What Is A Degen Day Trader?

Well... this story starts over 15 years ago, when I found some sketchy websites with my friends called betdsi.ag or betonline.ag or some other illegal overseas gambling site. That was the day that I became a Degen through and through. It started with sports gambling, and I was good at it.

Being a Degen comes with its consequences too. It really hits home when you are a teenager and lose $2,500 on a UNC Tar Heels ML bet in the second round of the March Madness tournament... That still hurts to this day.

After a few years and throughout high school and college, the sports gambling just became apart of the daily routine. Football season, NFL, College, then NBA, March Madness, Calcutta picks, even PGA Tour events, then fantasy sports came into the picture... anything and everything I bet on. Obviously I am not as good as I think I am because I am sitting here writing this blog right now.

Fast forward to early 2022, when a buddy of mine and I were chatting and he asked me if I have ever "play the stock market?"

I said, "Ya I have stocks that I hold onto in my portfolio."

"No, no, no, do you PLAY it? Like options trading?"

"Isn't that just where you guess where the market is gonna go next?"

He goes, "no dude, it is a lot more than that. There is a lot of technical analysis and psychology that goes behind it. It is a little like gambling though..."

"GAMBLING? Like educated gambling almost? Or having inside information gambling?"

I was immediately hooked. I joined a trading discord the next day, bought two books on options trading, and started two different online course

s. Got TradingView and everything thinking I was going to be the next Warren Buffet.

A week in I was making money trading immediately, and was thinking "man this shit is easy, how come everyone doesn't do this?"

Then it happened... in a matter of minutes on a Friday afternoon, I lost $4,000 on AMZN puts, which AMZN immediately made new ATH's right after I submitted my trade. The real Degen part of this, is that I held onto those contracts... thinking it was gonna reverse and make money....

That is how we ended up here. I have been trading for a little over 4 months now, and there have been highs and lows, but the one thing I do know for sure is that I am a Degen, but there are a bunch of us out there. The community that I have been apart of is incredible and I want to expand that feeling because this financial world can be intimidating to feel comfortable asking questions in, or even wanting to get in to trading at all.

There are going to be a bunch of different types of blogs on here from educational stuff, to funny stories, to unreal trades, to trading styles and classes, to technical analysis, to YouTube videos on the #GoldenGoose strategy (which has become my baby), news updates and reactions, maybe even a podcast or two.... who knows.

Excited to watch the #DegenDayTrader community grow.