# Whatever Happened to Day-Trading?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-day-trading/417493>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [August 30, 2007, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-day-trading/417493 "2007-08-30T13:49:42Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\
**Post date:** [September 6, 2007, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-day-trading/417493/21 "2007-09-06T14:14:20Z")

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[QUOTE=Johanna]  
There was a day trader a few years ago who lost a bundle at it and ran amok – went on a rampage and killed a number of people. My impression at the time was that day trading’s public image was bound to suffer.  
[/QUOTE]

I went and looked it up - [Mark O. Barton](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_O._Barton).

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**Author:** ![iamthewalrus\_3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/258eb7/32.png) [@iamthewalrus\_3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamthewalrus_3)\
**Post date:** [September 6, 2007, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-day-trading/417493/22 "2007-09-06T18:36:39Z")

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[QUOTE=Shagnasty]  
This quote applies to casino gamblers as well which, oddly enough, are engaging in the same thing and will always lose over the long-run. Day traders don’t have the long-shot hope of a single gigantic win to pin their hopes on however.  
[/QUOTE]  
Day traders have a few advantages over casino gamblers. The market tends to go up, in the long run. Obviously, fees are going to subtract from the take, but buying and sellling stocks at random should have a postive EV over time, simply because over the life of a stock, there will be more days it goes up than goes down.

Of course, it’s not likely to work better than just buying and holding.

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**Author:** ![MyglassISfull](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/bbce88/32.png) [@MyglassISfull](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MyglassISfull)\
**Post date:** [September 6, 2007, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whatever-happened-to-day-trading/417493/23 "2007-09-06T19:55:21Z")

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[QUOTE=iamthewalrus(:3=]  
…simply because over the life of a stock, there will be more days it goes up than goes down.  
[/QUOTE]

If only that were true of _every_ stock ! 🙂

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