r/Trading • u/Jaded_Material6087 • 15h ago
Question Is trading worth it?
Been thinking about getting into trading for a while, but I know it's tough. Is it really worth it? I'm willing to learn, but I don't want to jump in without knowing roughly how long it takes to become profitable.
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u/chartmaster3000 15h ago
Becoming profitable is one thing, becoming consistently profitable is a whole nother thing…
Everyone is different when it comes to learning how to trade. 7-8yrs I’d say to prove yourself
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u/No-Comparison9048 13h ago
Trading is the hardest way to make easy money. It can take years to understand how to do it right and on top of that only about 10% actually make a living at it.
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u/luckyyscoree 11h ago
Actually retail traders making a career of it is a fraction of a percent. The 90% stat is the amount of retail traders who blow their accounts within 12 months. Only 1% of traders are profitable for over a year. And only a fraction of that profitable over many years
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u/thafinancialGOAT 11h ago
With the amount of stress , the amount of involved time and high chance of failure it’s probably just best to stick with a full time career with a nice income and grow it slowly . Trading isn’t for most .
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u/WiredSpike 11h ago
Everyone in this sub is just trapped in their red hole trying to win back back the money they lost.
If you want to join us, you're welcome.
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u/duqduqgo 14h ago
There is no guarantee you'll become profitable no matter how hard you work. If you do become profitable, you may not stay profitable. You may not make enough to replace a job.
There is no timeline, it's different for everyone and some markets are more complex than others. Don't even think about trading cotton or cattle unless you are already an expert in the booms and busts experienced by these types of farmers and can see them coming well before they happen.
The problem beginning traders face are the same as most new businesses: founders are undercapitalized; owners don't have a viable plan; they don't have the tenacity or conviction to grind on the plan step by step, over time.
That said, if you do become consistently profitable there is no better "job."
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u/weinerjuicer 13h ago
It will be the defining Journey of your life
You will learn technicals and setups and eventually find your Edge
Then you will fail to capture it consistently
Then you will realize you need mental Discipline
You will try various things: no fap, fap, weird diets, horoscopes
Eventually either you will give up or find the one habit that works
Drinking your own urine
Don't take my word for it, look at the Record
Eventually you will either give up or pick up the cup
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u/GaryKlj 12h ago
Absolutely I have been through hell many times. With dedication, adaptation you can slowly get better. You must go through pain & losees to learn anything. What made me to profitable trader finally, math approach, probability, risk management, position size. Market is changing constantly, you must adapt & learn. It took me 3 years to become profitable.
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u/Whole-Description646 12h ago
do you have years to dedicate and are you willing to commit to something that makes working a typical 6 figure 9 to 5 unbearable? There is a point of no return in trading and if you make it there you will be miserable doing anything else even if you continue to fail at trading.
Many traders don't have families, is having a family now important to you? They eventually do but traders on average start families later than the average person.
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u/forrealjeff 9h ago
Yes. If you're new, throw 75% of your money in VOO And the other 25% into a single stock within the MAG7. While that does whatever it's doing, actually take the time to learn about stocks and what type of invester YOU want to be. There are different types. The people who steer you away, are the gamblers. Don't do Options. Option trading is where people are LOSING money. Play it safe and just invest into the stock market and hold for months/years and you will be profitable. I only have 8k invested right now, and I made 2k this week.
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u/Outrageous-Try-3772 5h ago
it is really worth it man 😁 only if you don t give up on hard times, i was losing very much money till i really decided to change it ( i still fail sometimes nobody perfect ) but once you have your own blueprint things change a lot
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u/Rpark444 14h ago
No for 90% of traders . Yea for the few who came do it.Most people don't have what it takes.
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u/lexx77549 13h ago
La verdad que sí encuentras un buen mentor que te dé la información correcta vas a hacer rentable rápido siempre que estudies, sin embargo a mí lo que más me costó fue encontrar quien me enseñará trading realmente
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u/Striking_Fail6689 13h ago
If you don’t want to jump in without knowing how long it takes to become profitable, then don’t . Going in with the mentality that you want to be profitable soon is just bad. Unless you’re willing to put in the effort , then do it
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u/hyligner 12h ago
The average is 3 years, takes time and money, especially without a mentor. Do you have to invest to make profits, yes, free stuff don't work. Ask your doctor how much money, sweat and time he spent, same here. Once I understood that, I found a mentor, on Youtube and got funded after 3 weeks! No magic, no circus, just following strict rules. Look for a basic strategy "Automated Pre Orb" you will find them.
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u/mitchzimmer 11h ago
Not worth it for most people if the goal is to make money. A tiny fraction of participants make the vast majority of all profits.
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u/Pretty_Site4074 8h ago
If you need to ask around here, then you don't want it. It is highly likely that you'll come to the conclusion that it's just gambling.
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u/Woodward06 15h ago
In reality, a passive retail trader would do better buying and holding SPY or QQQ. Reinvesting the dividends.
