The day trader persona on social media looks something like this: A man with a sporty vibe and the swagger of a finance bro says he hit it big in the stock market — and you can too.
You probably don’t envision a room of tired 9-5 workers, poring over candlestick charts and quietly looking for their next big trade. Yet, that’s what I found in midtown Manhattan last week when I shadowed an in-person trading course hosted by TraderDaddy, a trading education and mentoring company that says it’s been successful at turning some amateurs into profitable traders.
There are no guarantees, Daniel Alhanti, the CEO and head instructor at TraderDaddy, told the room. Much of a trader’s success depends on how hard they’re willing to work to understand the market, he said.
The well-known difficulty of day trading hasn’t stopped many Americans who quietly dream of quitting the 9-to-5 lifestyle from trying to make a living in the market. Many, too, have dropped serious cash on courses, coaching, and other kinds of mentorship to boost their chance of success.
These services have been around for a long time, but they’ve become more sought after in the years since the pandemic retail-trading boom. According to the Google Trends analytic tool Glimpse, global search interest for “day trading class” is up 700% the past quarter and hit an all-time high this summer. Search interest in “trading coach” is up 325% over the same timeframe, while interest in “day trading group” is up 572%.
On Coursera, enrollment in online trading courses soared 213% from 2019 to 2024, according to data the online course provider shared with Business Insider. The online trading platform Webull also says it’s seen the number of users on its learning platform grow 37% over the last three years.
TraderDaddy’s Alhanti, who worked as a financial advisor before becoming a trading instructor, said he witnessed firsthand the surge in interest in trading courses and groups, such as the one he runs.
“And a lot of it is the same story,” he said of the wave of newcomers in recent years. “‘I was watching trading on social media, saw people doing it, and I tried to teach myself on YouTube. I couldn’t really find anyone else that was doing it, and I was just looking for someone to help me.'”
Alhanti, who worked as a financial advisor before becoming a trading instructor, says he can identify a successful trader when he sees one.Jutharat Pinyodoonyachet for BI
The class I attended took place in the evening and had about 30 people in it, with men making up about three-quarters of the class. People trickled into the coworking space a little before 7 p.m. and began to whip out their notebooks, giving it a college lecture vibe.
Here’s everything I took away from the night.
“Who here is an absolute beginner?” Alhanti said, gauging the sprinkling of hands that popped into the air. “Who here has invested in crypto? Option contracts?”
I was surprised at how many in the group appeared to be new to this. Later, when Alhanti asked traders to list the top market-moving events of 2024, the class seemed stumped before someone brought up the presidential election, tariffs, and the Fed rate-cutting cycle.
TraderDaddy says it’s noticed an explosion of interest in day trading groups in recent years.Jutharat Pinyodoonyachet for BI
There seemed to be high enthusiasm for the market. In a side discussion, a few traders spoke heatedly about option contracts for Palantir and whether a particular trade had been profitable.
“I think they just want to make money more than anything,” Gerardo Arevalo, a trader at the event, told me, speaking about the work ethic of the group.
Alhanti says he can tell when a trader will be successful. “You can see it in their eyes when they focus,” he told me after the class.
Becoming a successful trader is notoriously hard. A 2020 study found that 97% of investors who traded for more than 300 days lost money, and less than 1% earned $54 or more a day.
For two hours, Alhanti walked the group through candlestick charts and technical analysis for trades he said his students were most interested in, which included Apple, Tesla, Intel, and the broader S&P 500. The goal was to identify a price breakout—such as when a stock suddenly trades above its 200-day moving average—and of course, buy at the right time.
Alhanti said he wanted to see traders become confident and skilled enough to make their own decisions when trading, as opposed to relying on him to tell them when to buy and sell.
Sometimes, when traders in the group make a profit, they text Alhanti in a panic, asking him what to do next, he said.
“Do not just blindly follow me,” he said to the class.
A strong desire for financial freedom was a common sentiment among the aspiring traders.
Joshua Villas, a 23-year-old trader who sat in the back, told me he’d spent more than $900 on trading courses. He said he became interested in trading after a conversation with a friend not long after graduating from high school. The gist of the conversation was that day-trading was a ticket to financial freedom.
“Just hearing that and knowing that someone told you and actually seeing it’s real — You kind of just keep going and trying,” Villas said.
Villas, who was recently laid off from his job as a stylist, added: “I’d say the end goal is just not to have to worry about survival. I would be happy if I was just able to make enough to keep living.”
Alhanti says he frequently comes across aspiring traders who say they feel lost or stuck in their careers.Jutharat Pinyodoonyachet for BI
That’s a common story among many traders Alhanti works with. In recent years, he says he’s met more younger people who are aspiring traders, people who are unsure of how to start their careers but want income and are seeking mentorship.
“They don’t really know what type of career they want, or where to go, or what to do, but they know that they want to have multiple incomes in their life, trading being one of them,” Alhanti said.
Yacoub Rahman, a 21-year-old college student who trades on the side, said his goal is also to one day become a full-time trader. That endpoint is appealing, largely because trading “full-time” isn’t anything like working a full-time job, he said.
“I don’t think it would take a long time. Two or three hours, I guess that’s enough,” he predicted about the amount of work required each day.
Rahman said he spent around three hours a day studying the market after completing his schoolwork. He added that he aspired to one day have plenty of free time to travel.
Arevalo, a 50-year-old trader and computer programmer, said he had effectively entered early retirement and was looking to trade for a living.
Before trading, Arevalo said he job-hopped, as he was past his prime as a coder and felt expendable to companies he worked for. He now spends six to eight hours a day trading.
Alhanti says he feels bad for many of the traders who come to him feeling lost in their careers, particularly younger people. He himself was caught in the 2008 recession, when the job market for young adults was brutal.
“They just generally feel behind, and they don’t really know what their next steps are,” he said of younger traders. “I think a lot of them are really trying to find something that is going to really put them ahead.”
