re: How many of you guys/gals day trade and have made it your career?

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It can be stressful at times, but also very lucrative (if treated as a true business, and not just a dabble) and the trader has the ability and desire to manage risk and follow a tested rules based trading system, it’s a pretty good gig. But like any business, apart from the trading side, you also must have sufficient capital (especially when you’re just getting started), realistic expectations and a solid business plan WELL before you try to go full time.

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Jag nailed it. If you want to make a career out of it, it takes on average 4-5 years of dedication to learning and honing your craft to be able to support yourself or a family (obviously depends on how much income you need and what responsibilities you have, young single dude is ideal candidate for it).

I’ll say the thing most people don’t understand about trading is that to do it at a high level requires an absolute understanding of yourself at a very deep level.

Having the tech and data feeds is easy. We can get API connections and run our own models and all that jazz but it doesn’t matter if you have an ego, the need to be “right” or have no discipline to hold yourself accountable.

It’s one of the very few occupations where you have no boss, no coworkers, no subordinates and no customers. You can have a trading partner or mentor but only you can hold yourself accountable when no one is looking over your shoulder as you go on tilt. It’s made me a 10x better person because of it but most won’t look themselves in the mirror that hard.