Is day trading a good side hustle?

[kommen]

Being in a developing country, earning about $50 a month as a university student is very helpful. Do you guys think that day trading can be a good way to earn a bit of extra cash?

 

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[heavy_industry]

Most day traders lose money or break even.
This is marketed as a quick and easy way to make some money, but in reality the only ones making money are those who sell courses and tutorials on day trading.

 

[alexkuzmov]

Being in a developing country, earning about $50 a month as a university student is very helpful. Do you guys think that day trading can be a good way to earn a bit of extra cash?

Nope, its the best way to lose cash.
Even faster than a casino, cause there is no cap.
Its a trap, dont do it.

 

[Mathuin]

It is very unlikely you will succeed at it. Learn a skill/ build a business which you have more control over.

Even faster than a casino, cause there is no cap.

At least a casino will treat you like a king before cleaning you out.

 

[kommen]

It is very unlikely you will succeed at it. Learn a skill/ build a business which you have more control over.


At least a casino will treat you like a king before cleaning you out.

I don't really want to succeed at it, I just need a few bucks to start another income.

But I got my answer already, which is no. Thanks guys.

 

[alexkuzmov]

I don't really want to succeed at it, I just need a few bucks to start another income.

But I got my answer already, which is no. Thanks guys.

We've all been there so chin up!
While in uni I used to do stuff for the lazy students and charge them.
Homework, projects, even consults.
Try your luck with that I bet you have colleagues who would rather pay you than do things themselves.

 

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[Eholic]

I always associated day trading with high risk of losing money and highly likely that one wouldn't have any returns. It's like the lottery, it's made only for the founders to profit but not the consumers. Or if they do win, they make sure it's once in a blue moon.

My advice is, don't even think about day trading for a second longer. Do research on where better you could invest.

 

[SanaNrah]

I don't really want to succeed at it, I just need a few bucks to start another income.

But I got my answer already, which is no. Thanks guys.

If your goal is to make extra bucks, I'd recommend flipping some items with price range matching what you were going to invest in trading.
I've seen some good posts on how to start with 0 and I've been able to gain some money recently flipping PS5.
So that can be a good option.

 

[Eholic]

Yess good idea, I agree with @AnasHarn

 

[fastlane_dad]

These kind of threads always make me chuckle.

Day trading only works well if you're main goal is to lose money quick. There is a thread on the 'inside' on options trading. Even though there might be more strategy behind it, I'm still not convinced it's an effective OR easy route to making what some would call 'a bit of extra money on the side'.

Otherwise I say take it all to the local casino and put it on black.

I would get involved in something where the odds and probability are heavily skewed on your side to make profit (day trading is NOT). Flipping (items) is a good place to start.

Good luck!

 

[MJ DeMarco]

No, not really. The "day trading" phenomena is a product of a frothy stock market, which IMO, is about to end.

Do something you have more control over ... buying/improving/selling, arbitrage, specialized labor, etc.

 

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[Lucky Bastard]

I don't really want to succeed at it, I just need a few bucks to start another income.

But I got my answer already, which is no. Thanks guys.

You should just invest in indexes (if you want to invest), it's still the best way to invest. Never trade, if you have no experience you won't succeed, people with years still lose money. Seriously you will lose money, a lot people think they're sophisticated and are an exception, no, you will lose money.

 

[wolflarsen71]

Technically you can, set a good strategy and a good win/risk 2:1 ratio, so every time the price touch a resistance even is a flipping coin of 50/50 you will win money in the long run (this in a bull market). Might make you a couple of extra bucks. If you are trying to become rich with it: Forget it.
Also, respect leverage is not something to play with and I must say, if you play too much with it there is no way you are going to survive. The reason people die in the market is because they play with this and they convince themselves they know what they are doing. Every time I leverage in the market I'm conscious I was betting that capital. If you cant afford it, dont.

 

[kebman]

Being in a developing country, earning about $50 a month as a university student is very helpful. Do you guys think that day trading can be a good way to earn a bit of extra cash?

Depends. How much do you know about probability and statistics?

Oh and MJ DeMarco is correct. Every trader looks like a genius during a bull market. But if a monkey could throw darts at the price, he'd still do better than most retail traders. With that said, it's during the bear market that the real money is made. (If you survive.) 😀

Think of it like this: How much money are you willing to use on the lottery each month? Put that into the market instead. But not a cent more! Why? Because you'd most likely lose all of the money you used on the lottery anyway, so you might as well put it on something with a greater chance of winning. Which would be any trading market, such as the stock, crypto or forex market. All of those carry a greater chance of winning than the lottery, and most importantly a far lower chance of losing.

So while there's about 99.999% chance you'll lose 100% of the money you "invest" on a lottery ticket, there's "only" about 50.111% chance that you'll lose 10-30% of your trading portfolio if you invest in a market. This is important, because that's your edge. It is possible to exploit that edge if you know what you're doing.

But you don't in the beginning, so you'll most likely lose everything you put in in the start anyway. But that's OK, because unlike the lottery you aren't just losing money for nothing, you're also (hopefully) learning. It's not called "studying the market" for nothing! And once you start to get things, chances are that you'll also turn a profit.

Major caveat: Learning the markets is a very slow process, and honestly not in the spirit of this forum. But if it's something you do anyway, and are drawn to like I am, then sure, it can be a nice thing to do on the side.

 

[fastlane_dad]

You should just invest in indexes (if you want to invest), it's still the best way to invest. Never trade, if you have no experience you won't succeed, people with years still lose money. Seriously you will lose money, a lot people think they're sophisticated and are an exception, no, you will lose money.

Yep index investing is one of top investing 'strategies' - but requires very long term thinking to be successful (10+ years), and in no way is it a quick way to make some 'extra bucks on the side'. It is boring, and not sexy at all. And in no way is it a get rich quick. It is one of the tools 'the rich' use to keep / grow their money - NOT to make it.

Trading / day trading (gambling) is a fools errand to land yourself in the poor house very quick.

 

[Antifragile]

Trading / day trading (gambling) is a fools errand to land yourself in the poor house very quick.

There are three kinds of people: those who can count and those who can't.

 

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[Andy Black]

I know a guy who does forex trading from home. He does pretty well. Mind you, 25 years ago he worked in The City of London doing exactly that, and I saw his setup of 8 huge monitors in his home office. Good luck trying to beat people like that.

Anyway...

If I was back in University looking to make a few bucks a month and I had an Internet connection, a laptop, and a bit of time I'd be figuring out

How to create AI chatbots for businesses with Voiceflow

or

How to automate business/marketing/sales tasks with Make.com

or

How to create short form video from long form video influencers or businesses have already created

or

How to setup websites, Google My Business listings, or Google Ads for businesses or agencies.


I'd be looking to get an initial client, maybe for free, building a case study, then getting clients who pay a flat monthly fee.

$50/mth would be too low a fee to a business in many countries in the world. Just saying so you realise how doable that is.


EDIT: I just saw this thread is a couple of years old. Hope our replies still help folks.