It's 9:00 Monday morning, and I awake to the sounds of my alarm clock. I couldn't be happier: It is the beginning of another trading week. I roll out of bed," commute" into the next room, and turn on my computer. The work week has begun.
But this is not your typical 9-to-5 job. There is no office to go to, no car pool, and no "good mornings" to co-workers. There is no boss in the next room. I don't produce a product, nor do I sell one. When people ask me what I do for a living, I pause. In fact, I don't really "do" anything. There are no clients, no projects, and no deadlines. There are no co-workers, no staff, and most of all, no friends. I am known by account number only. I am in total isolation. The entire day I may not see or speak to another soul. The work is extremely intense. The pace is fast. In many regards, this is warfare. It is a job unlike any other in the world.
Sometimes I do feel guilty. I am 25 years old and I answer to no one. My day is spent in the comfort of my own home. People may criticize what I do, but on a good day I can make more money in a single afternoon than most of them may make in three months, without ever leaving the house. Still, I am not providing a service to anyone. Is the world a better place because of what I do? Sometimes I don't think so. Very few people understand. They think it's gambling: I tell them it's not.
I am a day trader. My job is to buy and sell stocks for a living. I do not work on Wall Street. My seat is not on the floor on the New York Stock Exchange, it is in cyberspace. This is rarefied air. These are untested waters. I am among a new breed of entrepreneur and this is a new frontier. But do I have what it takes? Mentally, am I strong enough? I've been doing this for almost two years. In the past I have made very good money. But the past is for cowards. And there are no guarantees. Today I must make money.
It is now 9:30. The bell has rung and the stock market is open. I take my seat at the table with the world's biggest banks, brokerage firms, and mutual funds. The chess match has begun.

The explosive growth and low cost of online trading has created a new class of investors who can make a living buying and selling stocks over the Internet in a way once reserved for Wall Street's most powerful brokerage firms and investment banks. The goal of this book is to provide a one-stop, comprehensive overview of how to make a successful living, whether full-time or part-time, by day trading over the Internet. We will examine all aspects of this new and untested area, from what it takes to get started, to the dangers and pitfalls of using online brokers, to an in-depth analysis of which trading techniques work and which don't.
The information provided here will reveal closely held and profitable short-term trading secrets that can only be learned from having worked on one of Wall Street's trading floors, combined with the real-life experience of someone who makes a living trading over the Internet. Quite simply, this is information that most stockbrokers, financial planners, and everyday investors do not possess. With this in mind, the emphasis is on simplicity. The best and most successful traders are those who keep things simple. This is a book on trading, not investing. Therefore it is written in a practical, nontheoretical manner for the reader who might have little or no investment experience, but only the desire to learn more about one of the most exciting and profitable businesses of the next millennium.
For me, day trading is an obsession. I absolutely love what I do. In this book, I hope to share that excitement with you. I am 25 years old. Since graduating from Colgate University in 1995, I have never wanted to do anything with my life but trade. I felt then, and I feel now, that trading is and will always be the most lucrative job on the face of the earth, if and only if you know what you are doing.
I began my career out of college working for two large brokerage firms: first for Olde Discount in Detroit, then for Gruntal and Company on Wall Street. At the age of 22, I was trading literally millions of dollars of the firms' capital. It didn't take long to learn how Wall Street made its money. There was a system in place, and there were traders such as myself whose sole job it was to exploit that system for profit. That's when I came to the realization that the knowledge I had, if used the right way, could make me substantial amounts of money. I also decided I had wasted enough time making other people rich.
This was around the same time online trading was beginning to come into its own. The landscape of investing was changing, and thanks to the Internet, trades were becoming extremely cheap. It was slowly becoming clear that it was no longer necessary to work on Wall Street to participate in this game. The rules were changing, and the Internet was the key.
That was all I needed to know. For me, this was the opportunity of a lifetime, and I wasn't going to waste another minute. At the age of 23, I left Wall Street and began an exciting journey that has led me to write this book. I moved back home to upstate New York, bought a computer, renovated my old bedroom into a home office, and began trading full-time for myself. From that old bedroom, I have traded over 15 million shares of stock over the Internet (almost $400 million in transaction value) since I started. My hedge fund, the Farrell Preferred Stock Arbitrage Fund, LP, returned over 65 percent in its first year using these methods. There is really no other way to put it: The trading strategies mentioned in this book work, and they work well.
And the lessons I have learned along the way are invaluable. Over the last two years I have made money and I have lost money, but I have enjoyed every step of the way. In this game, if you can weather the storms, ride out the inevitable ups and downs, limit your risk, and have confidence in your own abilities, you will prosper. You always have to remember that what you are doing is truly special. The job of the Internet day trader didn't even exist 10 years ago. I have been fortunate enough to be able to make a very good living in a way that many people can only dream of. And I wouldn't change that for the world.