There’s one thing you probably don’t hear successful day traders talk about: it’s a lonely job.
Traders say they saw isolation as part of the deal when they were trying to make a living at the market.
Trading is a fairly solitary niche activity, with few opportunities to meet other people.
Being alone is a necessary evil when you are trying to make money in the stock market.
That’s the big secret to being a day trader, a profession that, despite its get-rich-or-die 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 problem among the cohort. A 2022 study found that cryptocurrency 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, CEO of trading education and mentoring group TraderDaddy, says he has witnessed an explosion of interest in day trading groups like his in recent years. He believes loneliness in the profession is part of the reason.
“I like to call it a very solitary sport. It’s a very individual sport. It’s like being a professional tennis player, a professional golfer, or a professional poker player. You’re going to travel to the next tournament and you’re going to do the best you can,” he told Business Insider.
Enrique Rendón, a 20-year-old trader in Alhanti’s group, said he believed feeling lonely was simply part of the deal when he decided to take up day trading.
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Rendón, who aspires to go full-time and has started to take trading more seriously in recent months, says he studies the market five to six days a week and spends most of his time alone in his room.
But the potential benefits outweigh the cost to him. She dreams of one day having enough financial stability to travel freely, have children and support them.
“I feel like in the future this might change,” Rendon said of his lifestyle. “I understand that I’m feeling a little lonely, but I’ve also come to terms with the fact that if I’m going to take this path, this path, it’s obviously going to be the downside.”
Melissa Avutan, CEO of BullMentor, a platform that connects traders with mentors, says she created the company after struggling with loneliness as a trader. Trading is naturally isolating, he said, noting the amount of time it takes to study the markets, especially for beginners.
“You spend a lot of time on it. I spent every morning doing pre-market analysis, and during the day you try it, then at night you analyze, and then on the weekends you study,” he said. “I basically dedicated almost my entire life to it.”
It is also a fairly specialized activity. Avutan network traders often tell you that they feel isolated, as many don’t have anyone else in their lives who understands the pressures of the job, especially if they are losing on a trade.
“Losing that money and feeling the pain, I just lost it, and now I don’t have anyone to talk to about it,” he said.
Mark Lacy, a 67-year-old day trader who lives in Seattle, says he spends about six hours a day watching the market. He lives alone, but fills the silence by having CNBC and Bloomberg while he operates.
Lacy admits that sometimes he feels lonely and wishes he had someone to talk to, like on Saturday nights or in the mornings. But you need to maintain sharp focus, he said, since being a few minutes late for a trade is often the difference between making or losing money.
“I’d like to have someone to go out to dinner with, for example,” Lacy said, but noted that the markets engaged him and kept him busy for most of the day.
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Kenneth Schweitzer, a 68-year-old day trader based in Vermont, also says he believes that being alone and “completely focused” on the markets is also a requirement if a trader aspires to work full-time. In his case, it is also “desirable”, given his many years of work in the healthcare sector.
“I spent 40 years of my life taking care of people’s problems every day,” the former dentist told Business Insider. “For me it’s a relaxation.”
“Why do people do this? Just because they don’t want to be around people and it’s an acceptable way to make money, why not do it?” said about why other traders are getting into the game. “I think it’s a perfect example of how to find a career that suits your personality.”
Finding other traders to talk to can be difficult. A Google search for in-person business events in your area will tell you a lot.
Avutan said he worked hard to make connections. He joined a Discord group, a popular hub for retail investors. He tried to attend meetings. But both online and in-person connections seemed weak, considering that traders tend to “not be the most sociable people” to begin with, he said.
“I don’t think we’re a community. We don’t have any communication with each other,” Lacey said of merchants in general.
However, the demand for such a community seems to be increasing. Global search interest for “day trading group” increased 572% last quarter and hit an all-time high this summer, according to Google Trends analytics tool Glimpse. Search interest in “day trading class” increased by 700%, while interest in “day trading coach” increased by 325% in the same time period.
Alhanti, who hosts a nightly Zoom call with operators in his premium group and monthly in-person classes in Manhattan, says he believes it’s best to operate in a group. This is partly because it allows traders to exchange ideas and learn from each other.
“The goal is to take this from being a solitary sport, something you do alone, to a team sport,” he told his group.
