Spoiler alert: it’s because I friggin love it.
The day trading gurus really get to me because they turn it into a get-rich-quick scheme, and it’s more than that (plus, they make money off of you buying their course primarily). I have not the time nor the knowledge nor the stomach to day trade. Also, the overwhelming majority of day traders don’t make significant money. Also also, I notice a lot of these gurus look to be about 17 years old.
I just started learning last year, so you’re hearing this from a verified amateur. Take all of this with a grain of salt. The strategy I use could be categorized and swing/portfolio trading, and it was developed by a random guy from Texas named Gerald Peters who knows his stuff and has over 20 years of trading under his belt. I started following Gerald on Instagram (@fullauto11) about a year ago, which was great timing because the market crashed shortly thereafter and essentially became the sale rack.
In following Gerald’s free content, I learned A LOT about building a solid buy-and-hold portfolio and began to dabble in trading. I recommend looking into Gerald’s content, but there are other swing traders with good material.
It’s not for everyone. I consider it a side hustle, to be honest. While I’m not glued to charts every minute of the day like a day trader might be, I do check charts at least once every day. Charts for stocks I have, stocks I might want to buy, and stocks I might want to sell. It only works if you’re consistent. Also, the strategy is REACTIVE, based on the actual movement of price, not what I THINK it’s going to do. I do not try to make predictions of the future. None of us know what the market will do.
If you didn’t make money in the market in 2020, you either didn’t put money into it or you were asleep. That’s not to shame anyone who couldn’t. Obviously, feeding your family comes first, and this year wasn’t great for a whole lot of people. My point here is that I’m curious to see what another, perhaps less stellar, year will bring as far as returns. 2020 was really good to my investments.
That makes me excited! I love learning about the companies of which I’m buying shares. I love learning about reading charts and why price movement often doesn’t make sense. I love feeling motivated to continue to fund my brokerage account.
A few things I learned this year:
- I don’t put money into trading that I can’t afford to lose.
- I have to check into my charts every day. I follow about 40 different companies daily.
- Funding my trading account comes after fully funding retirement accounts for me.
- Trading is not for everyone. If you don’t love looking at charts and researching companies every day, maybe stick to a more “set it and forget” style, like buying and holding index funds.
- Much gathers more. The more you put in, the more you get back…. but there’s always risk.
- Risk can be managed by avoiding all-or-nothing strategies. Work into a trade gradually and methodically, and exit in the same manner.
Do you trade? What sort of strategy do you use?
-K