My path to a career becoming a Day Trader was far from direct.  When I was going through school I learned about the stock market, but I never thought I’d be a Wall Street trader.  Growing up a simple life in Vermont made it hard for me to picture myself living in New York City and working in finance.  It’s just not something I thought was for me.  I have always been very motivated and through college I pursued studies in Architecture & environmentally sustainable design.  Ironically, I ended up finding myself living in NYC, but instead of working on Wall Street, I was working at a design firm in Chelsea.

During the financial crisis I lost money that I had invested in an actively managed money account.  At the same time work was slowing down at the design firm and I began to reevaluate if I wanted to continue living in NYC.  I was extremely driven to succeed, but I felt torn because the 9-5 grind was extremely draining and I didn’t feel I had the career potential at the firm where I was working.  I decided to move back to Vermont to give myself time to reflect on the paths that lay before me.

From Vermont To NYC & Back To Vermont

When I moved back to Vermont I was fortunate enough to be able to work part-time for the design firm (they were hoping I would move back to the city after the summer in Vermont).  That gave me time to ponder which direction I would take at this fork in the road.  I had the option of going to graduate school to pursue a Master Degree in Architecture.  In this scenario I realized that working as an architect in Vermont with a Masters Degree would pay about $22/hr (that’s right, $45,760/year) with potential to make $30/hr with 5-10 years experience ($62,400/year).

On the other hand, that same degree in Manhattan, it would pay twice as much.  I felt pursuing the degree wouldn’t make sense unless I was willing to move back to the city.  After living in Vermont for a few months the idea of going back to a 9-5 routine seemed daunting.  While I was home I also had time to sit down and review my managed mutual fund investments.  I was frustrated because since I put that money away it had done nothing but lose value, and incur annual management fees.  That’s when I had the idea of taking charge of my money and it’s when I started researching day trading.

My journey to becoming a Day Trader I started with me funding an account with E*Trade and taking positions in stocks I liked ($AAPL, $CAT, $X).  I had no idea what I was doing, but I quickly realized the incredible potential the market offered for successful trader.  I just needed to develop a strategy for trading the markets.  I was hooked almost immediately.  I knew this career could allow me to make far more than I was making in NYC, while living in Vermont.  This felt like the best path that lay before me.

My goal for becoming a day trader was to make $200/day using a $25,000 trading account.  Little did I know it would take 18 months of trial and error before I found a strategy that would generate consistent returns.  During that time I endured thousands in trading losses and had to replenish my $25k trading account on a near monthly basis.  One of the best things I did as a beginner trader was to track all of my trades in an excel doc.  I would categorize my trades based on time of day, strategy, price range, etc.  The biggest realization I made is that almost every single day there is a stock that makes a 20-30% move.

I was determined to find the common denominator among these stocks, and find those setups before the move was over.  This launched my research into Momentum Trading Strategies (see my Momentum Trading Strategy page for more details).  Today I have refined this strategy to the point that in just 3 months this summer I was able to generate over $90k in trading profits.  That’s more than I’d have made in 2 years with a Masters Degree working in Vermont.  In my best month this year I made over $34k.  So do I regret becoming a day trader?  Of course not! The biggest lesson I learned is that the market doesn’t give up profits easily.  Most beginner traders will fail, and I consider my success to be a combination of drive, discipline, dedication, and luck.