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if the premise is that you can't make money as a day trader, no matter who you are, because the stock market is essentially efficient, then they aren't making d

by ouid 9y ago

if the premise is that you can't make money as a day trader, no matter who you are, because the stock market is essentially efficient, then they aren't making dumb trades with less information, because all information is reflected in the price. What they are doing is accumulating more risk, giving them higher odds of fluctuating out, but the expected value is the same as holding mutual funds, maybe even a little higher, since mutual funds have administrative fees, and robinhood is free. If that is not the premise, then it's not good general advice to tell people to avoid day trading as they won't learn anything. If the market is not efficient, then return on investment is correlated with your amount of information, and they will absolutely learn things of actual value, or at least their experience with trading will contain information about the strength of their hypotheses, regardless of whether they infer that information.

almost_usual 9y ago
There are plenty of ways to learn the market without spending money as a day trader on Robinhood. Most financial events are cyclical. Trading really hasn’t changed much since the late 17th century so reading a history book on financial speculation and market cycles would teach you plenty. Another alternative is simulating trades without allocating real liquid to it. Watch how those assets evolve over time.
- ouid 9y ago
  it's improper to be glib on HN, but did you really just call it "spending"? Regardless, there's a lot to be said for putting actual money down on your beliefs, it has a non-negligible impact on the learning process.
  - almost_usual 9y ago
    If the goal is attaining wealth then “wasting money” is probably a more accurate statement. How someone decides to use their money is up to them. If emotional reinforcement helps them remember something then I suppose day trading is an option. I’m only suggesting there are frugal ways to learn if your ultimate goal is to build wealth.
    - ouid 9y ago
      If you are no more likely to lose money day trading than you are to make money, then it's not wasting money.

by ouid 9y ago

almost_usual 9y ago

There are plenty of ways to learn the market without spending money as a day trader on Robinhood. Most financial events are cyclical. Trading really hasn’t changed much since the late 17th century so reading a history book on financial speculation and market cycles would teach you plenty. Another alternative is simulating trades without allocating real liquid to it. Watch how those assets evolve over time.

ouid 9y ago
it's improper to be glib on HN, but did you really just call it "spending"? Regardless, there's a lot to be said for putting actual money down on your beliefs, it has a non-negligible impact on the learning process.
- almost_usual 9y ago
  If the goal is attaining wealth then “wasting money” is probably a more accurate statement. How someone decides to use their money is up to them. If emotional reinforcement helps them remember something then I suppose day trading is an option. I’m only suggesting there are frugal ways to learn if your ultimate goal is to build wealth.
  - ouid 9y ago
    If you are no more likely to lose money day trading than you are to make money, then it's not wasting money.