this post was submitted on 02 Jan 2025
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I don't know what to do with my life. My local organizing is in limbo and I'm not sure I want to keep doing it for several reasons. I don't have a job, lost mine when my campaign work officially ended on 12/1. I used to write code for a living but really don't want to go back into it. It's not what I want to do for a living. Also....

Capitalism is dumb. Really really stupid. I hate how there are so many people busting their butts working in Amazon warehouses or meat packing plants, or those kids mining rare metals in Africa, making scraps and actually making all of these modern Capitalist treats possible. And then there's people who are clicking a few buttons on a stock broker app and pulling in thousands of dollars just like that!

Actually working for an honest wage feels like a scam at this point. I get to be pushed around, mentally distressed (hooray Autism) and eventually stressed out to the point of burning out for whatever wage I "agree" to take (aka whatever "the market" says I'm worth). OR I can turn the trading I'm doing into a "system" and hone it to a point where I can pull in $300-500 per day making trades on the market.

I'm not even talking about a fancy trading strategy with a bunch of indicators or other nonsense. I'm just scalping SPY, buying Call or Put options at a certain point and selling them when they go up in price by 20 cents. 25 contracts x .20 profit / share / contract = $500 - $25 in broker fees = $475. In theory I could run this every day and be in and out of my trade within minutes. The full strategy has risk management rules and then the "hard part" is picking the right entry point for each trade.

I'll be running a back test on this simple plan but I know from actually doing it on a smaller scale that it works. It's so dumb how I can make (and lose) a month's rent on a single trade.

It's disgusting. On one hand I am glad I have this "gift" of hyper-focus so that I can dig into topics like day trading and figure it out. OTOH there's a lot of jealousy over people who I see out and about as "normal" and knowing I'm not going to be them. Part of me wishes I could just deal with a 9-5 job like most people and maybe empty my mind of Politics. I'd be less informed but maybe happier?

The other thing that bothers me is that Capitalism is pushing me towards this route. I'd rather be spending my time learning how to make music, mixing with the gear I have, reading some of these theory and history books that are piling up, or doing something actually good for society. However I need money to survive and after going through plenty of really bad programming jobs I guess I'd rather try to make money on my own. So here I am, becoming the financial equivalent of a river leech, sucking some blood from my host each day, and those hosts being parasites themselves, those stock prices rising from stealing the labor value of everyone possible, charging as much as possible, screwing over everyone as much as they can get away with.

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[–] sovietknuckles@hexbear.net 39 points 1 week ago (4 children)

OTOH there's a lot of jealousy over people who I see out and about as "normal" and knowing I'm not going to be them.

Idolizing neurotypical people is silly and we autistic people are cooler and better

Part of me wishes I could just deal with a 9-5 job like most people and maybe empty my mind of Politics.

Result-based 9-5 jobs that are 100% remote aren't so bad. There's the expectation that I'm online between 9 and 5 PM, but a cron job I made opens the chat program at 9 for me and I wake up hours later

[–] JustSo@hexbear.net 19 points 1 week ago

a cron job I made opens the chat program at 9 for me and I wake up hours later

Fuck that's sick as hell. Salute.

[–] MayoPete@hexbear.net 19 points 1 week ago (3 children)

but a cron job I made opens the chat program at 9 for me and I wake up hours later

Love it! I should have done something like this when I had the job that used Microsoft Teams because even though everyone says "we don't micromanage" if I have to use the bathroom for more than 5 minutes there's the "are you online" ping waiting for me when I get back :/

[–] sovietknuckles@hexbear.net 19 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Yep, a "click Slack every 2 minutes" script is an absolute must. My boss is mad if Slack shows me as away and I don't answer them, but ever since I started using the script, they're patient

[–] JustSo@hexbear.net 17 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Yo that shit pissed me off so bad at my last long term job. Like, boss, I'm fucking here, okay? I'm right here at the computer I'm just not staring at the client because I'm working and I GUESS MAYBE it behaves differently on Linux than whatever the fuck else everyone else is using? OR MAYBE THEY ARENT WORKING AND ARE PERFORMATIVELY PRESENT ON SLACK YOU PARANOID FUCK.

[–] TrashGoblin@hexbear.net 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)

If you're using Wayland on Linux, apps can't see activity outside of their own window, so that could be biting you.

[–] JustSo@hexbear.net 5 points 1 week ago

Ironically I wasn't, but I was using a home-rolled hyper-containerized system at the time and that could explain it for sure. I just bitterly clicked the window once in a while and was actually at my computer so I'd just tell my boss he was a dingus and to let me work. I'm gonna keep this in mind for future reference.

Wait wtf is this real? I have a trams-based email job where I'm supposed to be online at certain times, but nobody is actually warchityhat closely. I would lose my mind if I started getting messages like that.

[–] TrashGoblin@hexbear.net 5 points 1 week ago

This is why you need a mouse jiggler.

