{"id":1755,"date":"2009-08-15T11:17:05","date_gmt":"2009-08-15T16:17:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/?p=1755"},"modified":"2023-08-01T17:51:28","modified_gmt":"2023-08-01T21:51:28","slug":"can-you-make-it-as-a-retail-trader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/can-you-make-it-as-a-retail-trader","title":{"rendered":"Can You Make it as a Retail Trader?"},"content":{"rendered":"

I received this email from a reader of our blog. I thought we could discuss:<\/p>\n

Hi, this is Ivan in NYC (Bulgarian immigrant), a regular reader of the blog. I’m a retail trader and a relative newbie.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\n

Although I can not formulate particular trading strategy just by reading the blog I enjoy reading it and find it useful.\u00a0I would like to ask you about your honest opinion and advice to the retail traders like me: what are the main disadvantages we have compared to the equity firm traders?<\/p>\n

What honestly do you think are retail trader’s chances to be consistently profitable in swing and day trading?<\/p>\n

Thank you for sharing.<\/p>\n

Bella responds:<\/p>\n

Trading is probably the most difficult thing you will attempt in your life. It is like trying to join an exclusive country club: they do not let everyone in, and they don’t let everyone stay. But more are capable of becoming a successful trader than you may think.<\/p>\n

There is this outdated bias that you must work at a big bank, live in NYC, and have millions behind you to succeed. This is simply not true. Technology has opened the markets to the masses. Trading platforms, like LightSpeed<\/a>, with direct access to the markets are available. Charting software is simple to find. \u00a0Blogs with exceptional education are prevalent, many like this blog for free. Now we have StockTwits TV<\/a>, a tremendous educational trading resource.\u00a0Training programs<\/a> are offered for those looking for help to become a professional trader. With 30k you can open a retail account (you will also need capital to survive the learning curve). Now anyone with a passion for trading, the desire to pay the price necessary to succeed, and some capital can compete.<\/p>\n

But these are some pretty big ifs. Are you truly willing to pay the price? Will you work on your game everyday? Or will you bail as soon as things get a little tougher than you expected? Will you ensure you receive the proper training? Or will you just read a few charting books and conclude that this all the training you need and then foolishly attack the markets? \u00a0Is your passion truly for trading? Or do you think trading would just be something cool to try? Do you have some capital to trade your own account and survive the learning curve? Or are you under-capitalized and just hoping that you will start making money on day one?<\/p>\n

Technology has opened the markets to us all. Can you become a successful trader? I don’t know. But I do know that it is entirely up to you.<\/p>\n

Best of luck with your trading!<\/p>\n

You can be better tomorrow than you are today!<\/p>\n

Mike Bellafiore<\/p>\n

One Good Trade<\/em><\/a>
\nThe PlayBook<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

