, Columnist
Day Traders Will Have Fun Until They Get Wiped Out
A handful might get rich while almost everyone else loses.
This trader probably is smarter and faster than you are.
Photographer: Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images EuropeThis article is for subscribers only.
One time when I was sitting in my college dormitory, I heard a whoop of joy from down the hall. My dormmate announced that he had just made $500,000 trading in the stock market, after having invested only a few thousand dollars. When I asked him how he did it, he grinned and simply said: “Call options.” I spent the rest of the day reading about how this marvelous financial instrument could be used to make a fortune in a day with just a small initial stake.
Of course, my lucky dormmate doubled down on his investment and ended up losing most of his money when the dot-com bubble burst a couple of months later.