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[–] peppersky@hexbear.net 36 points 1 week ago (9 children)

Come on dude you definitely know what else to do, you just don't want to do it and you'd rather work very little and extract surplus value in the most abstract way imaginable. Hey if you want to do that, do it, but don't try to fish for sympathy by posting about it, like at least have some fucking decency.

[–] Stolen_Stolen_Valor@hexbear.net 22 points 1 week ago (3 children)

“I don’t want my surplus value stolen anymore because I’m smart and aware it’s happening, so now I’ll just do it to everyone else” isn’t the flex you think it is.

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[–] peppersky@hexbear.net 19 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Man if I had 25 thousand dollars lying around I'd try to get a real job that is actually worthwhile

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[–] nandos_house_of_glues@hexbear.net 30 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

a lot of us have to deal with a shit 9-5 job and haven’t “emptied our heads of politics”. Do what you want but don’t think many of us working crushing jobs in sectors like service or hospitality aren’t acutely aware of how much it sucks and how much of our labor’s surplus value is being stolen. Do what you want but don’t think you’re uniquely harmed by drudge work in a way that others are not.

[–] Runcible@hexbear.net 17 points 1 week ago

we are all harmed by capitalism on this glorious day!

[–] plinky@hexbear.net 26 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I would be highly skeptical of easy money in stock market (there are millions of dipshits trying to do the same). If you take 1% on trade, what is your probability of catastrophic loss (guess arriving otm)? 1%? Congratulations, you'll get boned sooner or later. Risk management rules if you haven't actually done it is wish casting, risks of slipping in thin market and actual realized losses compared to feely-wise "i can exit when i want"

Aside from that, likely in the west, not the first or the last

[–] CleverOleg@hexbear.net 14 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Day trading stocks and options is just MLM for dudes.

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[–] ShitPosterior@hexbear.net 18 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (5 children)

So your plan is to momentum trade SPY 0DTE's?

You might read the RDTE prospectus to understand how the other side of the table makes money off of you. As a matter of fact I would urge you to, instead of buying 0DTE's (lottery tickets), consider profiting off of that time decay and market mispricing by WRITING 0DTE's and synthetically covering with a deep ITM long dated call. That's the essence of the RDTE ticker. It makes money by selling slightly OTM 0DTE's

[–] peppersky@hexbear.net 34 points 1 week ago (2 children)

You people are making this shit up

[–] ShitPosterior@hexbear.net 24 points 1 week ago

It's all made up, the stock market is a work of fiction inspired by a true story at best

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[–] Hestia@hexbear.net 15 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Investing in stocks during a recession is a pretty bold move.

[–] D61@hexbear.net 7 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Its probably the best time if you've got the cash, stock prices should be lower during the recession.

[–] Hestia@hexbear.net 7 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Or you could do... literally anything else.

[–] D61@hexbear.net 1 points 6 days ago

This is true.

[–] RION@hexbear.net 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

He's trading options, so it's not like he's getting the value of a lower price point

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[–] HelluvaBottomCarter@hexbear.net 14 points 1 week ago (1 children)

You were around for meme stocks in 2020 but are still seriously trying to do this?

I could run this every day and be in and out of my trade within minutes.

You may make $300 a day on the short term but you will not make $300 a day on average. The average part is what kills this dream. On average you won't make as much as you would at the toilet cleaning job or the shelf stocking job. This is by design. You're not allowed out of the class unless you have enough real property or you exploit the labor of others (preferably both).

The sell-out that will uplift you out of drudgery isn't stocks, it's rent-seeking and exploitation. Thus you must transform from finance bro to real estate bro or entrepreneur bro. Capitalism is nefarious in the way it makes you choose between being the exploiter vs the exploited. You can do one or the other. Only one is the ticket to winning capitalism and it's the one that will take your leftist soul.

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[–] DragonBallZinn@hexbear.net 14 points 1 week ago (1 children)

If you can, please I implore you to try doing what I'm doing and looking into working in healthcare (not insurance but real healthcare)>

I may not be having a 24/7 party at work, but it's recession-proof and porks have figured out how to make it a permanent recession for the working class and a permanent boom for them. All the tech jobs that got lost even though the rich have been having the best five years of their lives since COVID simply because "We just don't need that many". Best of all, it's all part of my attitude towards work: I want the least annoying way to pay rent, and no porky, I won't start a business stop telling me to.

[–] MayoPete@hexbear.net 9 points 1 week ago

Part of my radicalization was seeing how little EMTs got paid. Right wingers love to worship "first responders" but don't give a darn about the people who literally drive your sick grandma to the hospital & provide critical care on the way. How TF are ambulance staff getting paid $15/hour for such important life saving work?!?

It's capitalism... I made more this morning than someone who saves lives makes in a week. It's gross and dumb and I hope for more Luigis to deal with those responsible because revolution ain't happening where I live.

