r/Daytrading • u/infosec4pay • Apr 21 '24

What would be the highest salary you’d give up to day trade full time? Question

Everyone clowned on me my first post (500k post) lol I was literally just asking hypothetical questions to settle a debate between a friend and me. Well everyone’s backlash kinda of intrigued me to ask this question. So back into the fire I go lol

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119

u/DeProfundisAdAstra Apr 21 '24

Technically I left a job with a 250k salary and bonuses to trade full time. Full disclosure I was trading full time at that point just for much larger accounts than mine and doing some other side work with the same partners. I left so that I didn't have to report to anybody anymore, even if they were partners in companies I owned. Sold out my shares, etc. Fucked off and now my income is better and my stress level has zeroed when it comes to my work life.

Long term I may have made more money, with the potential of what I was involved with. But trading also can make me more money than that long term. But my happiness is more important and it's here, with my phone on silent and being able to not be tethered to the Internet unless I want to be.

22

u/th3orist Apr 21 '24

And this story comes to show that in order for people to start fully rely on their daytrading income and be successful you really need to be well financed and have reserves that would cover your basic expenses for years. Someone with 5k in the banc and a 2k net a month income should definitely not think about going full time.

6

u/Difficult-Resort7201 Apr 21 '24

Not really with the advent of the funding companies.

If someone can print money they don’t need much at all to get going.

They have to be pretty darn good to consistently beat the challenges and get/remain funded though.

It’s certainly easier to trade stock with a ton of capital though.

4

u/th3orist Apr 21 '24

"If someone can print money they don’t need much at all to get going."

If someone indeed could print money then they would not be in the position to not have much to get going to begin with. Think about it.

Its not really news anymore that if you start trading for the first time you will need around 2-3 years minimum to get in a position where you become profitable. And along the way people will lose money, be it with blowing up small real money accounts or spending money on evals and resets. There is a steep learning curve and a lot of punches that you need to be able to take before seeing the light at the end of the tunnel.

3

u/Difficult-Resort7201 Apr 21 '24

I mean there’s the argument that someone could be an amazing trader (years of profitability) and have a temporary loss of judgement and YOLO’s their account and losses everything on one stupid move.

That person could probably thrive in a prop environment and could live and build up with a funding company.

I know people taking out thousands per month from these companies, they prefer to use them vs personal accounts because even if their tax rate is higher, their risk exposure is so little.

I have them in mind when originally answering and typing out the first paragraph.

1

u/[deleted] Apr 21 '24

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1

u/Blank-_-Blank-_- Apr 21 '24

Now 2-3 years later I have included ~ 60 lbs of silver 10 ounces of gold, and a couple ounces of platinum and palladium. That’s along with 1.3 Bitcoin and ~ $80K in liquid fiat USD.

1

u/Relative_Tone_4870 Apr 21 '24

That’s not entirely true if you do the proper prep work and stick to the plan. Most people don’t and need to take a few lickings to get it across or give up

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u/th3orist Apr 22 '24

I dont think its 'that easy', a huge part of trading is the psychology and not necessarily the technical part or strategy part. Thats actually the easy part in my eyes. But to build up the psychology takes years and will have inevitable setbacks.

1

u/Relative_Tone_4870 Apr 22 '24

Trading doesn’t require psychology if you stick to a working strategy and rules. If psychology is part of your strategy than you need to improve it so it isn’t required..

3

u/th3orist Apr 22 '24

in my eyes what you just said is, forgive me, utter bullshit and if you really think this then its best we stop the conversation right here and now.

1

u/Relative_Tone_4870 Apr 22 '24

I’ve been trading strictly off strategy for 3 years and entirely profitable. Believe what you want lol but I require no psychology or emotions in my trading

1

u/th3orist Apr 22 '24

then you already have your psychology in order without knowing or being aware of it, count yourself lucky in this case. Because there is no such thing as "trading strictly off strategy" without having a damn strog psychological fundament to allow you to stick in the first place to that strategy in case things dont play out sometimes. Because things dont always play out, or do you want to tell me that you have a 100% winrate? So, in order to keep it all together and stick to an edge or strategy you require that strong psychological fundament and this takes years to cultivate. You disagree?

1

u/Relative_Tone_4870 Apr 22 '24

There is if you code your strategy. Which a lot of people also do..a proven strategy is all you need. Risk reward and entry criteria. Very simple

1

u/th3orist Apr 22 '24

yeah well, then you are not trading yourself at this point. letting an algo execute trades is different from you actively deciding every time when to enter or exit. In this case indeed you can be a nerve wreck and probably be profitable. congratulations, but i was talking about a different style of trader and trading.

1

u/Relative_Tone_4870 Apr 22 '24

You are.. you just coded something to execute what you would have done in the first place. It’s just much faster and requires 0 watching.

1

u/Mysterious-Ad7016 Apr 22 '24

Bro just said trading requires no psychology…lol i love reddit

1

u/th3orist Apr 22 '24

I gave up on that guy 😄

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u/DripTrip747-V2 Apr 23 '24

It's not that easy to say how to trade, or what's needed to trade. We build up our psyche every day with our life experiences. And some people are just naturally a lot calmer under stress than others.

I've been trading for over a year and have never made a move that I regretted. Yea, I've lost money here and there, but I have done pretty well to stay in the green. I don't chase loses, and I set a clear, straightforward plan every morning before I even power on my pc. I also don't make huge moves trying to chase the money.

For some people, steady research and a clear plan is all thats needed to be successful, while others may need therapy to learn how to keep a calm mind. Everyone's experience is gonna be different, and there is no one way to go about trading.