Can this work long term or am I an idiot

I work in real estate and have always been interested in trading on the side, always did a ton of research trying to learn as much as I can but never really had the time during the day to focus on actually trading -- I started with 2.5k back in early March (I know, laughably small account) and slowly began trading options. Over the course of WFH i've managed to grow that to 9k, almost exclusively trading options, I use tastyworks for whatever that's worth.

This gain wasn't on one big home run or anything, it's been fairly steady, I've kind of been pseudo-scalping big name stocks that have seen volatility recently, - I keep a really strict mental stop on each trade. No complex strategy or anything just weekly calls/puts

Wanted to get some opinions from this forum...am I an idiot thinking I can continue to trade profitably over time like this? Has anyone had success doing something similar? Or is this a mix of a weird corona-market and dumb luck?

3 Comments
 

Possimus at debitis voluptas eveniet. Unde distinctio itaque porro.

Career Advancement Opportunities

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • JPMorgan 01 98.4%
  • Morgan Stanley 08 97.8%
  • Goldman Sachs 02 97.3%

Overall Employee Satisfaction

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Moelis & Company No 99.5%
  • Evercore No 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 01 98.4%
  • Banco Santander 02 97.8%
  • BMO Capital Markets 12 97.3%

Professional Growth Opportunities

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Evercore 01 99.5%
  • Moelis & Company 01 98.9%
  • Morgan Stanley 06 98.4%
  • Goldman Sachs 01 97.8%
  • JPMorgan 01 97.3%

Total Avg Compensation

August 2026 Investment Banking

  • Vice President (16) $429
  • Associates (48) $259
  • 3rd+ Year Analyst (8) $210
  • 2nd Year Analyst (25) $178
  • Intern/Summer Associate (14) $159
  • 1st Year Analyst (83) $151
  • Intern/Summer Analyst (75) $101
notes
16 IB Interviews Notes

“... there’s no excuse to not take advantage of the resources out there available to you. Best value for your $ are the...”

Leaderboard

success
From 10 rejections to 1 dream investment banking internship

“... I believe it was the single biggest reason why I ended up with an offer...”