Are there people who trade stock for a living?

Question

Like they trade shares, and live of profits. Not a fund manager but, like a day trader. pretty sure there are, but would like this confirmed.

Answer 1

I trade commodity futures for a living.

Basically in this line of work you'll find a lot of people who start doing it, and shortly thereafter are forced to quit due to losses.

So at any given point in time, there may be a bunch of people who day trade, but the vast majority of them don't last. Various reasons for that, not the least of which is simply the highly unpredictable nature of asset price movement. (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Random_walk...

Whether it's gambling or not is a matter of understanding. In most situations and for most people, it's probably a gamble. It only ceases to be so when you have proven over many hundreds or thousands of trades that you are able to consistently make money in any kind of market.

Answer 2

Yes, and there are also people who play poker for a living.  Both are forms of gambling and both are potentially very risky ways to make a living.  In either case, never gamble with more than you can afford to lose.

Answer 3

Yes, there are many that do trade and more than most people are aware of.

But as "A Nobody" stated, not all traders are day traders, and most are not. All good traders make money over the a period of time, they always take their profits by knowing their exist points before they get into a position, and more importantly alway limit their losses. No trader will ever loose more than 10% of their cost.

Traders, do not trade on emotions, once emotions get involved in their decision making, they loose.  Traders don't have "hopes" or get scared, they know what they want, how to do it and get it done.

  

Although many brokerage firms restrict the limits of their traders, they don't expect them to be out at the end of the day but they don't want them to marry their positions.

Trading is not always about making money, it's also more important to protect what you have.

Answer 4

Yes, they are called day traders. You have to have a hard stomach to do this type of profession. They not only make money on stocks that go up but also when they go down as well, it's called "Shorting" a stock. They can also buy "Puts" where you bet on a stock. There is a sience to stocktradding, a world that not everyone knows about.

Answer 5

You are talking about daytrading.

Daytrading is not gambling like poker, its calculated risks based upon all available information. There are basically two outcomes, the stock goes up or the stock goes down.

I have seen poker players try get into daytrading thinking its the same, but its a completely different animal.

Unlike gambling where you need the strongest hand to win, in trading, you can hedge positions, meaning you can profit from moves both up and down.

You will find many active traders on many sites, like the live chat on hotstockmarket.com. They basically trade in realtime based of moves that stocks make.

Answer 6

Of course there are. But it takes a significant upfront cash investment of at least $20K.

Plus day trading isn't for the faint of heart. I've swing traded in the past (instead of doing same day trades, I would hold a stock for up to week) and even doing that put a serious level of stress on my back. You're always watching the screen, and you have to make lightning fast decisions. It's not as easy as it sounds.

It's always a gamble. And if you cannot afford to lose every cent, then don't even contemplate it.  

Answer 7

Yes there are many of us.

Not all traders are day traders, and most are not, but they are not opposed to taking a profit when a position hits an early exit point.

Day traders get much press, good or bad, because many amateurs are amorous of the title and the action, but realistically they are not in the majority.

Many traders also are investors, and do buy for the long term. But long term to a trader is 9 months to a year. They'll use their equity positions to write cover calls especially playing  the dividend.  The equity is long term and the option is held only for a week or so.  

Trading can afford one a very nice living and an above average life style.