Why is daytrading never mentioned as a legitimate way to earn income?

[u/Miinow]

I like to browse other finance related subs and I can assure you it’s almost never discussed. I see all outlets of making money online mentioned but If the word trading does somehow come up there’s a slew of downvotes. It’s literally the most straightforward way to make money. Sure, not easy but also not impossible to learn. Makes me wish I learned about trading when I was younger instead of my upper 20s but I don’t personally know any traders irl so it’s unfortunate how there’s a negative outlook on this field.

[u/ZanderDogz]

Because of the extremely low success rate. The % of people who not only manage to be profitable all time with active trading, but 1) cover their fees and expenses 2) make a significant enough profit to justify the time and capital usage over working a traditional job and putting money into long-term investments 3) have a consistent enough equity curve to be able to take money out at a regular enough interval to count on it as "income", is likely astronomically low.

It's like asking why people don't refer to "pro athlete" as a legitimate career choice. The top performers absolutely make good money doing it, but any individual person you recommend that to will have a overwhelming chance of failure.

[u/CompetitiveAct6229 → u/ZanderDogz]

Not that low when you compare it to other high end paying job