No relevant positions<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I received this email from a reader of our blog. I thought we could discuss: Hi, this is Ivan in NYC (Bulgarian immigrant), a regular reader of the blog. I’m a retail trader and a relative newbie.   Although I can not formulate particular trading strategy just by reading the blog I enjoy reading it and find it useful.\u00a0I would … Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":144,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1,10],"tags":[4676,30,18],"class_list":["post-1755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general-comments-2","category-mike-bellafiore-bellas-blogs","tag-day-trading","tag-prop-trading","tag-smb-capital","no-post-thumbnail"],"yoast_head":"\nCan You Make it as a Retail Trader? | SMB Training<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/can-you-make-it-as-a-retail-trader\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Can You Make it as a Retail Trader? | SMB Training\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I received this email from a reader of our blog. I thought we could discuss: Hi, this is Ivan in NYC (Bulgarian immigrant), a regular reader of the blog. I’m a retail trader and a relative newbie.   Although I can not formulate particular trading strategy just by reading the blog I enjoy reading it and find it useful.\u00a0I would ... Read More\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/can-you-make-it-as-a-retail-trader\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"SMB Training Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/smbcap\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-08-15T16:17:05+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-08-01T21:51:28+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/twitter-badges.s3.amazonaws.com\/follow_me-c.png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Bella\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@smbcapital\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@smbcapital\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Bella\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/can-you-make-it-as-a-retail-trader#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/can-you-make-it-as-a-retail-trader\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Bella\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/80500a901d0e5ce0a27fa996bb1b9161\"},\"headline\":\"Can You Make it as a Retail Trader?\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-08-15T16:17:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-08-01T21:51:28+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/can-you-make-it-as-a-retail-trader\"},\"wordCount\":474,\"commentCount\":16,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/can-you-make-it-as-a-retail-trader#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/twitter-badges.s3.amazonaws.com\/follow_me-c.png\",\"keywords\":[\"day trading\",\"prop trading\",\"smb capital\"],\"articleSection\":[\"General Comments\",\"Mike Bellafiore's (Bella's) Blogs\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/can-you-make-it-as-a-retail-trader#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/can-you-make-it-as-a-retail-trader\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/can-you-make-it-as-a-retail-trader\",\"name\":\"Can You Make it as a Retail Trader? | SMB Training\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/can-you-make-it-as-a-retail-trader#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/can-you-make-it-as-a-retail-trader#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\/\/twitter-badges.s3.amazonaws.com\/follow_me-c.png\",\"datePublished\":\"2009-08-15T16:17:05+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-08-01T21:51:28+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/can-you-make-it-as-a-retail-trader#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/can-you-make-it-as-a-retail-trader\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/can-you-make-it-as-a-retail-trader#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/twitter-badges.s3.amazonaws.com\/follow_me-c.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\/\/twitter-badges.s3.amazonaws.com\/follow_me-c.png\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/can-you-make-it-as-a-retail-trader#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Can You Make it as a Retail Trader?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"SMB Training Blog\",\"description\":\"Lessons from the trading desk\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/#organization\",\"name\":\"SMB Training\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Logo-e1658419502954.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Logo-e1658419502954.png\",\"width\":230,\"height\":81,\"caption\":\"SMB Training\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/smbcap\/\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/smbcapital\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/smbcapital\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/80500a901d0e5ce0a27fa996bb1b9161\",\"name\":\"Bella\",\"description\":\"Mike Bellafiore is a co-founder of SMB Capital, a day trading firm which takes great pride in its exceptional training program. SMB Capital is an equity prop trading desk that trades on 5th Avenue in New York City. Mr. Bellafiore is a graduate of the University of Connecticut School of Law. He has traded professionally for more than a decade.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/bellas-blog\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/author\/bella\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Can You Make it as a Retail Trader? | SMB Training","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/can-you-make-it-as-a-retail-trader","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Can You Make it as a Retail Trader? | SMB Training","og_description":"I received this email from a reader of our blog. I thought we could discuss: Hi, this is Ivan in NYC (Bulgarian immigrant), a regular reader of the blog. I’m a retail trader and a relative newbie.   Although I can not formulate particular trading strategy just by reading the blog I enjoy reading it and find it useful.\u00a0I would ... Read More","og_url":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/can-you-make-it-as-a-retail-trader","og_site_name":"SMB Training Blog","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/smbcap\/","article_published_time":"2009-08-15T16:17:05+00:00","article_modified_time":"2023-08-01T21:51:28+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/twitter-badges.s3.amazonaws.com\/follow_me-c.png","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Bella","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@smbcapital","twitter_site":"@smbcapital","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Bella","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/can-you-make-it-as-a-retail-trader#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/can-you-make-it-as-a-retail-trader"},"author":{"name":"Bella","@id":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/80500a901d0e5ce0a27fa996bb1b9161"},"headline":"Can You Make it as a Retail Trader?","datePublished":"2009-08-15T16:17:05+00:00","dateModified":"2023-08-01T21:51:28+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/can-you-make-it-as-a-retail-trader"},"wordCount":474,"commentCount":16,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/#organization"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/can-you-make-it-as-a-retail-trader#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/twitter-badges.s3.amazonaws.com\/follow_me-c.png","keywords":["day trading","prop trading","smb capital"],"articleSection":["General Comments","Mike Bellafiore's (Bella's) Blogs"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/can-you-make-it-as-a-retail-trader#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/can-you-make-it-as-a-retail-trader","url":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/can-you-make-it-as-a-retail-trader","name":"Can You Make it as a Retail Trader? | SMB Training","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/can-you-make-it-as-a-retail-trader#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/can-you-make-it-as-a-retail-trader#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/twitter-badges.s3.amazonaws.com\/follow_me-c.png","datePublished":"2009-08-15T16:17:05+00:00","dateModified":"2023-08-01T21:51:28+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/can-you-make-it-as-a-retail-trader#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/can-you-make-it-as-a-retail-trader"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/can-you-make-it-as-a-retail-trader#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/twitter-badges.s3.amazonaws.com\/follow_me-c.png","contentUrl":"http:\/\/twitter-badges.s3.amazonaws.com\/follow_me-c.png"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/can-you-make-it-as-a-retail-trader#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Can You Make it as a Retail Trader?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/","name":"SMB Training Blog","description":"Lessons from the trading desk","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/#organization","name":"SMB Training","url":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Logo-e1658419502954.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/07\/Logo-e1658419502954.png","width":230,"height":81,"caption":"SMB Training"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/smbcap\/","https:\/\/x.com\/smbcapital","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/smbcapital"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/80500a901d0e5ce0a27fa996bb1b9161","name":"Bella","description":"Mike Bellafiore is a co-founder of SMB Capital, a day trading firm which takes great pride in its exceptional training program. SMB Capital is an equity prop trading desk that trades on 5th Avenue in New York City. Mr. Bellafiore is a graduate of the University of Connecticut School of Law. He has traded professionally for more than a decade.","sameAs":["https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/bellas-blog"],"url":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/author\/bella"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/144"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1755"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1755\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":56059,"href":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1755\/revisions\/56059"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.smbtraining.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}