There’s one thing you probably don’t hear successful day traders talk about: it’s lonely work.
Traders say they viewed isolation as part of the deal when trying to make a living in the market.
Trading is a fairly solitary, niche activity, with scant opportunities to meet other people.
Being alone is a necessary evil when you’re trying to make money in the stock market.
That’s the big secret to being a day trader, a profession that, despite its bro-y, get-rich-or-die-trying energy, is isolating in nature, traders told Business Insider.
The topic doesn’t come up much in the day trading community, but there are signs that being alone is a widespread issue among the cohort. One 2022 study found that crypto traders and so-called “real-time platform users” on investing apps scored higher on average on the UCLA Loneliness Scale than regular investors or non-investors.
Daniel Alhanti, the CEO of the trading education and mentoring group TraderDaddy, says he’s witnessed an explosion of interest in day trading groups like his own in recent years. He believes loneliness in the profession is part of the reason.
“I like to call it a very lonely sport. It is a very individual sport. It’s kind of like being a professional tennis player or a professional golfer or a professional poker player. You’re just going to travel to the next tournament and do the best you can,” he told Business Insider.
Enrique Rendon, one 20-year-old trader in Alhanti’s group, said he believed being lonely was simply part of the deal when he decided to get into day trading.
Jutharat Pinyodoonyachet for BI
Rendon, who aims to go full-time and began taking trading more seriously over the last few months, says he studies the market five to six days a week and spends most of the time alone in his room.
But the potential benefits outweigh the cost for him. He dreams one day of being financially stable enough to travel freely, have children, and provide for them.
“I feel like in the future it might change,” Rendon said of his lifestyle. “I understand it does get a…
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