[–] grandepequeno@hexbear.net 13 points 1 week ago

If you can code try to get a cushy remote work job, you'll have plenty of free time for your hobbies

[–] JoeByeThen@hexbear.net 13 points 1 week ago (4 children)
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[–] Parzivus@hexbear.net 11 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

It's never unethical to scrape a few bucks off some bank. The trick is actually winning, and not losing all your hair from the stress of day trading.

Also if it literally is as simple as "sell at +20% or -40%", you could probably automate it and let it go with small amounts of cash for a while, just see how it goes according to the rules you're setting for yourself.

[–] LanyrdSkynrd@hexbear.net 10 points 1 week ago (2 children)

You aren't the first, and won't be the last person who thought they figured out a surefire way to make money day trading. Wall Street firms have access to so much more information, cheaper trades, faster execution, and can front run you if you're using Robinhood or one of the free trading platforms.

Maybe you're that .0001% that actually figured it out. I hope you are, but please be careful not to delude yourself.

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[–] elpaso@hexbear.net 8 points 1 week ago

I know a loooot of people in renewable energy and public health considering jumping to finance. Anything remotely good for society in this upcoming administration will be non viable careers.

I cannot wait to leave. Please God let my work visa get approved.

[–] Bobson_Dugnutt@hexbear.net 6 points 1 week ago

I don't know shit about the stock market but if you can get that bag I say go for it. Spend your free time making music and organizing, give some portion of your ill-gotten gains to mutual aid.

[–] freagle@lemmygrad.ml 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I would like to learn more about your trading strategy. I am assuming you would need thousands in cash to get started, and you would need to deal with day-trader rules, but I am really ignorant on this stuff. Would you be willing to educate?

[–] MayoPete@hexbear.net 9 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (11 children)

Yeah, absolutely. Happy to help because if this works I want other comrades to find a way out of the rat race!

Pattern Day Trading: The rule is that if your account value is less than $25k, if you are buying and selling the same position within the same trading day you will receive a "pattern day trader flag". After a few of these (I believe 5 within a few day period) the brokers have to lock your account temporarily. It's an SEC rule and not something the brokers themselves are choosing to do. I got really lucky during the GameStop fiasco and have an account that is large enough to ignore the Pattern Day Trader rule. It's not a brag, just peace of mind knowing I can pay rent for a while and figure things out. Money = time and I'm very fortunate to have this time.

Cash needed to start: Based on how tomorrow's option chain looks right now I'll need to put down around $4800 (see image) in order to purchase 25x Calls at the $587 price point. My strategy involves buying the next dollar amount above the current price when the next dollar "out of the money" is close to becoming "in the money", then when it goes "in the money" wait for the positions to increase by at least 20 cents and place an order to sell. This is going to change day by day and is really going to depend on where SPY goes in pre-trading hours, if it is trending up or down, etc.

I've had plenty of +$100-200 days trading around $1k with this plan and I'm ready to try scaling it up.

What makes this strategy promising is SPY usually moves by .5% each day, so it fluctuates in a few dollar range. I'm not trying to hit home runs here, just make base hits as often as possible. I have to refine the risk management plan because on some days SPY will drop by a couple percent and then these daily options become worthless.

This is where people on Reddit tend to screw up! It's easy to manage winners. Worst case is you take profit and leave some extra profit on the table. Managing losing trades is a different thing entirely. There's a lot of phycological work needed to keep a cool head when the trade goes red. For starters, don't put your entire account up for trade on a daily basis! I'm trying to trade in small amounts so that if I lose a trade I'm only losing under 2% of my account's value. I'm going to increase my trade size because I need an income replacement right now but ideally I keep trades small so that I can survive a few bad days.

[–] infuziSporg@hexbear.net 6 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I'm glad you have the patience for this, because while I love most number-heavy stuff, this feels like to me it would be absolutely dismal.

[–] JustSo@hexbear.net 10 points 1 week ago

It is, I tried it, I would need a lot more discipline next time. I did not beat the market.

I was hooked enough on the game that when I was closing out my accounts and getting ready to be homeless for a while I couldn't bare to sell the last couple of stonks that were going up and they've kept doing it. Now the platform won't accept my fucken ID so I can sell them and cash out if I want to. So irritating.

Anyway if you have a tendency towards risky behavior and gambling, be wary of stonks and crypto trading.

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[–] frankfurt_schoolgirl@hexbear.net 5 points 1 week ago (1 children)

If you're so good at stocks, why not makes as much money as possible and donate it to do good? Prove all the critical people here wrong by donating to left wing orgs and the Palestinians and random people's GoFundMes.

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[–] MayoPete@hexbear.net 5 points 1 week ago

Another reason why I want to make this work: I don't like people.

It's been this way my whole life. I don't get along with other people, or more accurately no matter how much I try to please others or help others I just get shit on. Of course I don't want to deal with people after being bullied and shunned all my life! People suck.

At least with this it's just me and the screen. I don't need to try to analyze my boss' passive-aggressive messaging or try to constantly figure out what everyone wants. I can just focus on what I'm doing and plan for the few possibilities rather than deal with irrational creatures getting in my way every day.

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