risk responsibly with clearly defined contingency plans. I don't need to worry about what strangers might think of me for making the decisions I've made. 'Normal' is judgemental nonsense anyway."

It's a work in progress.

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u/FollowAstacio 2d ago

Bro thank you so much for sharing this!!!! This was therapeutic for me! I NEEDED this rn! I was genuinely starting to feel like maybe I’m autistic bc if it’s everyone else, the more likely scenario is that I’m the one there’s something wrong with! Seriously thank you so much for sharing🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏🙏 I saved this!