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Strategies & Market Trends : DAYTRADING Fundamentals -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: TraderAlan who wrote (1492)	7/3/1999 3:45:00 PM
From: keith massey	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 18137

Who do you think is catching all the money being lost by those trader-kiddies I'm 28, University educated, and a previous profession and I don't intend on giving you any of my hard earned day trading money. Pick on some kids you own size <ggggg> One thing I don't have in common with those guys Lorenzen makes 400 to 500 trades a day.... He typically trades about 150,000 shares a day. Hell...I don't even make 400-500 trades a month (average 3-7/day). Best Regards KEITH

To: TraderAlan who wrote (1492)	7/3/1999 3:59:00 PM
From: Ken Adams	Respond to of 18137

Alan, After reading that article, I am quite content with my trades lasting a few days for a few points. Would you believe I know a guy in his late 40's who actually wants to get into that rat race. He's been working toward it for over a year. The only wise thing he's doing is going extremely slow with all of it. Whew! Ken

To: TraderAlan who wrote (1492)	7/3/1999 4:03:00 PM
From: Dave O.	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 18137

< Who do you think is catching all the money being lost by those trader-kiddies? > I wonder if any studies have been done about day traders that dig deeper than those who succeed and those who fail. For example, my gut feel is that younger traders may take on more risk and go for more home runs whereas I think perhaps older traders (I'm 45, so I'm real old <GG>) may be a bit more conservative, happy with the singles and that occasional home run. Part of my thought process is that "older" traders likely worked at some other profession, perhaps for quite a few years, to build up the capital to pursue this endeaver. And they sure as heck don't want to blow out playing the high risk/high reward stocks. I realize there's no easy answer as everyone has their own style and financial needs. Dave

To: TraderAlan who wrote (1492)	7/3/1999 4:38:00 PM
From: KM	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 18137

THANK YOU. I am so tired of this stereotype. You know what's funny. Watching level 2 at times, I imagine that I can see the faces behind some of the moves. You should have seen the activity in ONSL yesterday. Mostly twentysomethings I would say. Frenetic, pay any price to get in on the action. It was reasonably easy to take their money.

To: TraderAlan who wrote (1492)	7/3/1999 4:39:00 PM
From: -	Respond to of 18137

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

To: TraderAlan who wrote (1492)	7/3/1999 5:15:00 PM
From: Eric P	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 18137

What is with this pure and persistent myth about the young trader demographic? The article features two people in their 20s and one in their early 30s. I resemble that remark. Thirty-four years old, chemical engineer. I'd have to agree with Keith, though, good luck taking money from this 'kiddie'!!! I suppose the young traders may have an advantage getting into daytrading, in that they typically do not have a long career to lose. Many daytraders that start right out of college have little to lose, career-wise. However, it can be very dangerous for the inheritance or loan that they borrowed to get started. The older folks are much more likely to be trading with their own capital, which may make them more comfortable with the risks of trading. They are also more likely to be better capitalized. Imagine two rookie traders: One is 21 years old, just out of college. He borrowed $50,000 from his parents to get started and has no other income. He 'needs' to make money to pay for his living expenses. The second trader is 50 years old and retired early from a successful professional career. He has experience investing his own money from the past 25 years and has opened up a 'small' account of $100k to start conservatively daytrading (contradiction in terms?). In addition to his trading account, he has longer term investments totaling $1M+ and has a nice retirement income for his day-to-day living expenses. Who is more likely to be successful? I'll bet on the 'old' guy every time. I envy the old guy. As a matter of fact, I am getting older and older every day! Try not to abuse us youngsters too much, though, we can't help it! -Eric

To: TraderAlan who wrote (1492)	7/3/1999 6:08:00 PM
From: marketbrief.com	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 18137

I recently visited two daytrading shops in NYC and can attest that I did not meet or see a single trader over age 35, with the majority there being younger than me (I'm 29). Now these were scalping shops, 400-trades-a-day places... so I think it is not a myth that scalping is the preserve of the young. There were not many "grizzled veterans" among them as far as I could tell, so I assumed they were a new flock being led to slaughter/self-annihilation. ;-) Every single one of the "daytrading wizards" profiled in the new Friedfertig book is under age 35 too. ~Smart$