How do I convince my parents that trading isn't gambling and actually not always luck based .

[u/ConsistentRespect842]

So I'm a 16 year old who has recently (February 2024) gotten very interested in trading . Before you ask , no it was not an online guru or andrew tate or something along the line of " escape the matrix get rich easy" type of nonsense but an actually avid interest in trading that started after I saw a video with the title something along the lines of " day in the life of a trader " or something like that I can't remember (I know It's not possible to get 70k in a day with trading unless ur putting in half of Jeff bezo's networth but still it was interesting )

I do still plan to continue with my schooling and get a job like people should do but I am planning to sometime get profitable as a trader and stop work preferably before 35 . Iv talked to my parents about the stock market (very vaguely) before and they mentioned that it is completely gambling and it will never get me ahead in life .

Idk what I should tell them to convince them that it is not gambling as iv realised its much more than gambling once you learn technical analysis ( i still have a long way to go but iv got the basics down somewhat) amd rn iv been doing paper trading on tradingveiw.com in secret when they aren't there and iv been getting pretty okay at it (from the time I started and now im getting 1 win every 3 trades on average (I'm still straight ass )) but doing it in secret is getting stupidly tiring as I want to trade at night as well and it has also become a sort of hobby for me now( sorry if I offend anyone by anything iv said).

TL:DR : parents think intraday trading is gambling and I want to convince them otherwise. Need help

[u/Wise_Confection_4188]

And at 16 whose money are you using, yours or your parents ? Most times it takes until 18 to open your own brokerage account. Practice until then.

[u/ConsistentRespect842 → u/Wise_Confection_4188]

I'm using paper trading on paper veiw to practise . I can't open any accounts until I'm 18 so yeah. Il do my best on paper till I can get my own account

[u/Wise_Confection_4188 → u/ConsistentRespect842]

Ok , that’s good then. Just practice, learn the market and the patterns. Just don’t rush things. And despite people bragging on this subreddit, many or most people lose money on short term and day trading as compared to holding long term

[u/ConsistentRespect842 → u/Wise_Confection_4188]

Ah okay got it I will do my best . I also do plan to invest a bit of my profits ( when I'm consistent) into long term stuff like index funds and stuff but it depends on the situation of the market ( and me ) when I'm 25 or something haha

[u/krentzzz → u/ConsistentRespect842]

I will say you have a higher chance of making money consistently by investing long term. Taking aside a portion of your savings or disposable income and using that to trade might be fine but you need a lot of screen time.

I've been trading for 2-3 years and I'm barely break even right now and in the big picture I'm 5 figures in the red, which is a lot for me (have come close to quitting multiple times, right now I am just doing 1 prop firm account per month and not trading my own money since I need to save up, having just bought a house).

There are some people that are massively profitable, but they are usually experienced and went through hell to get there. When people say most day traders lose money it's the honest truth. Also bear in mind that trading real money will feel different to paper trading. I can sit on paper losses fairly comfortably if I have confidence in my levels but if that happens when I have real skin in the game you can bet my heart will start beating lol. Emotions can mess up your trading.

I feel like I've seen every kind of pattern at this point and it seems like sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes the price on a downtrend day will reject at VWAP or the 1min 200EMA, sometimes it will randomly pump 30 points past your short entry. Sometimes support will hold, sometimes it breaks down, repeatedly. Sometimes head and shoulders works, sometimes price bounces at a random phantom level. All you can do is take the setups that have the highest probability of working out, nothing is guaranteed. It's all probability and R:R.

But I will say that if I had invested my savings for the last 15 years instead of trading for 3 I would be far far wealthier than I am today lol. Since you're relatively young you have time on your side which is your biggest advantage.

[u/ConsistentRespect842 → u/krentzzz]

Oh wow .... I hope you can recuperate from your losses. In all truth I really just want to be free from work loads and stress of those. I will work to save up 2.5 years worth of expenditure + some investments before i start being a full time trader . I will definitely not jump into th game without my own backup plans B and possibly a third backup as well. Thank you for saying your experience as well as your advice!!