To follow up with my two cents on this theme... I guess we have Harvey Houtkin to thank for propagating the notion in his books, that any Hairdresser or Bus Driver can quickly find his/her fortune in this business...
I'm 44, University educated, and am still in a previous profession to complement my trading after six years of intensely trading the market "door-to-door" -- because I see the learning curve to enter the trading profession as 5 to 10 years. It might be shorter if you worked full-time in the right spot, but it's definitely a new profession - comparable to learning how to be a Dentist, an Engineer, or a General Contractor.
The thing some of the new six-week wonder traders (like the ones they feature in the CNBC article) don't realize is, they are stepping into a complex new profession, which is uniquely demanding psychologically. The learning curve to this new career is fraught with many potential risks and "potholes", and even if you work at it hard, there is no guarantee issued that you'll be successful!
re: 5 to 10 years learning curve, I'm not talking about just learning how to daytrade/scalp in a bull market, but also to develop the seasoning to how to trade in a more skilled fashion (with a multitude of styles and approaches) across different markets in different time frames -- that is, something you can count on to support yourself and prosper long-term under different market conditions.
If you're making money consistently within the first year or two, that's great, consider yourself very lucky! Some people are fortunate in that their natural behavior/psychology leads them quickly into consistent trading success without experiencing major pitfalls; but in my experience that type of person is very rare. The risk for those type of traders will be whether they can adapt, when market conditions become more difficult, as they did for a short period recently -- that is the true test.
-Steve |