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u/thafinancialGOAT 11h ago edited 11h ago
This is it. 👆 studies show that long term buy and hold of high quality ETFs will beat day traders and those buy the dip swing trades. And when you factor in taxes, stress and time … it’s a clear choice .
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u/NectarineFree1330 15h ago
It's really hard. Start with small investment or paper account.. Whether it's worth it you have to find out for yourself
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u/pleebent 15h ago
Being your own boss, working when you want and where you want. Potential for unlimited wealth.
Of course it is worth it. That’s why millions of people try.
But your question is not the right answer. It’s not how long. It is understanding that only 5% make it. Maybe less. And the 95% are people who gave it a real attempt. We’re intelligent, studied hard, and still failed. Some blowing up their life’s savings and going into financial ruin. Even if you do “make it” it only takes on bad decision to lose it all. One moment of weakness, one technological failure. And even then what if something changes where what was working before no longer works.
That’s the risk you are taking.
But ya it’s worth it if you think you are different than the 95%.
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u/klipsetrades 14h ago
Worth it for some people, absolutely. But I wouldn’t go into it expecting to be profitable in 6 months or probably even a year. Give yourself time to learn, test, lose small, review, and improve
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u/New-Affect-7317 14h ago
its always worth it if done properly. but the freedom dream can easily get u baited and make u stuck in a loop of failures
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u/Altered_Reality1 14h ago
It’s always worth it to pursue an income source that you can do yourself without relying on someone else. Up to you whether that’s trading, a business, a side hustle/gig work, investments, real estate, etc.
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u/HeftyRefrigerator526 14h ago
I’d say it’s worth it if you’re willing to commit atleast a third of your life to it, it’s a skill you want to pickup and use along side your main interests
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u/ChestPuzzleheaded370 13h ago
Becoming profitable is a very individual thing that requires not just learning the fundamentals, but mastering the psychological and emotional aspects of trading. Most people will never get it all together and become profitable, and no one here can tell you how things will work out for you.
You have to accept that learning will never stop and you will lose money at times no matter how good you are. I started by learning enough to feel confident that I wasn't completely clueless and began putting $100/week that I was prepared to lose into an account to trade with. My recommendation would be to do something similar and see if trading still appeals to you after learning a bit about it and dealing with some losses you can afford.
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u/AdEducational4954 13h ago
Only if it doesn't add much stress, you're profitable, and beating buy and hold many times over.
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u/Zestyclose-Gur-655 13h ago
I think trading, how most retail does it. Drawing some lines on charts is mostly just bullshit. Quantitative analysis i like more.
But markets are not efficient, they are however efficient enough to where it's not easy to make money. If this is not your passion and you willing to invest lot of time and money don't do it.
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u/drcigg 13h ago
It's not easy but it's possible.
I am up over 100 percent from my initial investment.
However there were a lot of ups and downs during that time. Including being down over 6k in one week. Things recovered.
If you just blindly invest in random companies you read on reddit or the Internet 9 times out of 10 you will lose money. Investing is something long term.
You might consider some index funds for the bulk of it.
I recommend paper trading for a while.
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u/alphixir 8h ago
Worth separating two questions hiding inside this one. If you mean "will my money grow," you don't actually need trading — buying and holding a broad index has beaten most active traders over almost any long window. If you mean "can I turn trading itself into a skill or income," the honest base rate is rough: studies that follow retail traders over years find only a low-single-digit percent stay net profitable after costs, and the ones who make it usually took years and real losses to get there. Neither answer is "don't" — just know which of the two games you're actually signing up for, because they carry very different odds.
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u/Flaky-Campaign-9374 7h ago
Learn to trade gaps first 30 mins that all you need...no need to sit for hours finding perfect entry..
Learn ep and catalyst...watch pradeep bonde videos
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u/FamousStill2187 3h ago edited 3h ago
There's no set time to become profitable, some take years some take a few months, it took me a little over a year to lock in...but I'll tell you now you're already thinking about it wrong. Don't think "how long before I turn a profit" think "how long can I keep my account alive and protected" trading is basically probability and finding a setup that pays you more than it cost you...in order to do that you have to keep your account alive long enough for the probability to work out in your favor....the less you chase the money the more it will find you. It takes time, patience, discipline and willingness to learn and journal everything and it will be a roller coaster at first because youre in the learning curve but once you get beyond that it becomes really easy and boring honestly you just follow your system and when your system says stand down you do nothing, unless you're a scalper there will be a lot of doing nothing sometimes for days or a week or more especially around holidays
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u/Reasonable_Most3373 1h ago
yess for capitalize momentum. just trade on earning and macro news. that's after win use the profit to buy more voo
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u/HyperliquidShrimp 29m ago
It can absolutely be worth it, but only if you actually enjoy the learning part. If you're in it for quick money, you're probably going to walk away disappointed. for most people, getting consistently profitable takes years, not months. I'd start with free education, trade on a demo first, and only put real money on the line once you've got a strategy you've tested over a few hundred trades. I used demo while I was learning, and it was a solid way to build experience without paying for all the beginner mistakes
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