David Rogers ⋅ Morrisville , PA Rogers Health Care Consulting, LTD ⋅ 40 years experience

Richard,
First, thank you for your service!
I have been self investing for over 40 years and I can assure you that day trading is a very dangerous and risky business. Many have tried it and many more have lost everything. Typically the people selling classes for this type of thing are doing it because they couldn't make a living doing the thing they are selling. I would encourage you to try something else for a vocation and take a small amount of money to try day trading for yourself. Don't use more money than you can afford to lose.

Jeff Ortlieb ⋅ Anchorage , AK U.S. Army, Sergeant ⋅ 6 years served

Old post but if you are still checking it I am interested in how the last 2 years went for you. I am a day trader and the advice they give is pretty valid. I have blown out a few accounts but education costs money. Honestly I think the real suckers are the investors these days. You can day trade around any event and not wake up down 5% because North Korea went a little crazy overnight. Let me know if you are still interested.

Hugh Daniels ⋅ Scottsdale , AZ Willis Consulting, Inc. ⋅ 20 years experience

I am a Financial Services Recruiter. If your goal is entering into the Financial Services world my advice would be to look into a career with a firm that offers a clear career path for you, that will train you and help you get your necessary securities licenses. I have a couple positions and can certainly give you some advise on where you might want to start you career.Feel free to reach out to me.

God bless you for your service to this country!

Gabriel Alexander ⋅ Billings , MT ⋅ 8 years experience

I am a professional wealth advisor. I have seen just about everything private investors do to avoid paying fees or trying to make a quick buck. The proponents of day trading are generally trying to entice you to do it on your own. If you look at the S&P since the late 90s you will see an increasing volitility in the market. There are a number of reasons for this but it is genereally due to the price institutional traders pay for securities and what the retail investor pays for securities. High frequency trading (HFT) drives up volume and pushes prices up and can bait the day trader into trying to capture up side gains but, what happends is the retail investors are not seeing the data as fast as the HFT algorithims who are trading on spreads. Ultimately, volitility just means profit for the HFTs and the more you try, the more they win. There is litterally a technical analysis called "odd-lot theory" that is basically working against you, it even works against human institutional traders. You literally, cannot win. You can get lucky though but, thats called betting, not investing.

Ted Garner ⋅ Santa Barbara , CA U.S. Army, Captain ⋅ 6 years served

John Leon has got it right.

John Leon ⋅ Collingswood , NJ ⋅ 32 years experience

These answers are good advice. I never heard of Timothy Sykes, but I have heard of Warren Buffett. He makes his money by buying stocks and holding them. Day trading is not investing. It is gambling. Today (4-10-14) the market dropped 1.6%. Bad day for the day traders! I admit that the idea is exciting, but gambling is exciting too, until your hard earned money is gone.

Todd Servello ⋅ Fayetteville , NC U.S. Army, Master Sergeant ⋅ 24 years served

David R,
Great answer for Richard. I am sure that is not what he wanted to hear. Richard I understand your desire and can appreciate your skills. I am also a qualified Intel Analyst so I know your research skills. I am doing exactly what Richard suggested. I do know a few people who have lost complete retirement funds and it is hard to watch their retirements tank while they were trying to refresh their page trying to see if their sell made it in time. I have been what I consider playing with penny stock. I have made a few good picks but you have to set up something to dump when it starts to drop. my email is clemson1962@gmail.com if you want to chat. David is also correct about people selling things to help others make money. Find out where he invest his money and I bet it is in trying to market his product.

Carlos Flores ⋅ Long Island City , NY U.S. Marine Corps, Sergeant ⋅ 4 years served

thanks for the advice David R. its something that I'm working towards