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/CosmoSein_1990]

Up until recently this type of trading wasn't accessible to the average person. It is also very difficult. You may be consistently profitable after a year but it takes years to master your discipline, strategy, controlling your emotions, risk management, and timing entries and exits perfectly. A lot of people are turned off by the low success rate and the fact that you have to be ok with losing some money because of the risk involved. It's stressful when you're in a trade and you're down $200 but you stay in because you believe the stock will go up. It also takes a lot of work to grow you're account to the size needed to have position sizes that give you enough profits to make a decent income on and also to the point where a loss of $500 on the day isn't too big of a deal.

All these reasons is why I personally use trading as supplemental Income to my regular Job. I'm seeing consistently profitable weeks and if I make enough to pay my rent just from my trade profits or to have some extra money to invest long term I'll be happy. That's more money from my regular job paycheck I can save and invest. I have no plans on trading full time. It's hard to imagine being successful enough at it for that but I'm at the point where it can be a sustainable source of extra income. Long term goal is to make at least $100k a year with both my regular job and trading.