Foolish Day Trader

Once upon a time, all of us were opening up our first investment accounts with dreams of making it big. No amount of money seemed to be insurmountable. This was even more so for the folks who had been lured into investing by stories of millionaire day traders. The idea seemed to be so attractive. Invest a little bit of money, multiply that by the amount it goes up every day or short it while it goes down, pull out your money and bam, you’re a millionaire!

Unfortunately, this was not the case for almost everyone who decided to continue to go down the road of day trading. In fact, studies consistently show that a very small minority (some claim less than 1%) are actually successful over the long term. This is due to a multitude of factors that drive the market every day and even more so due to the way the human brain functions. First off, there are big risks around every corner, especially if you’re in the business of shorting. If the profits are big, you usually bet bigger, and therefore can lose that much more on your next bet. Secondly, even when you do win, taxes and commission charges are always knocking on your door to pay up. Because the day trader is taxed at a higher rate because they trade on short term investments, they constantly get hit much harder than those of us who hold our stocks long.